HRT Diary for a Perimenopausal Woman

 A flurry of posts!! Medication Daily - 3 pumps of Lenzetto oestrogen  and 2 pea size blobs of Testim testosterone and 2 weeks on 2 weeks off of 2 tablets Utrogestan progesterone at night. My testosterone level test came back as optimal and to continue with the dose I was doing. I  have been on 3 pumps of Lenzetto for about 10 days now and within 3 days the effects were already apparent. Feel more flexible, no heat at night, more hydrated and I have just started to think my skin feels really soft again. Bloody amazing.  Absolutely no sign so far of the Histamine Intolerance starting again, which has crossed my mind may happen with the dose increase. I am still having regular periods. I am not in menopause.... I still talk about this to anyone that will listen. Lady or man (yes I mention it on business lunches) with the men it has never been received badly in fact they are super interested and ask lots of questions to pass on to their wives. It affects everybody!...

 Last week I suddenly realised I was running out of Testosterone and was due a Newson Health catch-up that I wouldn't be necessary if I could get the Testim on the NHS. I dutifully waited for an hour on the phone and a few days later managed to speak to my GP over the phone to request the Testim.  The short answer to this... is no she wouldn't.  I didn't really question why. I felt a little under prepared for the answer. I also was recovering from Norovirus, so wasn't exactly at the top of my game. So 1 hour later I had my Newson Health call. Mmmm cutting it all a little fine! Thankfully she was on time and back to her normal helpful self. I explained I couldn't get the testosterone on the NHS and she was a little cross about it. I said she said she wasn't allowed to and NH said maybe it was the surgery stance. Hopefully, if testosterone gets approved for female use soon.  This stance would change. She then explained I would need to have a blood test to check my...

 Things have been ticking along nicely. People have asked me what the testosterone has done and I couldn't specifically tell you.  I just have a sense its balanced everything. I am no longer getting any side effects from the oestrogen. Not a hint of histamine intolerance. My eyes haven't flared once and haven't taken any any antihistamine for a couple of months. My memory is good. Well what I would call good, more maybe I should say back to normal. I no longer forget words at all.  What I have noticed though over the last maybe 2 months is I feel some of the really noticable effects that I had when initially taking the HRT have gone.  I feel exceptionally stiff again and maybe a little joint pain. But mainly stiffness in my back muscles and everywhere. Yoga no longer fills me with joy. Also whilst I wouldn't quite say I am having night sweats.  I have woken up a few times in the night being very hot. Now I think about it.... I am also feeling dehydrated again. M...

Yet again I have been thoroughly rubbish! After my little flurry in November.... Radio Silence. At the start of December I had another catch up with Newson Health. Firstly, I will say if this had been my first experience of Newson Health.  I wouldn't have been quite such a fan. Although the outcome was fine.  1) she was nearly 15 minutes late to the call 2) she seemed unprepared and shall I say a little disinterested/distracted We were off the call with about 12 minutes and I'll be honest it didn't really feel like I'd got £200 worth! The outcome of my call was that she issued me with a prescription of Testosterone.  She decided this would be the icing on the cake for me and give me back my full mental capacity and focus.  Whilst the double doe of oestrogen had definitely improved my memory. I do feel I am lacking focus and drive. I could have paid £180 for 3 months supply of Androfeme. Which is the licensed in Australia Testosterone for women  or £30.00  f...

 Massively remiss of me not to write again!!! But for a more positive reason this time.  I feel fine :-) Still taking the two doses of which I believe this is about month 3 of that.  I am on my 3rd cycle of progesterone and I still haven't had a period. Now a bit of me says, maybe this is me just stopping my period... but another bit says I don't believe in coincidence.  It does concern me a little,  as I know women who haven't had children are more likely to get a build up of tissue if they have too much oestrogen than women that have had children (the body is still waiting for that impending baby). This is turn can lead to uterine cancer. I'm bearing with it at the moment as I do have another call with the Doctor in about 3 weeks. So lets see what happens. With regards to my eyes - I am a week free of antihistamine.  I continued to take twice a day for about 2 weeks and then went down to one for a week. Then nothing (fingers crossed) Its at this point I r...

