Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Okay, after going through my daily records, I've discovered a definite pattern. When I'm on medroxyprogesterone, I sleep for no more than 4 1/2 hours per night, whereas I usually sleep from 8 to 9 hours.
Aside from taking even more pills, what ways have you girls found to cope with this?

Don't take medoxyprogesterone.

Oh boy if I had a pound for all the times I have posted about this stuff I wouldn't be leaving my home! It's a nasty synthetic with all sorts of horrible side effects including the fact that it is strongly androgenic.

Back in the 1980's when I was first treated, it used to be the progestin of first choice, but these days there are better micronised bio-identicals which are both cheap and safe.

They are sold under various names Prometrium, Microgest, Utrogestan.

So stop taking medoxprogesterone as soon as you can and get your doctor to prescribe one of these modern drugs and you should have no problems.

Sounds like a plan, thanks!
But then, when I do switch hopefully I won't be posting here as much in the middle of the night ;-)

Are the alternatives cheap to fill? I'm on medroxy, albeit a low dose because my doctor mentioned nausea being a side effect, so we started me out low to see if I could handle any side effects. He originally suggested Prometrium, but I mentioned that price was a factor (ok so I'm cheap), so he gave me medroxy instead, and it is dirt cheap to fill ($5.90 a month).

He originally suggested that I take it at night because of the nausea, but I haven't had any nausea whatsoever, so I switched to taking it at noon. I can't say that I had any trouble sleeping for the month and a half that I took it at night. Come to think of it, I haven't noticed ANYTHING with it, besides the fact that I'm taking one more pill a day now.

And if it really is androgenic, I'm going to move up my next appointment and get onto something else ASAP, regardless of the price.

Quote from: ClaireA on March 31, 2011, 12:55:50 AM
Are the alternatives cheap to fill? I'm on medroxy, albeit a low dose because my doctor mentioned nausea being a side effect, so we started me out low to see if I could handle any side effects. He originally suggested Prometrium, but I mentioned that price was a factor (ok so I'm cheap), so he gave me medroxy instead, and it is dirt cheap to fill ($5.90 a month).

He originally suggested that I take it at night because of the nausea, but I haven't had any nausea whatsoever, so I switched to taking it at noon. I can't say that I had any trouble sleeping for the month and a half that I took it at night. Come to think of it, I haven't noticed ANYTHING with it, besides the fact that I'm taking one more pill a day now.

And if it really is androgenic, I'm going to move up my next appointment and get onto something else ASAP, regardless of the price.

Very true, I don't know of anything cheaper (mine's $4 for a 3 month supply as I only take 10 per month).
I've heard that it's androgenic but also that it increases your libido, wich is something my boyfriend would appreciate but I haven't had any noticable increase yet per my records. It did take some adjustment for my body to handle it though, was real constipated several months ago.

Girls - Prometrium - or its generic Microgest - is the ONLY safe and truly effective option.

Yes Medoxy really IS androgenic - google it if you doubt me. It often causes increases in body hair, and on a few occasions it has even been known to cause male pattern baldness in both natal females and transwomen.

It may cost more to get Prometrium, but you really do get what you pay for.

Quote from: rejennyrated on March 31, 2011, 03:16:59 PM
Girls - Prometrium - or its generic Microgest - is the ONLY safe and truly effective option.

Yes Medoxy really IS androgenic - google it if you doubt me. It often causes increases in body hair, and on a few occasions it has even been known to cause male pattern baldness in both natal females and transwomen.

It may cost more to get Prometrium, but you really do get what you pay for.

:-) I already did say I will switch, so no worries here.
Thanks for the recommendation, it's exactly the sort of info I was looking for!

Is medroxypro really this bad?

I better have a talk with my doctor about this...

Would it be best to stop taking it or wait until I get something else?

Quote from: EmilyElizabeth on March 31, 2011, 11:07:16 PM
Is medroxypro really this bad?

I better have a talk with my doctor about this...

Would it be best to stop taking it or wait until I get something else?

What side effects are you experiencing? If they are more than you can handle, you should probably stop right away. But I'm thinking it may appear better in your doctors eyes that you continue taking it until your next visit but to reschedule that visit as early as you can make it. Therefore your doctor will realize that you're still very serious about hrt and that if she prescribes something else that you won't flake out on that as well!

I'm not currently experiencing any side-effects, I'm just worried with all this talk of increased body hair and male-pattern baldness

i guess my body hair hasn't thinned out like I expected it to, but I'm not sure if that's a problem at this point

Quote from: EmilyElizabeth on March 31, 2011, 11:44:36 PM
I'm not currently experiencing any side-effects, I'm just worried with all this talk of increased body hair and male-pattern baldness

i guess my body hair hasn't thinned out like I expected it to, but I'm not sure if that's a problem at this point

Are you on the 10-day cycle of medroxy?
My body hair growth has drastically diminished, not that I had much anyway but I used to use an epliator atleast twice a week, now it's hardly even twice a month, if that much even!
And this was while taking medroxy. Worry causes the most hairloss though, so by all means don't worry, just talk to your doctor about your concerns and hopefully she will do something about it.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by 10-day cycle

I'll just call my doctor tomorrow and try to get this all sorted out...

Okay, my prescription is just for 10 days a month, I guess yours is different. There's no way I could tolerate more than that! With such constipation and insomnia it's hardly worth the effort to try to build up my libido to the point where I'm interested in my bf!

