Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Rachelsquelch]

Hi ladies, I have an appointment with my GP on Friday. I had to change from HRT Elleste Duet Conti just over 3 months ago as there are manufacturing problems with it (it was perfect for me) to Kliofem. I am not in huge amounts of pain any more on this tablet but feel that it's not giving me enough oomph! & my left hip is hurting again(I know this is hormonal pain).
Is there anyway that I can get a top up of estrogen, maybe from a gel or a patch? My Kliofem is 2mg of estrogen & 1mg of norethisterone. Or should I be changing to something completely different?
I want to be confident with what I'm saying to my doctor as usually she is pretty clueless (20 something!) and want to make her understand how important this is to my mobility.

[Sgtvhilts]

Hi,
I am a very ‘naughty' experimenter!! Lol
I've sort of worked out that I must be on 4-5 mgs of oestrogen a day!!!
Very long story, so I shall try to be as brief as poss.
Patches and pills over the last 18 months.  Symptoms kept coming back.
Had a dicky fit and decided to start from scratch again- went back on Femeston 1mg sequi. 2 weeks on that - night sweating like the Titanic,so a left over 100mcg patch ‘accidentally' got stuck on my butt .
Change it every 4-5 days. Symptoms are manageable, but still get some night sweats.
Just need to ‘persuade' my GP that this feels good- my mental health is bugging me, but that is another story🙆‍♀️.
I'd love to know what the highest dose of oestrogen anyone has taken.

[Saffy]

I'm taking 2x100 patches of Estradot which is technically the equivalent to 8 pumps of gel but I believe TC may be breaking the patch record at the moment on 250  .

It might be worth you persuading your GP to let you have blood tests for oestrogen, testosterone and SHBG to see how much/whether you're absorbing. My oestrogen levels remained low on this dose until I introduced testosterone (jumped from 257 pmol/l to 700 pmol/l with no extra oestrogen!)

[Sgtvhilts]

Wow 250, that is cool- I have a way to go with a few more patches that might ‘fall' on me then lol
My last Oestrogen was 1197 and I felt like 💩!!- that was when I was on 2mgs of Femeston.
My mental health is 💩too m so that doesn't help and I probably imagine things are a lot worse than they are. But getting relief at the mo- fingers crossed for Gp next week.

[Tc]

Hiya.  I'm a record breaker!!
I am using 250. But it's important to remember that my last bloods were less than 200pmol
 E. And that was on 200 patch!! I stopped utrogestan 3 weeks ago and still no bleed. So I think it's unlikely I will be getting too high level.on 250.

Sg. Your level is pretty high at 1197. Are you post meno?  I was told I could take the HRT "pill" and it would be o.k to top up with eastrogel. I cant do that as I dont absorb the gel. But may be an option for you. Also. Are you on testogel?

Saffy. Did you notice a difference in symptoms /mood when it jumped up to 700?

Xxx

[Saffy]

Saffy. Did you notice a difference in symptoms /mood when it jumped up to 700?

Nope  . I am slightly less exhausted but that could be the testosterone. Initial upping of libido has fizzled out and I seem to have intractable brain fog, lethargy and aches/pains  . I'm starting to wonder if this is now all down to needing more sleep but getting it is another matter *sigh*.

[Tc]

I felt a bit more energetic initially on 250 so I was doing more and as a result  sleeping better and then back, hip, leg pain kicked in from my protesting muscles/joints and so couldnt sleep because of that and hey presto anxiety back so no sleep because of that and fatigue/low mood soon followed.
It's a viscious cycle.isnt it?
Any initial boost i had from upping to 250 seems to have gone.

Sorry you havent noticed improvement in brain fog and aches and pains on the increased level. One wouldve hoped that almost double the blood levels might do something!!! Have you noticed any other difference like bladder/va improvement or skin?

It's a mystery to me why I get an initial E boost when upping dose as you have described with the T ad then its straight back to square one. I cant think what process in the body would make this happen. If it works for a week or so why does it stop. I wish we knew why.

[Saffy]

Thanks TC. I don't think I have ever even felt that 'initial boost' TBH, except with the testosterone. In some ways that's worse as it builds up your hopes and shows you how you could feel, only to be let down later  . Me, I tend to expect nothing and usually get it  . I think most of the effects so far have been very slow and subtle. And there are some but they seemed to appear at around the 100 patch mark.