So I haven't written for a while. For no other reason than I keep forgetting.  I really should have been as really since the dose has been upped (to two Lenzetto squirts) there have been problems. 1) I last mentioned about my eye issue.  This became pretty much persistent and was making me look and feel awful. It was exceptionally painful, itchy and unsightly. I have found a great spray called 'Thyme Out' made from thyme is amazing at cooling and stopping the itch. But, ultimately not stopping it. 2) I haven't had a period since I started taking the double dose apart from that initial early bleed.  I am currently about to finish my 2nd cycle of Utrogestan following the double dosing. So lets see. 3) I'd stopped sleeping through the night and whilst waking up exceptionally hot. It wasn't night sweats. It got so bad that I emailed my Newson Health doctor. I told her about my eyes being awful and the no period, night heat, etc. That I couldn't really feel any d...

 So I've been double dosing for 2 weeks now. I don't really notice too much difference. I have felt a little low.  But, I have started going back into the office and a few other things.  I did my first 3 days back in the office this week for 18 months and felt exceptionally tired by day 3.  I got home, the house smelt where David hadn't emptied the food bin. So I was exhausted, but ended up tidying the whole kitchen, filling the dishwasher etc and hoovering (so much for me apparently doing nothing around the house....). This peed me off.  Husband then accidently stood on my toe and I went berserk, quite over the top. Something happened a bit later as well where he didn't apologise to me for getting something wrong (he had spoken to me like utter shite as if I was mad for saying Kadina Cox had MS and he was very insistent she has CP). I googled it, he was wrong.  I launched... still no apology by the way.   Its a bit like PMT really.  I'm not ...

Yesterday, the doctor asked me if I'd had any breakthrough bleeding.  To which I responded no. Which obviously means the very next day, my last day of progesterone and 3 days before I'd expect to start bleeding.  I did! Nothing else exciting happened, it proceeded exactly the same as my other periods.  But thought I would make a note. I'll continue in my normal routine of 2 weeks on progesterone and 2 weeks off.

 So while it is all fresh in my mind..... I explained that I had huge success with the Lenzetto and the changes I'd had. She was absolutely amazed that I had so much benefit from just one pump of Lenzetto a day.  I must absorb well. Then mentioned that my memory was deteriorating again. Where she said that I should go on testosterone. Testosterone is very much for memory, motivation etc.  and Louise Newson is starting to prescribe this more and ore from the first appointment.  I wouldn't say I am reluctant to go on testosterone. But, as its tricky to get on the NHS as despite being one of our hormones... its not licensed for women in the UK. I know its either going to cost me money or be a bit of hassle. Apparently, we can use the one for men on the NHS and just use half the dose, but the GP would need to be on board with it. Once you go on it, its not immediate like the Oestrogen but takes approx. 6 weeks to see an improvement. I mentioned that it had improved a lit...

 I haven't written much this month as there is nothing really to write... Everything has been pretty good, although I do feel my memory is deteriorating again. In fact so much so that I realise that it had got better!  I have my follow up appointment tonight with Newson Health, so that will be super interesting. As it turns out, my one and only problem is ironically, despite all the other improvements are what I contacted them about in the first place! 

 So yesterday I felt fine.  But eyes started to itch.  Today they a both swollen and prickling itching.  So I have taken antihistamine.  Interesting I am notably feeling quite low again. I always used to think that my eyes going made me feel very low. I now wonder if its just my hormones are lacking something so I happen to get both symptoms.... or its just that my body is fighting something and this also makes me feel low? 

 Woke up yesterday with what I would say low mood. Generally just felt very , meh....   I tried lifting with music, work, etc. Whilst music worked briefly it didn't really last. There was no reason for it. So I've kept a note just in case there is routine to this. Incidentally I am typing this on day 25 and I feel absolutely fine with no low mood at all. So it was odd.  Had quite a bit to drink as I went out with the girls after work. Again, no night sweats, barely any dehydration and feel in a great mood today :-) My eyes have been OK.... but there is an itching or something. But not what I would call a breakout so I haven't mentioned as a * in the title.

