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[Pippa52]

Hi lovely ladies - I am really struggling with my HRT dose regime.  Am on Estradot patches a 50 patch and half a 25 patch.  Meno consult advised a 75 patch after swopping from Lenzetto but that was way too high so have been slowly putting up the dose as advised and for the last week have been on the above dosage.  Was feeling not too bad for a couple of days just minor headaches etc and then suddenly again last night one week in on the dose I had a really horrendous night of high heart rate, huge anxiety, headaches, dizziness, bloating, shaky and jittery etc and am really starting to feel at the end of my tether.  No way am I going to up the dose again at this point - have a blood test due next week and a telephone consult on 20th.  I know I need to stay on a level dose for quite a while but am really going to struggle to keep on if I continue feeling like this. I will try and stick it out till the blood test as it will give at least a guide as to the level although am well aware its the symptom control that is important.  Just felt like a vent as am so fed up after weeks and weeks of feeling so rubbish and just when I had 2/3 better days this comes and kicks me back down again.  I am guessing it's because one week in the levels have gone up and are staying up at the higher level.  I was on 3  pumps of Oestrogel for over 20 years which I gather is an equivalent dose but I never had symptoms like this on it    Sorry for the whinge - this all just seems endless. x

[joziel]

Pippa, as you know I am dealing with the same and you're the only other person I've met who's on 62.5  And just like you, it was one week after I increased the dose that everything went really crazy and I ended up in A&E I was so worried. Things have gotten very slowly better since then (not totally resolved yet) but that might help you some.

I think really you need a blood test to check your levels. Maybe you are absorbing from the patches way better than the Lenzetto and actually have high levels, for eg.

My bloods were only 233nmol on the 50 patch - but retrospectively I should have stuck it out there until these symptoms totally resolved before increasing. And maybe even repeated the bloods in case they were an anomaly and usually higher.

But I didn't realise the symptoms were due to the estrogen at the time so I increased anyway. Now I'm at 62.5, I'm going to give it a full 12 weeks at this dose and see what is happening then. (Now at 6wks.) I am sleeping better. The throbbing is still happening but maybe I am just learning to sleep through it or perhaps the intensity of it is less. It is also coming and going for shorter periods instead of just happening non-stop all night. So since I can see some improvement I have a little bit of hope that it will resolve if I give it another 6wks. If it doesn't resolve, I will have to drop down to 50 - and give that 12 weeks.

I am also going to try a low histamine diet - starting tomorrow - for 2 weeks. My hunch (wild stab in the dark guess really) is that some of us are teetering on being histamine intolerant but usually we are just about okay and our bodies can clear the histamine. When we add in extra estrogen, it tips things over the edge - especially since our bodies aren't used to it - and we produce way too much histamine in response to the estrogen and get histamine intolerance symptoms. So - what we are both experiencing being due to high histamine.

If you want to join me on the low histamine diet trial, I started another thread about it here. And posted some more links about histamine intolerance and how it works, there.

[Pippa52]

joziel - thank you so much for your reply can't tell you how much I appreciate it.  That is really really interesting that you found your symptoms went crazy after a week on the increased dose.  I know that it is important to stay on a dose and let things settle down something I haven't been able to do as was advised to increase dose slowly which I have been doing over the past weeks but this is a whole new ball game of scariness!  I HATE the tachycardia (up to 150bpm sometimes) and I hate feeling this jittery, hugely anxious and wired with grotty headaches.  I was only on one and a quarter sprays of Lenzetto so seeing that a 50 patch is equivalent to 3 sprays of Lenzetto amazed me.  My bloods on Lenzetto dose were 140 but I was getting similar symptoms that I am now which is odd.  When I first started Lenzetto they went up to 240 so its strange why it went down so much as never changed the dose. Ho hum.  Interested  to learn more about the histamine diet.  I suffer from hayfever and mild excema so am pretty allergy prone plus several foods give me migraines, (citrus fruits, chocolate, bananas, dairy, fish).  Thanks again for replying. I am so so very pleased to hear that your symptoms are improving that is really great news as I know how long you have been suffering too.  Feel lost and fed up right now as it never seems to end but fully realise there are many lovely ladies out there going through similar xxxx

[Nicodemus]

I don't have any advice but just wanted to say huge sympathies to you both, it is scary when you're struggling with symptoms and not sure if/when they will settle.

The histamine thing is really interesting, I hope you get some positive results joziel (and you Pippa if you decide to try it).

[joziel]

I think I am delaying starting the diet because I'm afraid to start it and for it not to help     

But tomorrow is the day!!

Pippa, I reckon histamine could be playing a role for you too what with all that going on. Why don't you join me on a 2 week low histamine diet thing? There are some supplements which help as well.

I hate the palpitations. They are not the skipping a beat ones I had before HRT, it is this light fluttering which I feel even across my upper back and just results in feeling PUMPED.    I had it bad a few hours earlier this morning but it has subsided now. Sheesh...

No doctors have anything to suggest on this one that I've consulted so far, except for reducing estrogen. Which isn't helpful if we need it for other reasons.

[Pippa52]

Nicodemus thank you so much for  your kind words - much appreciated. xxx

[Pippa52]

joziel - completely understand your reticence but think you are absolutely doing the right thing in trying the diet - what have you got to lose as it might well be the answer for you.  I will keep everything crossed big time for you that it really helps.  I am very interested too but just want to get a bit more level because right now I am about as much use as a chocolate teapot  .  I have managed to get an earlier telephone consult next Tuesday with Meno consultant so am hanging on in there till then at the 62.5 dose although I have to say today I have felt so spaced out and migrainey and wobbly that I have been very low rent all round. Soo frustrating I am not good at doing not a lot!  Will watch with interest though your progress on the diet and wish you well and really really hope it helps you    xx