Prometrium as alternative for adenomyosis perimenopause menorrhagia - UPDATED

Hang on if you can, we're almost there. My doctor says that a hysterectomy solves the problem but opens up a slew of new problems. I am going to hold out, it's got to be over soon.

I definitely will. However, with heart disease, anemia can be life-threatening and I'm starting to suffer the consequences. I just have to keep weighing things out one bleed at a time.

Hopeful,

Are you still taking Prometrium? If so, what dose?

One result from my MRI showed a thin endometrium at only 4mm. I'm wondering if I should be on Prometrium at all? (myometrium is thick and diffuse.)

I haven't had hot flashes for quite some time so maybe my estrogen is still screaming high. I'm still intermittently flooding but usually when major stress hits which is often! I can't take this much longer.

I am on 200 Mg a day for 10 days every other month. I am 58 and I suppose that is an acceptable dosage for my age. Doc says I'll be on this for 2 more years at least to keep the lining thin. Mine lining was between 4 and 6.

dmc,

From what I have read and was told by doctors, if cycles are practically non-existent (bleeding all the time) or extremely irregular as they usually are before menopause, Prometrium should be taken every day. How did you decide on exactly "200mg a day for 10 days every other month"? Curious if you made that decision on your own through trial and error or with the help of a doc....

this was the doctors prescription, I think she wants the lining to shed more regularly because I was bleeding up to 21 days a month

That's pretty much been my "norm" for a couple years now - bleeding 21, 33, 45 days straight with only 5-15 days in between.

The dose and schedule you are on does not even come close to a normal cycle. How does your doctor justify it? (not being judgmental or anything like that, just very curious!)

She was not the only doctor that recommended what they call a cyclical dose. I had been to 7 gynecologists before I just ended up giving in to the last recommendation because I just could not go on any longer in the state I was in MENTALLY

I didn't see any of these latest posts - no emails were sent to me about new posts. So I just happened to come on and see these!

Gotta, I am still on prometrium 200mg every night and I skip a couple nights a week. I have never had my lining thickness tested after being on this, so I don't even know whether mine is thin. I've taken the prometrium this way for over a year - maybe a couple years? Prior to that, the gynecologist who suggested it had me on it cyclically. Her reasoning was that cyclical use would cause any lining there was to shed. Withdrawal of progesterone causes a withdrawal bleed. Taking it nonstop (other than a day or two off per week) was to thin the lining instead.

I just passed the 12 months of no bleeding and celebrated the event. I think I am in menopause. Now I need to decide when to go off this prometrium. I was listening to an old talk by Dr John Lee on youtube about progesterone. www dot youtube dot com/watch?v=vBvH1zktooQ Take a listen to that one. Check out his web site as well - just google Dr Lee Progesterone. At any rate, I am thinking I may switch to natural progesterone creams - I need to find out more about potential issues related to when and where to put it.

Progesterone (the real bio-identical stuff, not progestins) has many functions in addition to thinning the lining.

I am concerned that if I ever quit prometrium I will grow a lining again or have hyperplasia or whatever it is called when the lining thickens post-menopause. I have no specific reason to be concerned about that, except the massive repeated hemorrhaging episodes left me with some kind of PTSD anxiety. Seriously.

But I don't think I could get a doctor to keep writing prescriptions for prometrium for the rest of my life and I don't like being dependent on doctors and prescriptions. And naturopaths and this Dr Lee seem to think natural progesterone creams are healthier and a better way to go.

I have looked for herbs and other natural ways to get my body to produce more progesterone of its own, and some herbs apparently may do this, but I would need to know the mechanism. If the mechanism involves ovulation, then I want nothing to do with that.

Hey, I also want to say something about exercise. Please watch the youtubes by Dr Tyna Moore and also Dr Eric Berg about exercise. Just do searches for Dr Eric Berg Exercise. Both of them are natural health doctors and both caution against the bad effects of too much cardio or just doing any cardio exercise when you have burned out adrenals - adrenal fatigue. Tyna Moore has discovered that weight lifting is best for her and Dr Berg suggests healing your adrenals before doing more strenuous exercise than walking. Exercise is good, but the type and intensity matter when you are trying to recover from adrenal fatigue - and if you are trying not to develop adrenal fatigue. There's an interplay among cortisol, estrogen, insulin, and progesterone, etc. That's why I think this is important. Stress requires cortisol which can be made from progesterone, which, of course, lowers the progesterone. Cortisol also raises insulin, etc. I just think overdoing exercise will make things worse. Both Dr Berg and Dr Moore talk about these issues in depth.

I'm using Dr Berg's sleep formula and it has a couple adaptogenic herbs in it. If you use adaptogenic herbs, be careful because they are MAOIs - a type of antidepressant, among other things. But adaptogenic herbs are supposed to help heal the adrenal fatigue. They include He Shou Wu, Reishi, Rhemmania, Rhodiola, Shizandra, Holy Basil, etc. Some of them may be estrogenic, which is why I waited until my 12 months were up to try them, finally.

Another thing used to lower estrogen is DIM - which is extracted from cruciferous veggies like broccoli. I had tried DIM early on and I think it was helpful at first but then I started getting diarrhea from it so gave that up. As part of the Dr Berg style Keto and Intermittent fasting I've been doing for about a year, I eat A LOT of cruciferous vegetables like kale all the time, so that may help lower my estrogen. I have not had my estrogen tested so I don't know where it is. I don't have many night sweats or hot flashes, but the prometrium may be preventing those.

Gotta, Prometrium may also prevent or reduce hot flashes, so it's difficult to know why you aren't having them.