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Help! Taken Off Livial Yesterday!

Posted , 6 users are following.

Shazanne
Shazanne

Hi. I am really in need of advice. I have been of Livial for (Ithink) almost four years. I moved to Canada almost two years ago and Livial is not approved or available in North America so I have been bring in my tablets from home. Recently I have been feeling pretty low - I suffer depression and anxiety as well - largely due to the complete change in my life and my career. But I have also had two episodes of bloody discharge over the last few months and was also experiencing symptoms similar to PMS and had lower abdominal pain (not severe) and a feeling like a period was about to start. So my doctor referred me to gynaecologist who I saw yesterday. Not only did he know nothing about Livial/Tibolone - he had never even heard of it. I brought the information leaflet along but, while he glanced through it, he didn't really pay much attention. Basically he said that any 'suspicious' bleeding needs to be investigated and he took a biopsy of my uterine lining. Then he told me to stop taking Livial immediately!! He says he wants to see how I will be without it. I asked him what I could expect as a result and his reply that that we'll just have to wait and see!! Needless to say I am concerned about just stopping it overnight and also about what may happen over the next few weeks/months. I am already struggling with low mood and anxiety at the moment and am terrified that this will get worse. I work, so I need to be able to function normally.

Basically I am scared. Has anyone else been taken off Livial like this and how did it go for you?

1 like, 6 replies

6 Replies

  • dee45481
    dee45481 Shazanne

    Posted

    Hi Shazanne

    I stopped Livial 2 weeks ago, with no weaning, because I couldnt deal with the side effects of neck and shoulder pain and headaches.  Initially I was put on Livial for some flushing but mainly anxiety and 'foggy' brain which I used to get as PMS symptoms as well.

    The Livial worked well for these symptoms but alas the side effects.

    My GP suggested that I take St Johns Wort now I am off LIvial to help with the anxiety and - so far so good.  I am probably still a touch more anxious than I was on the Livial but far better than I would be without it.

     

  • Honeybunches
    Honeybunches Shazanne

    Posted

    Hi Shazanne

    i can totally understand your anxiety about coming off Livial in this way. I have been on Livial for two years and have no problems with it at all. But if you are experiencing odd bleeding and lower abdominal pain you need to follow the doctors advice until that is at least identified and resolved. There are lots of people on here who have stopped taking Livial and actually find their moods and anxiety improve, you may be one of them. Also it may be that in Canada they have types of HRT that are as good as Livial. If you truly feel unhappy with your gynae you always have the choice of finding a different one,

    please let us all know how you get on.

    honeybunches

    • georgina88796
      georgina88796 Honeybunches

      Posted

      Hi Honeybunches, I have been taking Livial for 15 years now,

      and am very happy with it, but since coming to the United States

      where they do not sell it, I have had to start going off of it, as the

      docs here do not like one to take it so long.  I have been on a

      1 day livial, 2 day nothing schedule, and kind of afraid that I may

      feel low and depressed, which so far has not happened ( 1 month

      so far), but have noticed for the first time in my life that my knee

      seems to be stiffer and I feel stiffer............and my skin is drier,

      hopefully I will be able to go off of it gracefully.  I am 70 and have

      a girlfriend who is 71 and still on it and swears she will not go 

      off of it as she feels great.........If I have more trouble I will give you

      the input......just wondering how many women have taken it for

      over 15 years and have gone off of it gracefully with no pain.  I

      could almost say that I feel like my body has gotten older..........

      still to early to know though......  I will have to bring my pill back

      from abroad if I decide to go back on it.  

  • maria31485
    maria31485 Shazanne

    Posted

    Hi.I am portuguese and I took Tibolone (livial)since 15 years with excelent results.Now I am 68 years and I stoped to take the pill for the last 3monthes and the hotflushes returned and my libido decreased a little.

    I would like to try 1.25 instead  2.5 That I took before.

     

    • georgina88796
      georgina88796 maria31485

      Posted

      Maria, hello there, I too have been on Livial for 15 years and it

      has been 15 excellent years, for the last 2months I have been 

      off of it, and just went into get a mamogram and ultrasound and

      have been diagnosed with breast cancer.  I will have to have

      an operation and radiation and a little chemo, but the reason I

      am writing this is because the cancer specialist I saw said that 

      my cancer did not come from taking hormone pills and that they

      are doing many tests now and realize that cancer is coming about

      mostly for different reasons, one big one being stress.  So do not

      fret.  All my girlfriends my age, 70...........are taking a pill one day

      and the next day don't take a pill, or else they just half the pill and

      take daily.....I was very impressed that he seemed to think it was

      an old wives tale about the HRT........anyways after my operation

      I am going to ask if I can go back on Livial.  It is a Gods send.

  • barbara92906
    barbara92906 Shazanne

    Posted

    Hello Shazanne, and all...some will remember me a while back, as i  started all this, when i was taken off Livial after many many years, and i am not young. ..and doctors have been saying i should come off it, for fear of stroke or cancer...was good to hear from Georgina i think, that she has been told getting cancer is nothing to do with coming off HRT, more to do with stress...understandable, stress is awful, and can affect one like that..I know from people who have had much stress in life...which i going through also, but enough said on that at themoment...my mother passed away at 64, had breast cancer which spread...and she had much stress in her life..now if you can read back, i was taken off livial about 20 months ago now,   and i did not want to, as i know on the instructions it said it is good for other lthings, like arthritic problems, and bone structures...i was worried...lo and behold my worries were right, i have been worse ever since coming off...i have had allsorts going wrong...i wont want to start again, as i have said it before...but  all the doctors advised me to come off..now i hear the news that discussions about  livial are changing, and they now seem to think, it is not worrying like that after all..as i have said before, i seem to have nearly if not all, the symptojs of Multiple Scerosis, if you look it up....i have to close now, it is late, and i am elderly and disabled more so in the last   18 months....it is a battle i can tell youi...i never thought i would be like this, and livial suited me/us well....good luck, and God Bless...not easy sometimes. best wishes to all..

     

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