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[Clementine]

Hey all,

I spent hours googling and reading this forum last night (sleep is something I used to br good at!) trying to work out what to do. I had a consultation at the Louise Newson clinic last year and have been on HRT since June 2022. I should speak to a doctor again, but I can’t afford the fee and my GP is proving evasive so I’d be incredibly grateful for your experiences. I have just had a blood test done with an online company as I wondered about testosterone and the results came back that that’s in normal range, however my estradiol is very high. And frankly I feel awful, but high and low oestrogen symptoms seem to cross over to me a bit so I’ve always thought I’m low and have been using 50 to 62.5 Estradot patches (I chop them to get dose) and I have a Mirena coil. I have never had flushes as such, but sometimes my face flames and I have two vivid red patches. My skin feels ‘tight’ and I have a crawling sensation. My tinnitus is FIERCE, wakes me up sometimes. Brain fog is intermittent, I’m depressed (but I think some of that is because I feel so utterly vulnerable). I feel lousy all the time. Muscle aches, migraine with aura, fatigue. HRT is not the magic I hoped for. I am now classified as obese, I gained 3stone in 3 years, which I could attribute to lockdown, divorce and what I thought was peri, but since HRT my boobs are enormous and my stomach is huge and I’ve put on another stone. I crave carbs constantly. I decreased my patch to 37.5 last night. Does anyone know if that’s the right thing to do? I feel like so vulnerable and unwell all the time. My cycle was regular before the coil, but periods were so so heavy. I’m 54. Thanks so much for reading.

[discogirl]

Hi Clementine

I just wanted to say how sorry I am that you're feeling awful. I wanted to try and give you some support but also to boost your post as at some point today some much more experienced ladies will be able to give you better advice than I.

Firstly, from what I understand, is that high estradiol readings are common in peri; however it really all comes down to how you feel. From my own experience and I'm still trying to get my hrt regime correct. So if you're feeling awful on your current regime, then altering it may help, what I've learned though (and I understand this is really difficult when you're feeling so awful) is that with any change you have to give it time, you have to give your body time to adjust and this usually takes about 3 months.

One of my first symptoms was tinnitus, when I increase my gel to 4 pumps a day (I'm post meno, but came to hrt late and my levels were low) my tinnitus kicks off, when I decrease to 3 pumps my tinnitus goes away. But that's just me, everyone is different.

This is my own personal opinion I have never been a patient of Louise Newson and her clinic has really helped some women but she seems to be a great advocate of prescribing very high hrt which may not always work for some women.

If you're current gp is no good is there anyway you have swop to a different surgery or is there a nurse practitioner or another gp you can see at your current practice.

When my hrt was too high (and again this is just for me) my boobs were very sore and huge; this calmed down when I decreased my hrt.

I really hope you get sorted, but some other more experienced ladies will be along to help.

Take care xxxx

[Dotty]

Hi what sort of blood test did you have ? Was it a finger prick test ?

[Clementine]

@discogirl thanks so much! Your reply really helped me, it’s so isolating to feel like this!

[Clementine]

Hi what sort of blood test did you have ? Was it a finger prick test ?

It was

[Gilla999]

As Dotty will say, unfortunately finger prick blood tests don't work when you use transdermal HRT. I discovered this the hard way and lost a lot of money doing so! The potential for contamination on your fingers is huge with transdermal HRT. When I was using Lenzetto I used plastic gloves to apply it for a month (bearing in mind it's not even like Oestrogel where you even touch the product) and still my reading was contaminated and super high. If you use transdermal HRT unfortunately the only option is to pay extra for a venous blood test. If you're using Medichecks (who are great) it costs an extra £30. I know there are differing opinions on how useful / reliable blood tests are, but I can only say that for me in my journey, they have been absolutely crucial (and don't do this crazy dance month to month or day to day as is claimed). Hope this helps! xx

[Clementine]

Thanks so much for this. I’ll get another blood test done. I used my ring finger on my non-dominant hand, so not sure how much potential contamination would have been on my finger and I feel pretty rubbish, so I’d not be surprised if it was high.

[Clementine]

Sorry too for inundating the board with same thread! I’m none too bright..

[Gilla999]

I think there is still the potential for contamination - you'd be amazed! Doesn't mean your Estrogen isn't too high though, of course - just worth doing a venous blood test to be sure!

And it's not your fault - there seems to be some kind of glitch with the forum at the moment and it's happening to lots of people 

[Dotty]

Hi as Gilla99 has said , finger prick blood tests have been proved to be totally unreliable where oestradiol levels are concerned. In fact blood tests don’t really tell you anything. You don’t know what your optimum level is, so you don’t know what you’re aiming for .

If you’ve still got symptoms it’s likely that you need a higher dose of oestrogen, not less. There are a lot of ladies, me included, who need the equivalent of a100 patch. xx

[CLKD]

Not your problem - it's a Glitch so keeping to here in responses ........ I did report to Emma and earlier the Board refused my post!

[Clementine]

My account is all a-glitch and I am unable to use it correctly and respond to messages as I’d like. You’ve helped me enormously. Aware I sound cryptic!

[Claire MM]

I've been told finger tip tests are really unreliable, I would ask to have a proper blood test xx

[Hurdity]

My account is all a-glitch and I am unable to use it correctly and respond to messages as I’d like. You’ve helped me enormously. Aware I sound cryptic!

If it's still the same - you can only respond to personal messages when you have made 10 "useful" posts ie not on funny board or this and that! So you're nearly there

Hurdity x

[Clementine]

My account is all a-glitch and I am unable to use it correctly and respond to messages as I’d like. You’ve helped me enormously. Aware I sound cryptic!

If it's still the same - you can only respond to personal messages when you have made 10 "useful" posts ie not on funny board or this and that! So you're nearly there

Hurdity x

Thank you! Had no idea if this rule x