Vaginal treatment & Utrogestan - need to change

[susan]

As you know I am on a combi patch and vagifem.

Although I am intertested in using utrogestan and oestrogel, or an oestrogen patch, mainly to get off the synthetic prog.

But what you are highlighting is one of the reasons that I am hesitant, as I think I would use the utro vaginally as well and then I think it would conflict with the vagifem.

Are there problems with taking utrogestan by mouth ?

Would this be a way round the problem as I dont feel I could give up the vaginal oestrogen, it is too important for all day comfort (I do not like to be aware of my vagina) physical relationship and I also want to ward of getting a prolapse for as long a possible.

I'm not sure why there is a preference for taking utrogestan vaginally, is it easier to tolerate that way, has less side effects etc ?

Pinky although I have considered it as bought a couple of tubes of ovestin when on holiday in Spain. I have had reservations about combining Vagifem and cream, I think I would be cautious and take GP or medical advice on this as I guess you could be getting a double dose.

Sometimes I vere towards the idea that I think it is more important to get the correct dose of one product than trying to combine.

For VA burning maybe use one product but a bit more frequently, possibly the cream is more flexible, but no idea how it would pan out if using utrogestan vaginally, as there could be a conflict of product.

Mmm. i'm probably not helping.

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[susan]

Good Luck with it Bella, i guess you will get given the 10 mcgs as I assume anyone now will be prescribed the new lower dosage. I hope they work for you. I ahve to say they are a very convienent product to use, there is no mess at all, you wouldn't really know you are taking them to be honest.

Would you do the 14 days again, to coat the cells and to stop obsorbtion ? Just wondering if estradiol might work differently to estriol.

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[susan]

Does it taste badly? I have a pack of the 200 mg utrogestan that GP prescribed me to go with the oestrogel for my hols and they look pretty big to me, not sure if I could swallow one, but I am not great with pills either. I might be remembering this wrong from when we were on the mother ship, but do you have to take them four hours after eating food? Only sometimes I have a small supper item at about 10 to 10.30ish pm to line tummy prior to taking my fibromyalgia meds with, so can't see how that would work for me? I would be taking it at 2am LOL - mind you I am often still awake then if having a bad night!!!

Well done at making the appointment as that is half the battle.

xxxx

[susan]

Thanks pinky. Lots of good information from you there.

Unfortunately due to age there is no way I would want to have a withdrawal bleed, not after six years of being post menopause so I would have to take 100 mg 25 days out of 28. I dont think that will work for me.

Can't take it vagially along with vagifem (especially if i start to need more than two vagifem a week when i drop down to 10 mgs) and don't really want to be taking utro 25 nights on the trot orally and not be able to have something to eat to line my tummy for the fibromyalgia tablets, or mean I cannot eat late if that is the way dinner turns out to be. It's just too lifestyle restrictive, I need to be realistic about my limitations.

Am stuck with the progestin in the patch I guess. I'm ok with it now but no idea if I will still be happy with it in ten years time.

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[susan]

Really now that is interesting that would make it a lot more attractive to me.

Although I am still worried incase I need to take it 25 nights running. This is going to sound completely bonkers but I don't want not to be able to eat between say 7pm and 11pm we can be out and about and DH wil say things like let's pop in such and such so we don't have to cook. I don't want to become one of those peeps who have to say sorry cant do that because of my medication. I held a supper party on sat night and we were all sort of eating from 8pm till 10 pm ( not continuously ) Don't want to become a crashing bore just yet - well no more than I am already.

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[susan]

Nite . Have a good sleep. Will probably speak tomozz. Guess you must be happy working again, me well I am just totally knackered.

xxxx

[Robyn]

I’ve used Utrogestan a few different ways now. I was doing the 100mg vaginally every second night thing for a while, but even after 2 ½ months I was still getting a bleed roughly every 2-3 weeks. So then I stopped using it altogether for about a month, because I wasn’t sure if it was causing some of my sleeping problems (seeing as I am prog intolerant). However, the Utro didn’t seem to causing that problem, so from 1st Sept I did the 100mg for 10 days thing and had a bleed for a few days.

Now I’m giving it a break for a couple of months and from 1st November I will try the 200mg for 10 day thing and see how that goes. I don’t seem to have any ill effects from the Utro, although I’m not sure how I will go with the 200mg. Normally I use it vaginally, but I have taken it orally when I was using it every second night and I was having a bleed. I found it very easy to take and had no taste at all. I just popped it in my mouth and drank a full glass of water with it.

I would really like to try the conti method again, because I really don’t want to have a bleed, but taking it every second day didn’t seem to work for me, or maybe 2 ½ months wasn’t giving it enough time.

I’m not sure if I dreamed this, but I think I read somewhere that someone was suggesting cutting the 100mg in half and using 50mg vaginally every night, but I’m not sure how that would work. The tablet seems a bit squishy, so I don’t know how it would go being cut in half. Has anyone else heard about that, and what do you think about it? I’m wondering if it would work better for me – having the more constant smaller dose every day to keep the bleeds at bay.

Anyway, I’ll leave all this tinkering until next year some time. I need to get myself weaned off my sleeping medication first, and I’m doing that so slowly that it’s going to take me until around early next year, so one thing at a time.

