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Can HRT make you stop sleeping until it kicks in?

Posted , 4 users are following.

caroline74698
caroline74698

I've been taking HRT for 2 weeks now and I'm hardly sleeping at all. Do I need to stick with it until it kicks in?

Does anyone know anything at all.

Thanks

Love Caroline xx

0 likes, 9 replies

9 Replies

  • Zigangie
    Zigangie caroline74698

    Posted

    I don't know but I've had sleep problems for years. The first 8 days of estrogen I slept perfect 8 hours woke up refreshed just like I had pre peri. It was short lived and went back to hardly sleeping much at all. The last few weeks have changed again and I have become like I was early peri. I sleep for a few hours and then wake up unable to get back to sleep.

    I'm really hoping that maybe the estrogen is needing to build up in my system for a while or perhaps I need a higher dose.

    If it is making some of your other symptoms better then I'd say give it a while and see. If after 3 months or so things have not gone back to normal see if you can try a different one.

    • caroline74698
      caroline74698 Zigangie

      Posted

      Hi Zigangie, thanks for your reply, I'll see how it goes.

      Can you not sleep either? Xxx

    • Zigangie
      Zigangie caroline74698

      Posted

      I've had problems since early peri. Either no sleep or sleeping so late that I end up sleeping half the day. Even when I have slept I'm not refreshed and feel shattered for the first hour or so I'm up.

      I got 8 blissful nights beginning of HRT where I felt just like I used to after 8 hours.

      It then went back to the same.

      But the last 10 days it's gone back line early peri I sleep a few hours wake for a couple then back for another few.

      It's much better than being awake all night.

      I'm hoping to try upping the dose of estrogen to see if that make a difference and if not maybe try a different one.

      I have a few days to go and I will have been on it 3 months.

      I had bad depression and anxiety that has begun to lift and no longer hot all the time so it's all good.

    • caroline74698
      caroline74698 Zigangie

      Posted

      Thanks a lot. I'll definitely stick with it then. If my anxiety and depression lifts that's the main thing.

      As long as I get a few hours sleep with no anxiety I can handle that.

      Thanks xxx

  • Sochima822
    Sochima822 caroline74698

    Posted

    Hi Caroline, I sort of recall being one of the reasons my gynecologist changed me from.HRT to low dose birth control pills. Plus my symptoms weren't any better and not sleeping is worse. If by week 2 you're not better call your doctor to get on something that will agree with your body. Once I was switched I was able to finally sleep which something we really need to heal our body's of imbalances. Hope this helps.
    • Sochima822
      Sochima822 caroline74698

      Posted

      Okay but wait at least 10-14 days would be ideal, or you can start at the first of the month clean, days before starting anything new because you want your body to flush out the HRT as much as possible, my gynecologist had me drinking lots of water to flush out the HRT, and when I started low dose birth control pills, within a few days I was feeling better. Hope this helps and do this only if your doctor or gp doesn't advise you right. My gynecologist was top notch on women's issues so I can say that she was right on every point to get me back to normal.
  • elizabeth2244
    elizabeth2244 caroline74698

    Posted

    I heard that HRTs don't really help you sleep. I was having problems sleeping and i decided to go back on Zoloft, Lamotrigine, Trazodone plus my Lorazepam and i am having a better night sleep 

    I am not up in the middle of the night and its helping me great. 

    • Zigangie
      Zigangie elizabeth2244

      Posted

      Hi Elizabeth,

      I didn't think HRT helped with sleep. But as I had done nothing else but apply estrogen gel and had 8 prefect nights I googled it and it does appear the estrogen part can normalise sleep patterns.

      I was shocked actually as I have suffered so long with this I really wasn't expecting it to do anything for my sleep. I'd always been told by doctors that it was to do with my depression. It really was quite remarkable. I apply it after a bath at 8 PM and by 11 I was so tired, not at all like me, I was sleeping by midnight and woke at 8 am exactly the same every night for 8 nights. Such a pity it didn't continue.

      However I'm at 3 months in now and sleep has gone back to being able to get to sleep then waking a few hours later. This is quite an improvement from being unable to sleep at all until the early hours and then being a zombie. So although my sleep is broken I am getting more of it 2 to 3 hours a couple awake then back again in the early hours.

      But it really doesn't compare to the initial 8 nights where when I woke up I was totally refreshed and ready for the day.

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