Very interesting reading all the letters. The problem i...

Women's health
1

Very interesting reading all the letters.

The problem is that conventional HRT contains oestrogen and progesteron - and maybe some of you like me cannot tolerate the progesteron part of hrt - therefore we have been offered Livial.

When i started it there were not a lot of trials and it was just on the market, but now i see that a lot of the symptoms i have seem to be related to Livial. Problem now is that if you come off it and have flushings every 20 mins day and night what do you do? Obviously you go back on the Livial and just tolerate the side effects. This i have done 4 times now as gp can offer nothing else to help the fliushings. I am presuming that there are a few ladies in the same circumstances as I am.

My worst problem is that i have muscle pain related to fibroymalgia/me, and my skin is dreadful (not nice to be in your 50's with acne). Also when i went onto Livial re consultant at hospital derm. department i was told i may have to stay on it for life! as i am not making Oestrogen at the appropriate level needed for health and cannot tolerate progesteron. I had Oestrogen patches which i felt were wonderful, but they can cause cancer problems so i was taken off and put onto the livial.

Anyone else having acne related to Livial? I have now contacted Livial directly and my gp is going to contact them himself and see what the latest trials say about long term problems (over 10 years on this medication).

Oh to be a man and not have all this menopause problems.

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2

Shortly after starting on Livial, after a total hysterectomy, I noticed that my face appeared flushed and warm. I wrote this off as due to the severity of my illness and hospitalisation prior to surgery. However, as the months went on my skin became dreadful. My cheeks were bright red, I developed adult acne and my face was always incredibly itchy. My GP wrote it off as 'something that happens' however in all of my life, even in my teens, I never had acne like this and nothing would help. My GP said 'avoid stress, alcohol and use this cream' which did nothing to help. Here I am on Livial, 3 stone overweight, terrible skin and adult acne, sleepless nights, mood swings, terrible depression, joint pain....from a person who was (pre Livial) a very happy and level headed person.

I have, today, visited my GP and said that I am weaning myself off of Livial. The only response I had from the GP was 'you know your symptoms will return with a vengeance!' Compared to what I am like now, this can only be a change for the better!

I visit my homeopath tomorrow and choose to try alternative and natural therapies that won't leave me in the same sinking ship that Livial has.

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3

[quote:83b4359f30=\"F.\"]Very interesting reading all the letters.

The problem is that conventional HRT contains oestrogen and progesteron - and maybe some of you like me cannot tolerate the progesteron part of hrt - therefore we have been offered Livial.

When i started it there were not a lot of trials and it was just on the market, but now i see that a lot of the symptoms i have seem to be related to Livial. Problem now is that if you come off it and have flushings every 20 mins day and night what do you do? Obviously you go back on the Livial and just tolerate the side effects. This i have done 4 times now as gp can offer nothing else to help the fliushings. I am presuming that there are a few ladies in the same circumstances as I am.

My worst problem is that i have muscle pain related to fibroymalgia/me, and my skin is dreadful (not nice to be in your 50's with acne). Also when i went onto Livial re consultant at hospital derm. department i was told i may have to stay on it for life! as i am not making Oestrogen at the appropriate level needed for health and cannot tolerate progesteron. I had Oestrogen patches which i felt were wonderful, but they can cause cancer problems so i was taken off and put onto the livial.

Anyone else having acne related to Livial? I have now contacted Livial directly and my gp is going to contact them himself and see what the latest trials say about long term problems (over 10 years on this medication).

Oh to be a man and not have all this menopause problems.

