Hi jedigirl
No wonder you are confused! You are peri-menopausal and there is also a lot of information out there - some of it contradictory, and some of it not corroborated by scientific evidence from trials.
Did you read the article on peri-menopause on this site?
The most difficult thing is that your cycle and hormones are fluctuating and you are also taking HRT so it is difficult to determine what symptoms you are feeling are related to your own cycle and what to the HRT. Unfortunately this uncertain state of affairs will continue somewhat until your cycle weakens and your own oestrogen levels fall so that HRT can do its job.
The other thing to bear in mind is the natural menstrual cycle - we are biologically programmed to feel at our best increasingly towards the midpoint of the cycle when ovulation takes place. This is when oestrogen is "dominant". Oestrogen then decreases (apart from a bit if a blip) and progesterone increases. Some women don't feel any serious adverse effects from the progesterone increase which causes physiological changes in the body. However most women do notice the effects of the sudden decline in progesterone ( as well as the oestrogen) which together cause the main symptoms of pmt just before the period and overlapping with its start. As members on here have noted in their natural cycle - when the progesterone has gone and the oestrogen starts to rise, it is like a cloud lifting.
HRT is a crude way of reproducing this effect - without the complex interplay of all the other hormones and the balance in our endocrine system as happens naturally. It is not ideal - and especially when you are peri-menopausal and your own cycle kicks in. The "better on progesterone" effect that many women are reporting on here is a result of the normal pmt caused by progesterone withdrawal and the associated reversal of the physiological changes that occur in the last week or so of the menstrual cycle. It is not the oestrogen causing these symptoms.
My bet is that most of you who are feeling this - if you were on a longer cycle, you would soon be feeling even better on the oestrogen only phase. It is normal pmt - not caused by the absence of progesterone, but the physiological effects of the change in levels (it has been likened to withdrawal from a drug - especially with HRT).
As I said HRT does not exactly reproduce the same effects as our endogenous hormones (ie the ones we produce).
I can't say what's happening in your case and your cycle - and I don't think anyone can, but for the time being I would keep to the same dose for a while. The crucial thing is - does the Femoston 1/10 deal with your flushes and sweats? If so then it is likely to be the right dose of oestrogen for the time being, if your cycle is still strong.
I agree with Dancinggirl that you may well get fewer side effects from transdermal HRT.
Hope this helps!
Hurdity x