Once I’ve got that sorted, I might start experimenting again because I’m currently on Premarin .625, but I really want to try Oestradiol again, but one thing at a time. When I get the sleeping meds sorted I’ll start playing around with things again.

[Robyn]

No I haven't needed to use any vag treatment. Everything seems to be okay in my nether regions so far (touch wood).

Yes I think you're right about cutting the 100mg in half. It seemed a bit of a strange idea when I read it, but I thought I would see what other people thought. Hopefully the 2 monthly thing will be okay for me, because I suppose I can put up with having a bleed every couple of months, although eventually I will try the conti method again.

[susan]

It does sound like you were quite successful on the utrogestan then Rambo and at least you have been able to eliminate it from being a factor in your insommnia issues.

I don't think you dreamed about someone talking about cutting 100 mg in half, as i remember it as well maybe it was on the dark side. AFAIR I think it was someone who hadn't got her utrogestan so she was maybe speculating & thinking they were a more conventional type tablet when she posted & anyone that has seen them know they are not. More of a capsual with the micronised protien suspended inside. A pharmacist told me they couldn't be cut, when I was given the 200's but wanted the 100's.

Good news though that you not need to mess about with vaginal treatments as that is one less thing to worry about, perhaps you are going to be one of he lucky ones where systemic HRT is enough to keep that area healthy. That would be good.

xxxx

[Robyn]

Yes, I guess I am lucky in some respects there, but I'm having a lot of problems kicking this sleeping tablet thing. It's just so hard reducing this stuff without getting withdrawal symptoms. I start okay but after a few days the insomnia kicks in again as a withdrawal sympton, even when doing a very small reduction of 0.25mg. Just joined another forum for others like me, so hoping to pick up some support and tips there.

[susan]

Gosh it all sounds a bit complicated with using utrogestan and still getting a bleed so needing tampons and then the tampons irritating

I must admit for the last five years of so that I had periods in my forties I didn't use tampons as I went back to towels as they had come such a long way and seemed healthier to me. Even though I was a confirmed tampon user for age 14. I still don't fancy having a bleed again, not now I am in my mid fifties and been without since 49/50 ( wish I could remember exactly).

All my DD and her friends seem to wear tampons during the days but a towel at night I think this was something they were taught in PSHE as the best thing to do, not sure why though.

I was one really luck woman and had very little problems with my periods, so didn't really keep much track of them although I did notice that they became erratic in my mid forties.

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[Robyn]

Yeah, that's the thing that irritates me about Utrogestan too. I don't want to have any periods at all now, but I didn't have a lot of luck doing the conti alternate night thing with it, so at the moment I'm just going to do the 2 monthly thing, but I can see me getting really peed off about that after a while. After all, one of the advantages of menopause is that your periods are supposed to stop, and I certainly don't want to be in my 60s and still having periods. I've never had any problems with my periods either, but after having them for almost 40 years, I've done my time. I don't want any more.

However, seeing as I seem to have problems with synthetic progesterone I really don't have much choice. Oh well, I'm getting the sleeping medication side of things sorted out for now, so next year I'll start looking at what my options are for HRT and progesterone, and maybe do some tickering with trying some different conti HRTs again.

Re not using tampons overnight - I think that all started some years ago when there was the toxic shock scare that went around. I must admit I do wear tampons at night, but my periods are quite light these days, so usually after the first or second night I just wear a panty liner and that's enough.

[jacksfullofaces]

My periods don't usually bother me. I use a towel during the day and tampon at night because I cannot sleep wearing my underwear - it chafes my skin. I tried the mooncup but it kept migrating upwards. Sometimes I use natural sponges.
I'm happy with the Utrogestan so not troubled about using progesterone.
Jacks

[susan]

I'm not sure if it is because I am now on this board where many are taking utrogestan as their progesterone, but I have become fixated on the idea that if I intend to stay on HRT for as long as possible to benefit my bone health, oestrogen receptors in brain etc that I should switch to the most natural for of it available. My intellect and reading tells me this is some form of transdermal estradiol ie a patch or oestrogel/Sandrena & utrogestan.

I have other things going on at present, various dental issues that I need to get out of the way & then I want to tackle the zopiclone ( I think, I vary on this from day to day) that I have out the progesterone issue on the back burner.

Part of me feels lucky I get on well with this combination patch, it's very much a once a week 'stick and go' HRT, does not interfere with vaginal oestrogen or sex and doesn't involve a bleed.

Perhaps I should just relax and enjoy this aspect of it for another couple of years so long as it is effective in menopause symptom control.

xxxx

[susan]

Well that it one less thing to fret over for a while.

LOL at long blue weird things

They are a triumph of plastic over product. someone on the dark side wrote to novo Nordisk about the waste but in view of the way that type of company operate I am sure it fell on deaf ears. I guess at least they are hygienic and mean that you don't have to put your fingers inside yourself or wash out a plastic applicator.

I was wondering if it is the applicator that makes them a lot more expensive than ortho gynest and ovestin, rather than the product itself. Oestrogen seems to cost very little - although the way it's rationed you would think it was a rare product.

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[susan]

Joking aside I think when you see how tiny the tablet is the tube is to make sure you get it as high up as possible. Generally speaking I push it in as far as it will go and then release then push the little thing to insert it. Can't beleive I have done this twice a week for two and a half years and still can't articulate how to do it

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