Hello Ladies

I have been reading here for ahwile and I noticed alot of you seem to be on vivelle patch I am 52 and made it through peri meno with nothing but soy,black cohosh and various other herbs and vitamins I swore up n down I would take nothing else, well after not having period for over a year the nite sweats,cold chills,dizzy spells, tiredness, and a host of other symptoms became unbearable,(I have been sure I was dying at least 5 times or more during this 10 yr journey so far:) been through 3 drs along the way too, anyway my latest dr put me on climara patch and prometrium I was so desperate to stop sweating I would of tried anything ,anyway here I am 10 days later and cannot believe the difference in my life sweats all but gone no more shaking I have actually slept through the nite for a week now and my blood pressure is under control for the first time in ages too.... Feel like new woman so I hope it continues to work, I was just wondering though is anyone else out there is on Climara Patch??? Vivelle seems to be talked about most here i am thinking maybe that has more advantages over Climara......Also good luck to all of you trying to get these symptoms under control so you can feel half way decent again,its not easy alot of the time is it?

Hi Mebe,


I REALLY tried to go natural. I swore to my sisters and friends and I've even posted here at PS that I would not take HRT because I felt that it prolongs meno. I have been taking vitamins and I can honestly tell you that I am at my wit's end, because nothing has helped but for a short time. My hot flashes have always been unbearable, but I kept telling myself that it will pass and one day they would be gone forever. Then just out of the blue I started having night sweats. I feel miserable with both hot flashes AND night sweats. My hot flashes are the severe kind. They make me weak in the knees because they are so bad. I am tired. I have finally had enough. It is a shame though, because I have been without a period for almost 3 years and going through peri at least 7 years. So, I have decided to wear the Climaro Pro patch. I put it on for the 1st time yesterday. I weighed the pros and the cons and the pros won. My doctor gave me a few samples to try along with a prescription 3 weeks ago, and I finally put one on. My quality of life was shot. I hate to admit defeat, but I have got to get rid of these flashes and night sweats. I need sleep. Thank-you for giving me hope. I feel better already just knowing that relief is on the way.


Patrice

Hi Patrice

Well it was hard for me to admit "defeat" as you put it too,but happy now I did, and kind of annoyed I waited so long , but live n learn after all we got to be able to function, I would of never guessed hot flashes and nite sweats would bring me down I surely thot if I made it through the flooding periods I use to have I would be home free as I thot that was the worst part, I swear I didn't think I could sweat as much as did ,nites were awful I got to where I even hated going to bed, I was so tired more mentally than physically i think, it was a deep down in your soul kind of tired..hard to describe..Anyway I hope you get some good results from the patch too and soon so you can get your rest again...Are you just using patch and no progesterone or do you take both also????? Nancy

I just have the Climara Pro but I think it contains progestin as well as estrogen.

I think we all have to do what we have to do. And my opinion is that you are doing the smartest thing by using the Prometrium with the Climara patch, instead of the heart-damaging, artificial progestins.

I used the same combination you are using for a while. I also used the Vivelle dot and think there was no difference between the two of them.

I'm not using anything right now, but doing kind of okay (most days!)

Hope you continue to feel so much better.

Des,

How long were you on the bhrt and what made you decide to stop? I started the vivelle and prometrium in april and I feel much better. I don't know how long to stay on them. I just figured I'd wait and see how things went, kind of play it by ear.

My memory on this is very poor, but I'd say well over a year on the Vivelle and Prometrium (maybe two years?) and maybe under a year's time on the Climara and Prometrium. And then another year or so on compounded BiEst. I had gaps in between and it's difficult to remember exactly.

And then in the early part of this year I tried Estrogel (which is also bioidentical). I think that did pretty well for the hot flashes, but I wanted migraine relief, which estrogen of any kind never provided. The headaches are actually better using nothing.

And in early peri I just used Progest cream for at least 6 years, which honestly worked like magic for that time.

I don't get headaches too much but the anxiety and mood swings were getting really bad. Thank goodness the ht has taken care of both. I'm going to stay on them for a while and see how it goes. I enjoy being able to function again!

Hi DesRothchild

Thanx, I hope I continue to feel better too, so happy we ladies have some choice for hrt now too and not just all the artificial, synthetic stuff to choose from, how long ago did you stop the hrt just recently?? you don't sound too sure it gonna work being off it, I do hope that changes for you did you wean yourself off or just stop cold turkey??

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Hi mrsb76

I got to tell you ,you took the words right out of my mouth I was wondering the same thing about bhrt and how long you should stay on it, I gathered from reading some stuff it must be an individual thing but am still perplexed about when you would know to stop!!! Also happy to hear your feeling better too....

Any suggestions for how to keep the patch on? Mine came off this morning in the shower. I thought it was supposed to stay on whether showering or swimming. I have it taped back on now, but I don't see it lasting another 5 days.


Patrice

Probably will need to use another! I used to be on Climara - worked well for about 5 days and then tapered significantly the last 2. If you could change it every 5 days, it would be great!

Zelma

I started out on the Climera Patch and this is what I found out. It DOES work. Mine at times kept coming off also and my nurse told me to rub the area with rubbing alcohol first, let dry, and then apply the patch. I have also found some ladies say that after a while it might leave a red area and that is why they switched to the Vivelle Dot. My dr. also told me that I could switch every 5 days instead of 7 because symptoms were not entirely gone. I was on the patch for about 6 months and then I switched to sublingual tablets because I needed more estradiol to get me back to "normal". After everything I read I have decided to stay on HRT for another 3 years at least and then wean myself down for another year and then try to go off. If I do okay then great, if not then I'll get back on it. I just know I NEVER want to feel like I did when I started this rollercoaster. (Insomnia, hot flashes, unable to concentrate, panic attacks every day, crying uncontrollably, joint pain, fatigue, blurry vision, tremors, angry, and no sex drive) Let me know how you do. And remember if it doesn't bring down some of your symptoms after 3 weeks or so then ask to up the dosage. All those patches come in different strengths.

Good Luck!
Kathy42

I have heard very good things about Climara and I am going to stick with it. This is only day 4 for me and I have not seen any improvement nor do I expect any improvement right away. I do hope to feel some relief at least by my 10th day. I am going to try the alcohol to see if that helps it to stay on. I read somewhere that you can use tape also. I like the method of just wearing the patch as opposed to taking something by mouth so I am just hoping for the best. I really thought I could do this the natural way, but what's the point if I'm miserable? I just hope I don't have to stay on it for very long. This makes seven years for me and 3 years since my last period. When does it end???


Patrice