Hello all,
I am extremely happy to have found this community. I live in Canada and we seem so behind the times when it comes to sharing perimenopause and menopause information, as well as with healthcare providers understanding our issues and offering medical options.
I'm on my last weeks of being 51, was prescribed many antidepressants and had to go on disability from my job last year over what, I can only see after dozens of tests, was a badly managed perimenopause.
I could not believe no one had ever told me about so many perimenopause symptoms (chills, joint pain, brain fog, memory lapses, heart palpitations, increased anxiety, etc.). Having that information seven years ago, even just 3 years ago, would've saved me so much time and pain. This is why this board is so important.
In doing research, I finally saw a link and realized that in spite of my doctor and the nurse practitioner's constant refusals to have my hormone levels tested "because I was on the pill", there was no issue as I was on a progestin only pill. I finally got tested last January and very low estradiol and FSH at 109 IU/L.
In late March, my GP prescribed Prometrium (Utrogestan) 200mg and 2 pumps of Estrogel. I then found out just before walking out of the pharmacy, that the progesterone contained peanut oil (?!) to which I am allergic, and the estradiol was too much for my body to handle (headaches, nausea, bloating, weight gain and diarrhea of all things!)
In spite of reading everything I could get my hands on, and listening to Dr. Newson's podcasts, the only place I saw that two pumps of estrogel was a lot for someone with very low estradiol, was on this board. I kept thinking I was intolerant to it and the gynecologist told me in August not to try taking it anymore.
I read articles from Dr. Jerilynn C Prior at the Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research and moved to take only 100mg progesterone (made with sunflower oil this time) orally for three months and validated this course of action with the same gynecologist. As I kept struggling with chills, hot flashes, memory lapses, and most especially a complete lack of endurance, a cardiologist encouraged me to try estrogen again in October and little by little, I'm now up to taking 1.5 pump per day. Creating a "base" with the progesterone helped me handle the Estrogel, and bonus, the gel took away the bad heartburn caused by Prometrium. (P.S. I don't have a heart issue, all my tests came back clean.)
I am still struggling with hot flashes in the early morning hours and the constant lack of endurance. I'm hoping to increase my estrogel dose to 2 pumps next month and will see with my GP tomorrow and the gynecologist in February if it means 200mg of Prometrium which leaves me quite lethargic without more estradiol to compensate. I don't think my doctors will be open to prescribing me any form of testosterone, but they're not too happy with me still being on disability so we'll see.
Thank you so much for sharing your experiences, reading them has helped me tremendously. If there's anything I can do to help anyone out here, I will aim to pay it forward.