Well I called her and it looks like she won't be in the office until Monday

should i continue the medroxypro in the meantime or not?  is there any danger in quitting it?

Just like with any medication, don't stop taking it without telling your doctor first - doctors are seriously not fans of people quitting medication on their own (unless you're having like major-time side effects or something).

I'm staying on the medroxy for the next month until my next appointment, but I don't want to take it any longer than that.

 

Quote from: ClaireA on April 01, 2011, 11:28:52 AM
Just like with any medication, don't stop taking it without telling your doctor first - doctors are seriously not fans of people quitting medication on their own (unless you're having like major-time side effects or something).

I'm staying on the medroxy for the next month until my next appointment, but I don't want to take it any longer than that.

Thank you for reiterating my point of a several posts up from here :-)

My doctor won't prescribe any progesterone but medroxy.  :(  I've noticed some very fine blonde chest hairs (ie. not really noticeable) that weren't there before, but it hasn't gone further than that in the 9-10 months I've been on it.  I'm switching to E injections, so hopefully they will help, but I'm going to find a new doctor and switch to prometrium once I go full-time.

Thanks for the information in this thread, very helpful :)

I had to get off of medroxy. Not good at all!! I felt insane.

Alright update!

I talked to my doctor today and she gave me the ok to stop the medroxypro, since the spiro I'm taking will likely be sufficient.  However, she did say that it might take a little longer for the testosterone to get the boot if I went off the medroxypro. 

So I guess what I want to do is get off the medroxypro now that I've got the ok, but I'm not enthused about the possibility of a longer transition... so any thoughts on the matter would be appreciated!

No your doctor hasn't got the point. The idea isn't to go off it and not replace it. That would be silly.

The idea is that you take Prometrium in its place - it will do the same job without the side effects.

you shouldn't just cut one thing out and not take the alternative.

Microgest aka Prometrium aka Utrogestan is a more modern progesterone and will replace the Medroxy in the regimen. Thus no problems with T levels staying high.

Given the choice of medroxy or nothing I would take the medroxy - but given the choice of medroxy and prometrium I would take the prometrium.

Well, I don't have another appointment until June 20th, but I will try to talk to her about a replacement then. I just wish I could get off this so I can have the piece of mind of not losing my hair overnight.  :-\

Ive been on medroxy for about two months without any noticable sideeffects at all.  i am on a low oral dose and injections of E.  seems to be working pretty well.  maybe ill try the prometrium when my current supply runs out.  but nothing terrible has happened.

Quote from: EmilyElizabeth on April 05, 2011, 03:35:49 PM
Well, I don't have another appointment until June 20th, but I will try to talk to her about a replacement then. I just wish I could get off this so I can have the piece of mind of not losing my hair overnight.  :-\

I wouldn't worry too much if I were you. All effects are gradual whether positive or negative. The best thing you can do for yourself is to put your mind at ease and make unbiased reports of any effects so you can present your doctor with it in june :-)

I think that progesterone in any of its forms is one of the more controversial/variable drugs.
Some people have intolerable side-effects on progesterone.
Others say, "What effects?"

As far as insomnia goes, I think that you will find that it's very prevalent around here and not just with progesterone users.

Yeah, I certainly have insomnia, but that's largely due to uncertainty and worrying about whether I'll pass or not (and I guess some lonliness :/)

  I'm on the same progesterone.  I am experiencing better sleep and better dreams than before.  The only thing is the twice a night trips to the bathroom due to the Spiro! 
  Joelene

Quote from: Joelene9 on April 05, 2011, 09:34:59 PM
  I'm on the same progesterone.  I am experiencing better sleep and better dreams than before.  The only thing is the twice a night trips to the bathroom due to the Spiro! 
  Joelene

I get that in mpb too - waking up and actually feeling like I had a good night's sleep rather than feeling nasty and tired.

Well, I've decided that if I'm going to be an insomniac then I'm going to make some use of it. Lately as you may have noticed I've been spending a great deal of my nights from 11p to 4 a reading and posting here, well that's about to drop of dramatically. Two weeks ago I spent an entire night reading a book from start to finish. I can't do that as it messed up my vision for the following day. The other night ago I took a walk downtown. Not only was it refreshing and wonderful but I had a nice day afterwards.
I saw something I thought to be somewhat unusual but I told my sister about it and come to find out it's a new game that lots of people play these days: ninja! A group of young adults were playing at 12:30 am at the local tobacco mill square downtown and one guy was walking in continual circles around them while taking pictures of the scenes. Cool beans!

hi ladies, how do you do?
I think this is good posted.  I had been asking about this to my doctor also, btw are you post-op?
I was asking to my doctor, is that possible to replace medroxy with single pack of drugs, such as cyclo-progynova, 11 days full E and 10 days for E+P, and 7 days for free? (it can reduces the cost absolutely)
My doctor said, good for post-op not for pre-op, what do you think ladies?
why doctor, I said?
my doctor gave me so many explanation that I didn't get it what he was talking about, indeed....hihi (so shy) , that I've only known, pre-op needs more E with spiro.

Thanks in advanced  :) :) :)

Quote from: rejennyrated on March 31, 2011, 03:16:59 PM
Girls - Prometrium - or its generic Microgest - is the ONLY safe and truly effective option.

For certain cases that's not entirely true... because of how it's derived, those with Soy and/ or Peanut allergies can potentially experience very bad problems with it.