Paused progesterone due to side effects — waiting for specialist, hoping to hear how others managed this
I’m having a bit of a wobbly day and could really use some support or shared experiences. I’ve tried everything my GP can prescribe apart from the Mirena, and I’m now waiting to see a specialist — I’ve been told I should hear something before 8th September. I started on Evorel Sequi patches and felt awful on them, so my GP switched me to oestrogen gel with micronised progesterone because I’d heard it was usually better tolerated. It took me a while to settle on the gel, but once I did it really helped with anxiety spikes and hot flashes. Everything went downhill again when I introduced the progesterone two weeks later. I tried for over a month, felt terrible, and was back and forth to the doctor. She then suggested taking 100mg nightly while I wait for the specialist, but I haven’t been able to tolerate the lower dose either. My GP said I can stop everything if I need to, but I’m scared to stop the gel because it’s helping so much with the anxiety spikes and hot flashes. I’m worried everything will come flooding back and I’ll have to start again from scratch. At the same time, I don’t know how long you can safely go without progesterone, and I don’t want to put myself at risk while I wait for proper guidance. I’m not looking for medical instructions — just hoping to hear from anyone who’s been through something similar, struggled with progesterone, or had to pause part of their HRT while waiting for specialist input. Any reassurance or experiences would be really appreciated. x