Is it me or the HRT?

If you've listened to my podcast you'll know a little about my perimenopause journey so far but if not take a look at my first blog that covers by journey up to the coil!

Life after Sal!

Despite my anxiety about the actual procedure, going to Sal's sage advice and having the Mirena coil fitted was the best decision I could just have made.

From heavy bleeding, to nausea, headaches, sore boobs and having only a few days respite each month, this had all become too much to cope with and was impacting every day life.

After the coil was fitted, while there has rarely been a month with no bleeding at all, it has been minimal - and the nausea, headaches and sore boobs pretty much disappeared. This had absolutely been the right decision!

The Perimenopause gift....

As anyone who is in perimenopause or has moved into life post menopause will know, as you find a solution to one symptom, another is waiting in the wings ready to pounce - sometimes in slow-mo, gradually creeping up on you, other times just appearing out of nowhere with an immediate impact!

Perimenopause was kind to me, it gave me a few months grace before throwing new symptoms my way, behaving like a jack in the box where you never know when they're going to spring into action.

It started with the dry skin, itchy skin, spare hairs in all the wrong places. And then the one that's hit me the hardest - the Brain Fog! I'd heard about it of course, knew women who had experienced it but I genuinely was not expecting this - words dropping out of my head, including really easy ones, starting to do something and then just suddenly finding myself doing something completely different, just feel cloudy & unable to concentrate.

It was becoming increasingly frustrating, sending my emotions into overdrive and it was at this time 'Maybe it's Menopause Mayhem' came into being, providing me with a coping mechanism and an outlet to talk about my experience - something that I have learned is very important for me in looking after my mental health. But the podcast and talking about it wasn't going to resolve what I was experiencing so....

Enter the Bupa experience

Through my employer I was referred to Bupa - a private healthcare provider - to access their menopause plan. Now when I think of a plan, I think of a range of activities or actions that collectively achieve the desired outcome so that was what I had expected from this.

I also expected that I'd be seeing a specialist who would listen to my symptoms, fully review my history and, importantly, go through the options with me. Now to be fair, I could have better questioned her but when she immediately said HRT I just assumed this was the best and only option available. It is the treatment everyone is talking about, the treatment women are fighting to get, the treatment celebrities like Davina are promoting as the saviour for perimenopause - what was there to question, I felt like the cat that had got the whole giant tub of cream (lactose free of course!).

The good bit is that I wasn't expected to prove I was perimenopausal - and this is not the case for a lot of women. No unnecessary blood tests for me but a scan to check nothing else was going on, a quick exam at the clinic and then I was away prescription in hand.

I remember walking away from that appointment feeling somewhat deflated - I had been told that, due to previous heavy bleeding, that I needed to start on a really low dose. So low it would probably make no difference to my symptoms (great!). I also discovered that with this being a private prescription, I could not access the NHS certificate that allows women to access HRT for 12 months at one fixed cost.

If you do end up, like me, getting support via private health care, you can ask them to send the prescription details to your GP. This will allow you to go back to them and get the prescription with the certificate - not sure how straightforward it is but worth trying as it'll save you a fair amount of money!

The problem with HRT

As advised when I was prescribed the HRT, I started on a really low dose, just one pump a day, with a plan to increase after a few weeks.

It started off ok, quick pump of gel after the morning shower and I was set fror the day. But after a couple of weeks - and just as I was startimg to comsider upping the dose - I experienced the worst cramping I have experienced since to coil was fitted. Those cramps that are so bad that you literally can't stand up. It was horrible.

At the same time I had a bit more bleeding than previously but nothing I was concerned about.

Ultimately I decided to keep going with the HRT but to also return to see Sal for a discussion and review.

However, before I was able to secure an appointment, perimenopause decided to throw another grenade at me, this time in the form of migraines.

I've had migraines in the past - mainly oratory - but nothing like this. They were arriving day in, day out and while SOME medication provided a little relief, they'd either not fully go or would be back after only a few hours of respite.

I really couldn't wait to see Sal, so made an urgent appointment with the GP and at that appointment was told to stop taking the HRT for the time being - the lady I saw even expressing surprise and irritation that Bupa had prescribed the HRT in the first place, feeling that even the low dose of oestrogen might be to much for my body to handle.

So where does that leave me now? I've been for blood tests - despite trying to think of multiple reasons why I shouldn't go due to my fear of needles! Those are just to rule out anything else that could be causing the migraines. And I have a telephone appointment in the diary with Sal - in June! Its a long wait and until then I will be HRT free but hopefully, when I eventually get to that appointment, I can get some advice and find the right pathway for me.

Why is HRT not right for everyone?

I have found my journey up to now a bit of a rollercoaster - not just the ups and downs in terms of treatment but also the impact of this has mentally. It has at times felt draining and I've felt deflated on more than one occasion.

It may well be that HRT will be the right pathway for me - maybe I just need some adjustments to the treatment. But maybe it won't. And if that is the case, I certainly won't be alone.

There are some who can't take it due to their medical history and then there are others who just can't tolerate it. For some, it can result in side effects such as breast tenderness, bloating, or headaches - and these can be severe enough that HRT is no longer an option.

So what happens in this scenario? At the moment, I'm not quite sure but that's the next step in my research and will be a topic for a future blog post so please do look out for that.

In the meantime, I'd love to hear from you if you've found HRT doesn't work for you - or if you've simply chosen not to follow that pathway. What are the alternatives? What is working for you? I'm all ears!

Until next time, thanks for reading and have a great day!

Rachel x