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[Gilla999]

I have worked out that my issue is that having gone from sky high Estrogen and low progesterone for the last two years of perimenopause (confirmed by tests) my Estrogen is now falling and (a) causing estrogen withdrawal in the luteal phase of my cycle / cyclical night sweats and severe night time wakening insomnia and (b) probably not falling at a stable level, I imagine there are some fluctuations going on, though with "on the spot" blood tests this is hard to prove. However my Estrogen level is still 'officially' in the ok zone.

I know that HRT can top up dwindling Estrogen levels but I'm not sure if that's the right approach for people really struggling with falling / fluctuating Estrogen also? As I guess even if I topped it up with HRT, the fluctuations will still occur? Really I would dearly love to suppress ovulation entirely but I'm not sure if this is even possible?

[sheila99]

Peri is always difficult, you're guaranteed to have too much or too little of something at some point. The only bright spot is that it does get easier as you get towards meno. I'm not sure testing oestrogen levels is very useful when your own hormones are fluctuating so much. I would increase oestrogen until your flushes go. This level should sort out the insomnia though that will take longer, it was 3 months for me.

[Gilla999]

Thank you Sheila, this is really helpful. I tried taking Estradot 25mg but gave up after 4 days (!!!!!) when it didn't sort the night sweats and awakening..... I guess I need to stick with it a bit longer! The only other option I suppose is the birth control pill, but I've not read a lot of success stories on here with that and perimenopause...

[sheila99]

You need to stick with it for longer, they say you should give any new regime 3 months to settle. Flushes will usually go in a couple of weeks but most other symptoms take longer.
  You need to do some research before using birth control, most of them use progesterone whereas it's the oestrogen you need to replace. There are a couple that are recommended but I don't know what they are.

[CrispyChick]

Hi

I'm in peri and I think I'm lower estrogen as my symptoms would point tonthis. Tried many combined pills, none of them worked. Ended up feeling pretty dreadful. Not sure why as I was on them happily fir years.

Now started hrt. Been 8 says. Feeling not good at all... But no worse than when trying the pill... So trying to stick it out.

Nausea started for me on day 5, so 4 days defo not long enough for changes. The best pill I tried took a good 3 weeks before I felt a bit better, unfortunately that one gave me migraines.

I totally understand your question. I'm 44, and pretty sure my hormones are all over the place, rather than stable at a low level... But there is nothing left to try...

[Gilla999]

Thanks for the reply Crispy. What dose of HRT are you on? And how do you feel with it, what's made you feel bad?

Yes I've never had good experiences with the many pills I tried in my 20s so I'm not sure what would be different now, although at this point I am utterly desperate so would try anything to get rid of the cyclical insomnia.

I really hope the HRT settles for you soon. I've always found Sturgeon to be a very good anti nausea pill. It's OTC for travel sickness but works for hormonal sickness too xxx

[CrispyChick]

Hi.

I've started femoston 1/10. I'm only day 8, so still on estrogen only. Apart from the nausea, I feel woozy and off. I've felt like this before, but was probably at the start of all this 3 years ago.

I've tried sturgeon before, but I think it spaced me out. I've got ginger tablets arriving tomorrow. When I've checked bsck on my diary, I definitely felt a bit like this starting the first pill. I had assumed, perhaps wrongly, that is was thd prog making me feel awful... Not so sure now

Will keep plodding on, as I was dreadful on nothing. Not looking fir ward to the prog trual over Xmas 😬.

Did you get any side affects on your 4 day trial? If not, you've defo nothing to lose. Was that a pill or patch?

Good luck x

[sheila99]

Crispychick if the nausea doesn't settle soon it might be worth trying a transdermal hrt, there are often fewer side effects that way.

[Gilla999]

Yes now you mention it, I discovered recently that Sturgeon has mild sedative qualities so not surprising you felt spaced out. It's funny how in my 20s I could pop any old pill or drink till the cows came home and not feel a thing... now in my 40s even the clocks going back an hour knocks my delicate disposition out of sync 😂😂

Keep me posted and let me know how you get on. I really hope Christmas works out ok for you. The only side effect I had in 4 days of 25mg Estradot was very swollen painful boobs... which is my classic estrogen dominance symptom and was because I wasn't taking high enough progesterone to go with it (I've been prescribed a bio identical prog lozenge from a specialist as couldn't cope with the Utrogestan side effect of exhaustion the next day - I understand however that the vaginal Utrogestan has much less side effects so i could potentially try that next time).

Probably the best thing I've done myself over the last 12 months is track EVERYTHING. It was only through this i finally worked out it was being caused by my hormones. Keep tracking!! Xx