Hi,
I wanted to reply to Sammiejane's hair concerns and also the testosterone discussion as both are relevant to my experience as well.
Re the hair shedding (and dermatologist is fine for dealing with that too unless it's something very specific or mysterious): In my experience with telogen effluvium, it is indeed caused by a change in estrogen, but in my case and in general, a drop in estrogen.
As an example, during perimenopause, I was put on microgestin, a low dose bc pill. When i got off that, about three months on, my hair started shedding massively. All over, on my brush and when i'd grab a bunch of it, not in a specific place. Seriously terrified as I have thin, fine hair as it is. This is similar to what happens after pregnancy, yes. The drop in estrogen caused a shedding cycle, though it didnt' start immediately. This generally does stop and grows back in, and it did stop and reverse itself.
Unfortunately, I started another lower dose pill, lo loestrin, then after about a year stopped that. I have since begun taking Duavee (Duavive in UK) which is an HRT much lower than either bc pill, and sure enough, in about three months time, shedding again. This is a shedding cycle, from what i understand– a reaction to a drop in estrogen, and in general will right itself, just have patience. The estrogen itself, or taking more estrogen, generally does not cause this type of hair loss. (everyone has different reactions to things, and there could always be some other reaction to it of course). But it seems likely the telogen efffluvium is a finite cycle of shedding caused by going from one level of estrogen in your system to a lower level.
As far as the testosterone: I'm in the US so things are little different, but it's still quite frustrating that a hormone preparation that has not been shown to cause any actual harm in prescribed amounts is readily available to men but seriously guarded from women for no other reason than cowardice by drug companies. That said, it is fairly commonly added to the HRT mix here as well. I requested it from my gyno as I needed help with disappeared libido and overall, general low energy and general feeling bad issues, no hot flashes. (52 and not quite in total meno but almost).
I had been taking bc pills in peri and they kill the libido for me, and now taking duavee (low-ish dose oral estrogen and a SERM). I have always had trouble with bc pills even when young, for the same reason, and they would make me feel generally emotionally awful. I have read that oral estrogen cancels out free testosterone that our bodies use, and I'm making a guess that that is totally what happens to me. and also that my T overall is lowered by menopause.
Anyway, the stuff works wonders for me!! I began using oral testosterone prescribed my my gyno and made by a compounding pharmacy. Wanted to avoid the oral formulation and am now using a testosterone cream, also compounded. It definitely brought back a good bit of my libido but also, even more pronounced, my "sense of self" that was seriously missing since peri. It's actually kind of like a miracle. I use one or two clicks a day. The cream is 4 mg/gm, and each click is 1/4 gram of the cream itself, which means I am using 1-2 mg of t. per day. I use it on upper thighs, upper arms, lower abdomen or vaginally (alll recommended by doc and pharmacy).
Regarding hair loss from T, which is also what the OP was worried about: This is a different kind of hair loss that TE. one of the (mild, uncommon and reversible, apparently) side effects of T supplementation is male pattern balding which means a receding hairline (or top of the head). If you had any of that, it would be separate from the other hair loss and unrelated to estrogen (unless more estrogen would balance out the t and cancel this side effect, not sure).
I think i might be experiencing very mild side effects to the T: more hair on my arms, legs and face and a teeeeny bit of receding at my forehead. That said, the hair on face etc is very fine, and the thing is, i always had it when i was younger, along with very fine blond leg hair and arm hair. With the beginning of peri, my hair (ie leg hair) just basically went away, which was convenient but a teeny bit disturbing. So the possible mild side effect of T is pretty much what I had before? No voice deepening or anything scary though.
I do plan on upping my estrogen next, supplementing the Duavee with a low dose patch, and then trying the patch by itself (along with progesterone of course) to see how i do on something other than oral estrogen, which, though I love the idea of being protected from cancer, don't love the idea of oral estrogen. But I'm pretty sure I'm keeping the T, it's the brightest spot in this hormone mess so far.
hope there's something helpful in all that. ; )
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Topic: Testosterone gel products and doses - Testogel, Tostran, Testim (Read 70157 times)