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[Gilla999]

Hi all - I wondered if there is any "best practice" for lowering your HRT dose? I am taking Lenzetto two sprays a day and would like to try dropping to one, but a little nervous about rebound side effects from doing so. Has anyone got any experience to share of adjusting their dose? Is there a "best" time of the cycle to do it? (I'm on cyclical HRT).

Thanks!

[Floo36]

Are you not getting on with the Lenzetto?  When i reduced off it previously I just reduced it 1 spray per week but its up to you really.

[Gilla999]

Floo it's really weird! I've been fine - no night sweats and no middle-of-the-night insomnia. It's been a fabulous 5-6 weeks! However what I have been experiencing is a LOT of unexplained weight gain (1.5 stone in 3 months, with no changes to diet or exercise) and chronic constipation. They started together back in Jan when I first tried the Pill before moving onto Lenzetto which was 6 weeks ago. So I thought I'd do a hormone blood test last week to check up my levels, as I've been reading that excess Estrogen can cause weight gain and constipation.

 I got my results back this morning.... the lab's range during the follicular period is 98-571 pmol/L... and my estrogen level was 55,050.

That isn't a typo... 55,000 pmol/L

I'm not really sure what to think. Clearly I need to lower the estrogen, but I'm super nervous about doing it, in case it causes rebound night sweats and the insomnia again. I wondered if there's a certain time of the month it's better to do it? I also wondered if it could be because I've not taken the Utro yet (planning to do so in one week's time)... or whether what time of day you've taken the HRT affects the estrogen results?! Got a big shock when I saw that test result and my head is spinning a bit 

[Floo36]

Gilla999 I just replied on the other thread then saw this one. 

I have constipation from lack of Estrogen, everything dries up.  I drop weight when I’m low in Estrogen but some I read put on weight.  Would it be worth persevering because of the benefits and those side effects should settle in time. 

[shannpaul]

Hi.  I'm curious about this also.  I'm new to HRT.  Just started Mimvey 3 weeks ago (1.0 mg estradiol/0.5mg norethindrone daily) and am wondering if I should look for something better.  But, wondering if I should give this more time.  I've been reading that perhaps norethindrone is not as good as other progestins?  Also, felt great at first moodwise from the estradiol but it seems to have leveled out.  Does that happen?  Would love to get that mood and energy boost again!  Though I also had pretty extreme diarrhea in the beginning (eek), which has also stopped and thats a good thing.  Overall, very happy with HRT though.  Wish I had started it years ago.  Wasted so many nights lying awake with insomnia.

[Floo36]

It may be that you need a higher dose Estrogen. I have complete insomnia, no sleep without sleep medication and then only a few hours, not able to function properly. Once Estrogen dose is right for us we should be well again. Peri is difficult though because of the chaotic fluctuations.

[Dandelion]

It may be that you need a higher dose Estrogen. I have complete insomnia, no sleep without sleep medication and then only a few hours, not able to function properly. Once Estrogen dose is right for us we should be well again. Peri is difficult though because of the chaotic fluctuations.

Sorry you have complete insomnia.
Sleep meds are addictive.
I am no expert but confused as to how oestrogen helps you sleep.
Progesterone opposes oestrogen and it puts women to sleep, so I would have expected oestrogen to do the opposite.
In fact I changed from oestrogen gel to patch recently, I am currently under observation and waiting to see gynaecologist with fibroids, but since the patch my morning anxiety has increased to the point of not wanting to get out of bed and I am wondering whether to reduce it?

[Devon51]

Gilla999 did you do a home finger **** test?
I did recently and also had a reading reported at 55,000. I panicked and reduced from 3 oestrogel pumps a day to 1.5 and got in touch with my GP.
GP agreed to do a blood test to verify result and it came back at 70. So actually my levels are low and I'm moving back up to the 3 pumps. On 1.5 my sleep had been awful and I'm exhausted!

Probably the finger **** test was contaminated by using gel. I wouldn't go by that and contact your GP for advice if you can. Good luck !

[Gilla999]

Yes Devon51 this is identical to what happened to me! I panicked after the 55,000 finger **** blood test, reduced from 3 sprays to 2 sprays (against the wise advice of everyone on this forum I might add!) and then started to get my original symptoms back after only 2 days. In the meantime I organised a full blood test through my GP (thankfully they did it for me, although not without making me feel like a criminal in the process) and it came back at 350 so bang where it should be. So I went back up to 3 sprays and felt better immediately.

Never ever doing a finger **** blood test again! I use Lenzetto spray so I don't even touch it with my hands at all, but clearly the potential for contamination is still very high.

Thanks for the kind wishes x