Oestrogen depresses FSH levels but not sure what happens when you are on a low dose oestrogen. No need to stop oestrogen as why would you want a true reading anyway? Yes it is an artificial reading. As Annie0710 says it's how you feel that's important.
As the others have said - up to a point it's not levels per se that are important but how you feel, although if you were post-menopausal that oestrogen level would be pretty low and especially if bloods were taken near to where you apply the gel. One reading alone is not definitive anyway as they will vary. Protection against osteoporosis is probably not so good at consistently low levels as you have recorded though, according to what I have read (somewhere!).
If you have a Mirena then your periods are no indication of where you are in menopause because they will stop before you actually reach menopause provided it is still functioning.
In terms of stopping HRT - DaisyB, I can't remember how old you are, sorry, but it is important to take HRT at least until the natural average age of menopause of 51/52, and depending on what dose of Sandrena you are taking and how you feel - I would suggest increasing the dose slightly, although I would stress that one estradiol reading may not give a picture of your levels generally. Interesting that you have no flushes or sweats even with a lowish estradiol level - but maybe you are taking other meds which suppress these? You may find that an increased dose alleviates your symptoms further although HRT is not a complete magic cure and other factors come into play to determine how we feel re exercise, lifestyle, stress, sleep etc, and of course ageing plays a part too.
Hurdity x
