If you have a womb, and you start taking oestrogen replacement, you also need to take a progesterone. Progesterone keeps the womb lining healthy and thin, as oestrogen taken on its own can thicken it.
Micronised progesterone is a body identical type of progesterone and is available in a capsule that you swallow. In the UK, this medication is called Utrogestan. This type of progesterone is more body-friendly than the synthetic progesterone usually found in contraception and there are no known risks with micronised progesterone.
It also has mild sedative properties so if taken in the evening, it can aid sleep and may help with anxiety too.
Depending on when you last had a period, you will either be prescribed Utrogestan on a continuous basis, or in a pattern of 2 weeks on / 2 weeks off, which is called a sequential (or cyclical) combined HRT regime. If you take Utrogestan in this way, it’s common to have a withdrawal bleed in the weeks you’re not taking it, a bit like a period.