I did notice a slight increase in vaginal lubrication at 2x100 patches, before introducing the testosterone, so my oestrogen levels were still at 257 pmol/l at that point. Thankfully VA/bladder issues are not something I've suffered from 'though I now realise that things were a little drier. Skin generally is also still a bit drier than pre-meno and there has been no improvement there. I'm annoyed that I didn't manage to get my levels up earlier as I'm convinced the saggy face would've been kept at bay!! The thinning hair on the crown of my head and temples stopped thinning but hasn't grown back either .

What can we do? I am fortunate that my mood is OK but the rest is mystery to me and I have no idea how to fix it! So many of us seem to be throwing all we have at this and have so little to show for it...xx

[Sgtvhilts]

Hi tc
Ye my GP was surprised that it was 1197 and I felt like 💩. It make no sense to me at all
No I don't think I am post memo- 49 and very peri ( oh I rhymes).
I do feel ‘good enough' on what I'm on. Still have a few sweats, but nothing like it was.
I am confused about how much I'm actually on
1mg of oral femeston and 100 mcg patch- me thinks that is about equivalent of 4 mg orally- really don't know.
Not on testosterone.
I was wondering if I would be better off switching cycle off completely with the pill or something
Oh I don't know........
My MH is not brilliant, nothing new there, but I do feel well ‘pumped' when on the progesterone phase... do lots of nutty things yay

[Tc]

Saffy. This is what gets to me. All the time I'm spending with such low eastrogen I feel like itsxageing me and it's so depressing. It's interesting that your level shot up so much. Do you think that maybe it just took a long time to kick in from the patches, how long were you on 200 before the leap? Or do you believe it's purely down to testosterone?
The only sustained improvement I have had is less dry vulva but I put that down to switching to ovestin from estriol. Vagifem doesnt seem to be helping internal dryness and I've now got thrush for the 3rd time in 2 months.  What joy!!

Sg. I wish I could work out the amount for you. I'm rubbish with figures. Maybe someone else can help. Did you have a testosterone test  when you had yourcbloods done? 
I wonder if any ladies your age in peri take the pill instead of HRT. It would be helpful for you to know.
Xxxx

[Saffy]

Yeah, I have the bitchy resting face from hell  .

I think I was on the 200 patches for six months and at 3 months my oestrogen levels were 257 so I'm pretty sure it's the testosterone - had that measured around 10 weeks after starting. Who knows 'though, it could have taken that long for the oestrogen to kick in! xx

[Rachelsquelch]

Update on my GP visit. She said she didn't know if I could top up my estrogen with any kind of gel & she would have to write to the gynaecologist department at the main hospital to find out. She said she would be worried to just give it to me because she wouldn't know if my uterus was still being protected with enough progesterone. So I just have to wait a bit longer.

[Crazee Haze]

Hi all
Question ..... is any of u ladies taking Elleste duet 2mg ? If so when u stop the orange tablets ( oestrogen) n go on to the white tablets ( oestrogen and Progesterone) does all ur symptoms of menopause return ?
My joint pain has returned as has sore soles of feet and palms of hands. Labido is not good but even worse when on the white tablets.
I'm thinking I need more oestrogen too !

[Cacarosa]

Isn't that dangerous to alter the ratio progesterone/estrogen?

[Sgtvhilts]

To good to be true!
Some of you may know that I have been ‘experimenting ‘ with my oestrogen dosages. On Femeston 1mg and ‘accidentally ‘ fell on a 100mcg patch- bingo. Symptoms well under control. GP agreed to 75mcg, but she said “I'll just check with the meno clinic and get back to you if probs,
Aarrrrrgg- they are not happy .......... reckon I need more progesterone to go with that level of Oestrogen, they have suggested stopping the Femeston and using utrogestan or metopregesone (something like that) as they reckon I can't be absorbing much......
Wtf- they have never met me!!!!, do they not get it. I have good bleeds, so my progesterone must we working, I am tolerably symptom free on that dose of Oestrogen, but no no, so I refused to give up the Femeston, so my gp reduced the patches to 50mcg- and I am sweating again......
Why on earth do they want to change something that clearly works. I cannot tolerate utrogestan and the regime is way to confusing any way- help- any way forward?