Positive Changes No night sweats Skin is amazing More flexible No PMT Less forgetful No dehydration Sleeping more soundly consistently through the month Negatives NONE One of my fingers went numb yesterday and I realised I hadn't had this happen for some time and it was reasonably regular.  Also, last night I got the itchy bone sensation in my legs as I was watching TV (Restless Leg Syndrome?).  I used to get this at least twice a week and realised this was the first time in ages I'd had this.  So I'll try and keep tabs on this. This month I also haven't had my eyes flare up. This just maybe one of those months.  But lets see :-) I also asked my husband if he had noticed any difference. TBH getting pretty much any information out of him is like extracting blood from a stone.  But, he muttered something along the lines of my mood being more consistent :-)

 Having spoken to a few ladies now and pointed them in the direction of Menopause Doctor, Newson Health, my blog and once armed ... their own GP. I have heard mainly success stories of getting it but with a couple of people not getting on with the HRT  straight away. This is where sadly I become unhelpful as I haven't had to deal with this.  So on this score I would say again go and look through some of the podcasts or factsheets on the Menopause Doctor website  https://www.menopausedoctor.co.uk and go back to your GP. One thing I will say from my research before starting my HRT, is that it can take up to 3 months before it works. You may also need to play around with doses and different types. e.g. you may not get on with the gel but the spray will work or the patch. I got told with my Lenzetto dose to try for a month and if my symptoms didn't improve - which they substantially have. Increase to two squirts a day. One Lenzetto pump is the equivalent of two pumps of ...

 All good.  Eye thing hasn't happened so far.  I think on day 12/13 I started to feel prickles and tears started to feel a little burning.  But, it went away again. Apart from that good :-)

 Here I am.  Day 10 of month 3 already. Everything good. Still wondering about the brain fog thing. I think it has got better. So difficult to determine. According to the time of the month I should be due for my eyes to start playing up shortly... Reason for this post is its suddenly dawned on me how good I feel my legs are looking. I know they are brown, but this time last year they were also brown.  But I wasn't going out in cut down jeans like I am now. I am 5'9. I was never a boobs girl. It was all about my legs and something I have definitely felt the loss of as I have aged. I had a conversation about 4 weeks ago with my best friend in John Lewis when I saw a lovely short dress and commented I just wouldn't wear it anymore as my legs weren't good enough anymore. She said I should wear what I want and I get the point.... but I wouldn't have felt happy. Last year, I had been running consistently and they had a good shape.  They were also brown. Because last year ...

 For completeness I thought I would do a post on technically the last day of the cycle. So this is lenzetto spray everyday and as advised by Newson Health, 14 days on Utrogestan and 14 days off. This is slightly different to what is advised on the leaflet but Newson advised is perfectly safe and far easier to remember. E.g. I know that in 2 Fridays time I start taking pills again. This is while I’m still having periods. Then I’ll just take everyday.  Another complete month of HRT done. I am completely happy and so far I can’t detect any negatives. The biggest positive this month has been the loss of the night sweats and the complete lack of dehydration. Something I have been living with for a few years and caused quite a lot of discomfort at different times. I do believe the brain fog is better. I am now what would normally have been my worst time and think I am fine. (Difficult to do entire comparison as I am laying on a beach 😂) I’ve had no PMT. Hair is another tricky one a...

 Firstly, I’ve been super remiss at keeping you updated and there are observations and differences which potentially could be linked to each other and are without doubt a positive HRT thing.  Skin - about a week ago I’ve thought to myself ‘oh my face feels smooth and soft’. Lovely, that’s nice. Then laying in bed I was rubbing my feet together and thought. Wow they feel really soft. Again didn’t think too much about it until the next night when I thought the same thing. Realising, I hadn’t had a pedicure for a few months and this was very different. I’ve noticed over the last 3/4 years that the skin on my feet was getting quite hard and in the last year I was getting cracked heels. In fact even looking up online for creams to buy about 3 weeks ago. Well…. No longer needed. I know they say skin changes are a big symptom, but it happened to subtlety and who would have not assumed hard skin comes with age?Well ladies maybe for some it does… but for sure for me it’s hormones. My f...

Yesterday the first day my eyes aren't really prickling and I hadn't taken any antihistamine. They are still swollen and red.  apart from that... all good.

 Eyes swollen and have managed to sooth by using the De Mamiel wonder Balm and putting cool compress on before I went to work. Look acceptable. By the evening felt sore in the lash line (but had worn makeup today) and took an antihistamine before bed.