HRT Diary for a Perimenopausal Woman

 Woohoo two weeks in and here I am. Feel quite fabulous most of the time to be honest. Not sure if my memory is much better, its a difficult one to judge over a short space of time. But certainly had a good week at work. I would say I have zero negative side effects at the moment. I start my Utrogetsan tonight for two weeks. So lets we happens here. These latter 2 weeks of my cycle would certainly be where I would start to get the main onset of my symptoms. The pinnacle being a couple of days before my period.   Forgot my Lenzetto this morning! Went to a different bathroom and didn't realise until midday.... I rest my case :-) So last night my eyes began to prickle and today they are fully itchy and swollen. This would be day 15 of my natural or what was of my cycle. I cant think I ate anything unusual but I did have a beer. Alcohol is becoming an increasing common denominator sadly. I have taken antihistamine which within 5 mins alleviated the prickling and the swelling ...

 All normal.... But, I have noticed I'm really hungry all the time.... But am I normally hungry all the time?  Maybe I've been sleeping wonderfully. Woken up a couple of times for a reason and then gone straight back to sleep. I did have a glass of red wine yesterday but only small. I am stressed. I have been sat at my desk all day and feel Mmmm as I said before maybe just a bit sharper. But stressed. But would I normally feel stressed? I'm busy, that's perfectly normal. Interestingly I've had two emails telling me I'm on fire today.  So maybe this is just the old me coming back.... This is what I wanted right?

 So here I am, weekend over and still feel totally normal.  I have wondered if I am a little sharper than I have been of late (I mean verbally). Which makes me wonder if that is my brain coming back into action?  Had a very stressful call with British Gas for 2 hours today.  No headaches, no sickness, nothing really at all. I start the progestrone on Friday and that will be interesting to observe any changes. Without doubt my muscles feel a little looser. 

 Almost exactly 2 months after I'd spoken to the specialist Menopause Doctor at Newson Health. I'd absolutely had enough of forgetting things again. Also my eyes had flared up again having a couple of attacks in quick succession. I had now spent 8 weeks listening and researching more. Whilst I was absolutely convinced that if it did agree with me, it was the right thing to do. Its still a massive commitment. Once you have convinced yourself of all the benefits, apart from losing my faculties (which I wouldn't as I was on HRT) why would I stop. As I may have previously mentioned, this is potentially medication for the next 30 years!  That's a long time. But, I made the decision. Why should I be functioning on 30% when I could get back up to 90%. I emailed Newson Health and told them I would like to go ahead with my prescription. They responded with the costs and that they were more than happy to, but why didn't I contact my GP first. I nearly just responded to go ahe...

 Feel a bit spaced out today and a little like my heart is racing. But that could happen normally....  Pimples have gone down. Eyes very dry, but had heating on.

 There are a few others which are on the menopause list and I suffer from. Some all the time, some occasionally. But for some I feel that whilst if they magically disappear with HRT this is amazing but I'm still on the fence as to if they would happen anyway and will still seek alternative things to help like exercise, rolling out muscles etc for my physical body. Muscle Stiffness  Joint Pain Anxiety  Difficulty concentrating Fingers going numb Ladies here are the rest..... anything seem familiar?

 On the 15 January 2020 I had a sore red patch come up just below my eye.  I can pin point the day as I was having my Trinny London make over with my best friend in Fenwicks. Had this have happened a day later I would have blamed the make-up. Not worn it, not followed Trinny on Instagam, not seen the interview with Louise Newson.....   ohhh too much :-) Anyway, it got really sore and then started on the other eye. This proceeded to flare up every few weeks for a couple of months. It was so painful, almost like acid around my eyes. Having googled it I self diagnosed with Blepharitis. I had managed to relieve the symptoms by cleaning eyes a lot and using rosehip oil. It would look hideous and be so painful for about 5 days, then take another week to thankfully clear without a trace. But, having been blessed with good skin (from my mum) it was all quite a shock and really not good for the confidence.  I have a new found empathy for people with psoriasis and eczema....

 I am not a massive believer in luck.  I am more a 'the harder I work, the luckier I become' type of person.  But.... for most of my adult life I have been lucky to not really suffer with my periods. Once a year I might have felt a little... down. But apart from that, all good.  So, it was startlingly obvious a couple of years ago (seems like a year ago but we've had lockdown so I think I lost one somewhere) that things were afoot when about 20-5 days before my period life would feel very different.   Sometimes it would feel so different, that in the end I was absolutely convinced that this was actually how life was. Life was really bloody rubbish and tough and for the previous 48 years I had been bamboozled in some kind of Oestrogen fuzzy blanket. When I'm typing this now, I'm wondering why this is number 4 on my list and maybe it should have been number 2?  In the last episode of 'I hate Suzy' with Billy Piper, they have a conversation and her m...

 So after my two glasses if wine yesterday lunch. Despite not feeling like I'd had a drink at all and drinking lots of water during and after. I still woke up in the middle of the night boiling alive. Not sweating, but exceptionally hot. Thus proving the point about any alcohol making the symptom worse! Apart from that still feel good, lively and full of energy. Whilst I don't overly expect miracles to happen in a few days. I do still feel quite bouncy. Which makes me wonder if I had lost energy, maybe it happened gradually and I just didn't notice? I have spots/pimples. One on my cheek and one on my forehead.  This is not usual!

 So after watching Trinny and Louise Newson and learning there could be advantages to taking HRT during perimenopause. I went to the Menopause Doctor website. Which is absolutely amazing along with her Balance app.  You can pretty much look up anything on here and get an answer. What I have found completely invaluable is listening to the podcasts under the reference section. There are enough nerdy scientific ones to help me make my decision and then enough normal people discussing their symptoms and making me realise that Brain Fog was a thing (I wasn't going mad)! and a big one and you didn't have to have hot flushes. There are others as well Meg Matthews has a website and also Menopause Matters. It was somewhere around November 2020 I contacted her clinic Newson Health to book an appointment. Either rightly or wrongly I went straight to her clinic privately. Firstly, because from what I had gathered and another friends experience my NHS GP would not humour me at all with HRT...

