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[lisa06031510]

Hi ya,

I've been on 100mg of Estradot since August 2021 and it's helped with a lot of my symptoms, ecspicially my mental health ones. However, the last few weeks some of my physical symptoms have come back, got flushes, achy bones and itching.... Is there anything else apart from HRT I can take  to help with these symptoms?

[VanillaLover]

Hi Lisa,

Are you peri or post menopause? I’m just wondering if this is a temporary blip that you just need to ride out, horrible as it is? I am on HRT but still have a terrible rollercoaster day-day and month-month…I’m only 46 though and still having (bonkers) periods.

Vanilla x

[sheila99]

You may need to increase oestrogen as your symptoms are returning. I've had to increase twice. Where are you in your meno journey?

[lisa06031510]

I had a full Hysterectomy in January 2020 at age 36 so I am a couple of years in... The symptoms are not the worse ones I've had . Just annoying they are coming back... I'm so scared to try a different HRT or anything else as I'm scared I will have another mental breakdown and in August it will be a whole year with out one....

I am on a waiting list for a menopause/HRT specialist about my vaginal problems as my Dr had no idea what to do about it...so I guess I will wait til then... But was wondering if anyone had any remedies for it? The itching is so bad.. I've taking anti hestimines but still bad.

Also, anyone found away to cope and deal with memory loss... Mine is just getting worse.... My kids will need name tags soon if it continues lol

[joziel]

Lisa, the recommendation is that if you are at 100mcg and feel symptoms returning or that you might need more estrogen, you should get your bloods run to see what your blood estradiol levels are. Just because you may not be absorbing the estrogen at the moment for some reason - and sometimes changing how you are getting it (from patch to gel or vice versa) can resolve that, instead of increasing the dose.

So probably your first step should be to go to GP and ask for bloods to be run to check estrogen levels.

[lisa06031510]

I have asked for my bloods to be done so many times since my op as I it toon 1 year and 8 months for me to be put in the correct amount of HRT but drs refused to give me bloods saying I don't need them as they know I'm going through menopause and it's basically trial and error!!!!!
I will try again but I may have to wait til I speak to the specialist but I'm going to assume I have a long wait

[Gnatty]

Did you keep your ovaries? I am thinking that you could see if your GP will prescribe you testosterone. This would really help with some of the symptoms you describe. If you kept your ovaries they may just recently have decided to pack up and therefore would explain also return of hot flushes and then yes more oestrogen would be needed. Have you changed any medication for your mental health? Some ADs mask hot flushes so that could be something else to consider.  To get testosterone via a GP you need to say you have no libido as that's the only way you get it on the NHS.

[lisa06031510]

Nope I had a full Hysterectomy

I only had mental health issues because of menopause and the HRT helped with that .. and I actually feel like a new woman.... So much calmer... It's just these annoying symptoms coming back .. to be honest that are not the worst just confused to why after nearly a year have they come back..

Also should I be taking vitamins???

[Gnatty]

Ok, but .. a full hysterectomy means cervix too, whereas ovaries out is called an oophorectomy. Yes it is all confusing, it would be really useful to get bloods. Definitely I would push for testosterone as you would have suffered a big drop with ovaries removed.

[lisa06031510]

Yeah my cervix has gone... They have taken the lot. They was going to leave my good ovary in to prevent menopause but it fell out in the op apparently 🙈 so had both removed as well as every thing else.

I am glad it's all gone though, it was making me very poorly... Just wish I knew more about menopause....

I'm just struggling with symptoms coming back and now I'm so worried if my physical symptoms are returning then will my mental ones...

[joziel]

Your doctors are (sort of) right until now - up to 100mcg, you should treat a woman symptomatically. But if she might need more than that, you should run bloods before prescribing more - to check she is absorbing it. This is (I think) in the NICE guidelines so you can print it out and show the doctor if you like.

But you can also check your estrogen levels yourself with a home finger prick blood test from Medichecks if you really can't get your doctor to do it. It's about £40 and you order it online, do it at home and post it back...

[lisa06031510]

I will call and ask again.
So from you experience after 10 months on a dose of HRT you could need a new dose?? Ive been doing so well up til recently and now I'm terrified I. Going to go back to that dark place I was in before I was given this dose....

I'm assuming if they give me a higher dose i will  need to double my patches??

[joziel]

For sure, it's very common for women to need doses of HRT adjusted. Usually younger women need more estrogen - for some reason, their bodies are wired to be getting more (as they would be if they had ovaries). So if you have a hysterectomy before menopausal age, you for sure can end up on very high amounts of estrogen, perhaps even double what you are on now. (Of course that needs to be done gradually.)

And then as women age on HRT, they often find they need less estrogen and still can feel great - their bodies seem to have dialled back on the demand for it.

So it is normal to need to adjust it through your life.

If you're currently on 100mcg of Estradot and you need more, 125mcg would be the next increase as it's usually 25mcg each time. That would probably be with a 100 patch and a 25 patch. Or you could have some 50 patches and cut half a patch to get 25 - and then if you need 150, you can do a 100 and a whole 50 patch.

Just to check - you didn't have the hysterectomy due to endo, did you? Just because if you had endo, the advice is to have progesterone as well - even if you don't have a uterus. This is because the endo may exist in deposits elsewhere and may be aggravated if you have unopposed estrogen....

[lisa06031510]

Awww ok that's very interesting... I won't wait for the menopause specialist and will contact my GP tomorrow... I don't want to risk any other symptoms coming back...

Nope, they suspected Endo but never actually said I had it. I am 38 now so still under the average menopause age so hopefully they will increase my dose

[joziel]

If they suspected endo then it would be best for you to be on a progesterone as well.

I don’t want to scare you but the reason is that endo lesions can become malignant (cancerous) if given estrogen unopposed for years. Which is why progesterone needs to be continued if women have a hysterectomy and have endo. So in case you do have any endo patches left…

Many women actually like the body identical progesterone and find it calms them, helps with sleep and is something they choose to take rather than have to take. It can also have health benefits in terms of bone health long term too. So you might want to ask your doctor about that as well.