I am 54 and have been on and off lutera 20 mg for 8 years. About 3 years ago my old gyn who was retiring told me he wouldn't prescribe it for me anymore cause of my age. I went off for 8 months felt fine, then all hell broke loose. Long story short I saw new gyn he let me go back on my lutera and I started to feel better. This was only after going to the e/r 4 times thinking I was having some sort of break down for over two months and dying, seeeing a psychiatrist and being put on 4 different ssri's. That was made things worse. Initially no one educated me on how it could be the menopause. It was my primary doctor and a endocrinologist after tests and more tests. After about 8 months of being back on the lutera I saw another female gyn to see about her opinion on what to take long term. She tested me on the placebo week, 8 th day off and came back post menopause. She said she didn't treat with hrt and said to just stop taking my pills I didn't need them anymore. I wish she would have told me that to begin with at the initial consult, I wouldn't have wasted my time. Coincidentally right after that visit, I started to notice toward the end of the week off placebo week, I was experiencing hot flashes until a day or so of being back on. This happened for two months. Like a dummy I listened to the suggestion and tried to get geared up and do this menopause thing like every women does. Its natural process, this is what women go through. I was mentally ready. So I stopped my pills. After 1 week the hot flashes started and every week it continued to get worse. At week 7 it was no sleep, hot flashes from hell like round the clock and felt panic attacks throughout the day. This is the truth, for me. I have talked to so many women that describe thier symptoms as its just a bother. Mine was pure hell. I called the doctor and they prescribed activella an hrt. I tried it for a few days but I felt even worse. So back to the gyn for a emergency visit. He said it would be okay to go back on the lutera for now, to stabilize me and then we will look into transitioning me to a different hrt down the road again. Thank God, less than a week I felt better with the hot flashes and started to sleep again, no more anxiety and panic attacks. My question is he said I could take the lutera back to back without skipping and taking the placebo week off. I am a bit worried about it, that is ok? I don't want to have the symptoms again, and I am sleeping again, and no more panic attacks. Does anyone take them without being off for the placebo week for their menopause symtptoms? The nurse at the doctors office said it would be ok to do either way. This weekend would be when I go off normally. Worried. Can't go back to those symptoms, no way. But never been on back to back. And what about the day you would get your period? Do you need to let that happen? Sorry if this sounds so long.
Hello, I didn't take the placebo, I just threw it away because I didn't know what the filler was. I would just dump that days placebo in the garbage to indicate that day passed. Do not stop taking Lutera. symptoms can back 100x worse, if you stop taking them. I made the same mistake when I went off too soon, and I was in a hot flash sauna, like non-stop with all the horrible foggy brain symptoms. Anyhow, it's good the pills continue to work, when I went back on them they stopped working and nothing else worked so I was left with my symptoms to play them out naturally against my will. You'll be fine as long as you keep taking them.
Thank you for you reply. Did you take them back to back or did you wait till the Sunday to restart them? The doctor said it would be okay to take them everyday and not go off on the placebo week. I m a bit worried either way. Do I need to stop to get the fake period? But then the symptoms start in around day 5 off being off. Then its about two more days before some relief. Right now my symptoms have finally subsided now that I am back on for the past three weeks. What a nightmare.
In your case, take the placebo, this way you don't have to deal with thinking about it. So, the idea here is not to miss any days taking them to avoid any disruption with your hormones going haywire. Hope this helps.