Ha!  now I have been having these for at least 10 years.  A couple of days before my period. Boom! boil alive and wake up drenched in sweat. I purchased a wool quilt and this made a HUGE difference. I have recommended this to numerous people over the years and they all agree it makes a difference. I am very popular with husband at this time who thinks I am some kind of portable hot water bottle! But again like the other stuff this has been for longer each month and I think creating quite a few sleepless nights in the last year or so. I wake up because I'm hot, I have to move because the sheets are wet, I don't always go back to sleep.      What I have noticed very recently is if I don't drink... it doesn't happen. (I'm yet to ascertain if it still happens just before my period) This has taken me a long time to work out... Because I have for most of my adult life probably drunk most days. I don't mean huge amounts (although there have been moments) but in the las...

Not much to report. Feel again totally normal. Me on a good day. Joyful and full of energy. Not sure if this is usual or unusual LOL Went to lunch with a couple of friends who are a bit older than me and were ahead of the curve. All going to the Marion Gluck Clinic in Harley Street a few years ago. Some still going and some not. Chatted about my journey.  I had a couple of glasses of wine. It will be interesting to see if this triggers night sweats tonight, although wrong time of the month. This was definitely a trigger and hard to define as I pretty much drank everyday. I always noticed they were terrible if I'd drunk a lot. Especially white wine. But its only recently that I realised I didn't get them if I didn't drink at all. 

 I wont say this is a reason for having HRT but was definitely a cause for concern. I think I've probably lost 30-40% of my hair in the last 2 years. Don't get me wrong, I had a lot to start with.  I hardly look bald, thankfully!! But, having had a huge mane of curly hair for years and being known for it. I've just had it cut short. Not because it looked particularly bad. But it felt it, to me. Ultimately, that is what matters.   I know people are trying to be nice but when I have told people - apart from my hairdresser who knows it well. I have felt quite dismissed by them for my trivial worries. 'it doesn't look any different' 'It looks fine' 'You still have loads of hair' I actually found quite upsetting that everyone was dismissing my claims. I felt like they were saying I was over reacting or making it up. For the last two autumns its shed so badly. This last Autumn when it was very obvious you could see my scalp, my hairline had changed sli...

 It is difficult to gauge and determine what is age and what is menopause...  I had accepted that most of how I feel right now is down to ageing. This may yet prove to be true. But, I guess as with most things, its probably somewhere in the middle. The more you read the more you can so 'oh yes, menopause'. So currently, with my current mind set, I consider that most mine and my friends ailments are down to the perimenopause. LOL Anyway, here are  my reasons in order. My Brain - is just not working like it used.  This is something that now I'm thinking about it has crept up on me. Mainly its forgetfulness. I remember when I was in my old job doing a Alzheimer's test one day when I got in I was so worried. (it was fine). The fact this was in my old job says it was at the very least 3 years ago! I would have been 46. Obviously I cant remember what prompted this. But, must have been quite bad?  I have a good brain. Its the one thing I am proud of. I run the back off...

Weirdly despite there being instructions (side effects) in the Lenzetto box the size of a small house.  Which I have to say despite spending 6 months studying the effects and side effects of the new modern HRT. Still scared the living out of me and made me procrastinate for another day. I couldn't find anywhere in there, or on web as to when in cycle you start taking the Lenzetto. Nothing in my Newson Health instructions either.  So I took this as it didn't matter. They are very clear when you need to take the Utrogestan. I also assume that most people who start it aren't in a cycle? I had just started my period, then I procrastinated for 2 days. A little bit as mentioned above and because I had heard of someone actually dying from blood clots with the Astrazeneca vaccine (awful). Which made me question if I should wait until after I have had the 2nd vaccine in 4 weeks time. Zzzzz Then I spoke to my husband who said 'You've made your decision, you are not at risk, j...

Weight - 76.9kg Height - 175cm Blood Pressure - 107/68 (low I know!) Thought I'd add the above for completeness. So no headache, no sickness and to be honest feel positively bouncy.  Nothing overly unusual in this. I am a normal/high energy person. But, I did muster up the enthusiasm to go for a 3km run for the first time in 25 days :-)  Feel absolutely normal. But, normal on a good day normal. On my 'A' game, so to speak :-) Contacted the Glycanage Study to let them know I was taking the HRT. I'll do a separate post for this... maybe. I got accepted to be part of a research study into the effects of taking HRT in Perimenopause and the effect it has on your Glycanage (biological age). I assume they are hoping to prove it goes down. But as my first test pre HRT gave me an age of 20!!!!   I'm a bit nervous it only has one way to go? Failing that Benjamin Button has a competitor.

 In theory I should have started this at Day 1, but it takes time to work out how to keep a note of these things. I'll do another post about my symptoms. But, I am going to just wade in with any differences and side effects since I've started taking it. I may add, some side effects may be coincidence. So I will try and mention if its something that's not totally unusual for me Day 1 - mild headache. just kind of hovering around. not bad enough to take tablets. but just there. Starts literally within minutes of spraying. Possibly alleviated by drinking water. Day 2 - pretty much the same Day 3 - Headache a bit stronger and started to go into my right eye. Massive thirst, drinking possibly double what I normally do. But... I did have a Thai Takeaway the night before. We do this thinking its a treat and then the side effects put us off for another 5 years. Which is exactly what this one has done!  By the afternoon I was also feeling quite nauseous with my mouth drawing (this w...