This message was automatically imported from the original Patient Experience

12 years of Livial - cant get off it, cant find another HRT to suit me, have got real bad acne!!!!!

thanksF

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4

[quote:7ab82cea46=\"D.\"]Shortly after starting on Livial, after a total hysterectomy, I noticed that my face appeared flushed and warm. I wrote this off as due to the severity of my illness and hospitalisation prior to surgery. However, as the months went on my skin became dreadful. My cheeks were bright red, I developed adult acne and my face was always incredibly itchy. My GP wrote it off as 'something that happens' however in all of my life, even in my teens, I never had acne like this and nothing would help. My GP said 'avoid stress, alcohol and use this cream' which did nothing to help. Here I am on Livial, 3 stone overweight, terrible skin and adult acne, sleepless nights, mood swings, terrible depression, joint pain....from a person who was (pre Livial) a very happy and level headed person.

I have, today, visited my GP and said that I am weaning myself off of Livial. The only response I had from the GP was 'you know your symptoms will return with a vengeance!' Compared to what I am like now, this can only be a change for the better!

I visit my homeopath tomorrow and choose to try alternative and natural therapies that won't leave me in the same sinking ship that Livial has.

******* Please get in touch with me and let me know how you got on - im still on Livial, and yes skin is a real problem, not even the consultant at derm in hospital can help.

I would be interested in any homopathic or herbal remedies that have now worked.

Am desperate now

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5

Has anyone got any herbal or homopathic remedies for every 20mins flushes and something that really works.

Desperate woman, all that works just now is Livial and after many years i am suffering the consequences of bad bad acne - being late middle aged this is not good at all.

Help?????????????????

6

:roll: Bit of a late reply, but it may help someone else...I have found alternative remedies actually do work for hot flushes, and I was the biggest sceptic out! I, too, was having every-20-minute-all-through-the-night hot flushes which were driving me insane and making me desperate. The doc put me on tibolone, which worked really well, but was contraindicated because I had a DVT years ago and he \"forgot\", so I came off it.

I take sage tablets, which are a natural remedy for fevers and sweaty problems, including hot flushes. I also drink sage tea, which is definitely an acquired taste, and take evening primrose high dose. That combination really works for me, it took about 3-4 weeks to take effect, so you can't expect immediate relief. Before that combination, I tried Agnus Castus, something called Dong Quai, and Black Cohosh, all of which were recommended by a herbalist for menopausal symptoms, but they didn't do anything for me, but do work really well for friends.

It's interesting to find that a lot of male doctors (mine included, who is a lovely guy) aren't very sympathetic, but a lot of herbalists and alternative therapists are female!

Some of these remedies have been around for thousands of years, so I would have faith in them! :D

7

Hi I am nearly 50 and started menopausal symptoms 3 years ago. I have just had over a year of being peiod free. I have tried several HRTs but none suited. I have tried all the herbal things, angus castus, dong quai etc. I found with Livial I put on loads of weight, had vaginal soreness, headaches, and still had hot flushes on it, it did increase libido and helped with vaginal dryness, but the cons out weighed the pro side of it.

I hope this reply will help a few people. I am no 'eco warrier' who only believes in natural medicine, as I have to take thyrozxine daily.

However I buy Glucosomine which I also take daily from Simply Supplements and in the brochure was something called MACA which was supposed to help with libido, so I thought I would give it a go as mine was virtually none existent.

Took it for a month and what a difference! Increased libido, better moods, clearer head, less severe hot flushes and a good nights sleep. I didnt take any the following month as it is expensive, boy did know it.

So I researched MACA, and if you just put in Maca in google you will find better sites to get it from. I now get it from Earthrise Foods, I take 2 900mg pills a day and 1 teaspoon of maca powder on cereal. It is totally organic and is just like a vegetable grown in Peru. You can use the powder in cakes even, it is just a food supplement.

Would be interested to hear of anyone else using it.

jillybean

8

Hi jillybean

I wonder if it might be worthwhile you copying and pasting your posting into a new thread called eg \"MACA - alternative to Tibolone\" or something like that to encourage more people to read it?

You may also like to consider posting it in the menopause medical topic - see http://experience.patient.co.uk/discussion_list.php?d=61. Again there could be quite a lot of women out there interested to read it.

Hilary

Patient Admin Team