Thanks DG for your generous replies and help. It's truly kind of you and confirmed to me that I am simply adjusting to this high estrogen dose.
I turned 30 a month ago. I'm not menopausal but suffer severe PMDD - hence the Studd treatment of shutting down my cycle with 200mcg of estrogen patches (twice a week), testosterone cream (Androfeme) 0.5ml daily, and the Mirena which will be inserted in two weeks time. My osteoporosis has been the result of hyperparathyroidism (HPT) which I am still in the midst of investigating whether it is Secondary HPT or Primary HPT (benign tumor).
I've searched high and low on the internet for a space where I can share my PMDD treatment experiences and get answers to some of my burning questions - but it doesn't exist. All of the available spaces that are designated for PMDD (Facebook, Reddit, etc) are rife with misinformation (the estrogen dominance fad is strong) and a scarcity of actual women who've tried Studd's approach of using estrogen as PMDD treatment. The shocking thing I've discovered is that this entire forum and all of your experiences with menopause are, blow by blow, identifical to the luteal phase of my cycle - for those two weeks I am struggling with hot flushes, insomnia, mood swings, depression, cognitive dysfunction (esp memory), loss of libido and fatigue. After heavy research into my PMDD condition, I've confirmed the nature of the beast: estrogen withdrawal. There's a fantastic paper by Olle Eriksson ("Studies on Premenstrual Dysphoria" 2005) that lays it out with such beautiful clarity. The brains of women with PMDD are highly sensitive to hormonal fluctuations (of any kind) due to an already constitutional, or somehow acquired, serotonin dysregulation - which explains why studies on SSRIs for PMDD have worked. Estrogen withdrawal, particularly in the late luteal phase, aggravates an already sensitive brain by further reducing its serotinergic activity. Hence...PMS.
The luteal phase, unlike the follicular phase, undergoes 3 major hormonal shifts in the female body (estrogen plummets from a high peak for 2 days after ovulation, then rises again alongside a looming progesterone, then both E and P plummet hard together) - these extremes are unmatched by the follicular phase, which only sees a rising estrogen (which in itself is energizing, libido-enhancing, mood-uplifting). It is no wonder these hormonal extremes leave us reeling. Studd's approach to shutting down the cycle is absolutely correct, but to do so with estrogen (rather than medical menopause) is brilliant.