Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[RebJT]

Hi Ladies

Well well well, finally some admittance - and it's not batches, it's the entire thing.  Just got my blood results back, now on SEVEN pumps and they are down again at 190 pmol.  They were higher than this on 5.5 pumps, and have steadily declined since the new bottle.  Testing day 12 (will now adjust to test during my own low E during period) but it's doing absolutely sweet fanny adams.  Getting vag soreness again.

There is nothing 'slight' about this, it's a defective product.  Need to email gynae but I need to get off this pronto, I can't carry on.

Reb

[MrsMitch]

Can I ask, I keep reading on here about blood tests.  Is that something my GP should do as routine to check my oestrogen levels, should I be asking for it or is it only specialist who do this? Is it also for progesterone too?

[RebJT]

Hiya

Blood tests are not 100% if you are still in peri as your own levels will fluctuate, but as my gynae says 'they're the best we have currently' so they're handy ish for getting a sense of what your HRT is doing.  I do mine privately through Nuffield, they have an online service where you book and pay online and then go for the draw at your local Nuffield Hospital, £50 for an E test.  I've been doing mine on the same day of my cycle (currently monthly due to oestrogel problems) but generally every couple of months or so. Your GP might potentially do some, but they tend to say they aren't that valuable in peri.  Post meno they are helpeful as obvs you are no longer producing your own E.

Given my age, my gynae wants me around 600 (I feel well around that level) but so far on a downward decline due to duff gel!

Reb
x

[Penguin]

Hiya

Blood tests are not 100% if you are still in peri as your own levels will fluctuate, but as my gynae says 'they're the best we have currently' so they're handy ish for getting a sense of what your HRT is doing.  I do mine privately through Nuffield, they have an online service where you book and pay online and then go for the draw at your local Nuffield Hospital, £50 for an E test.  I've been doing mine on the same day of my cycle (currently monthly due to oestrogel problems) but generally every couple of months or so. Your GP might potentially do some, but they tend to say they aren't that valuable in peri.  Post meno they are helpeful as obvs you are no longer producing your own E.

Given my age, my gynae wants me around 600 (I feel well around that level) but so far on a downward decline due to duff gel!

Reb
x

Do you have to be signed up with a doctor at Nuffield to use their testing service?

[RebJT]

UPDATE

Hi,

I switched from useless new oestrogel to Sandrena a few months ago. Although Sandrena has been wonderful compared to new Oestrogel, I never felt as good as I did on 3 pumps of old Oestrogel plus testosterone. I've been tweeking amounts and have been on 2g of Sandrena per day (sometimes a little bit more)

My blood results are: 587 pmol/L

That must mean I'm absorbing well (I think)

Unfortunately my testosterone results are high... I'll start a new thread for that one!

Banjo

Sorry, do you happen to know what your results were on oestrogel?  I'm just wondering what sort of difference in absorption you are now getting?  Just trying to decide what to do, patch or sandrena (I have both in my end of the world stash under the bed!).

Cheers

Reb

[RebJT]

Penguin

No, although they do charge a £25 self referral fee (I think this is for their GP to look at results if lab flags them as out of range) which lasts for 6 months.  YOu book online and pay for the test, then they call you to take the £25 by debit over the phone.  https://www.nuffieldhealth.com/pathology-direct

Hope that helps,

Reb
x

[chopsuey]

Another option is Medichecks, which I will be using this time. They send you out a kit and you select where you will have your blood sample taken. An oestradiol test is currently £49 plus an extra £35.00 for the sample to be taken, as the finger**** tests are not reliable if you use gel.

They also do other hormone tests, including testosterone. They often have discounts, I got 20% off mine. I have used them before for thyroid hormones and cholesterol checks and found them pretty good. You get a doctors report included.

[Penguin]

Penguin

No, although they do charge a £25 self referral fee (I think this is for their GP to look at results if lab flags them as out of range) which lasts for 6 months.  YOu book online and pay for the test, then they call you to take the £25 by debit over the phone.  https://www.nuffieldhealth.com/pathology-direct

Hope that helps,

Reb
x

Thanks we have a Nuffield nearby where I have been to before, so will give it a try. What is best day to check to see if you are absorbing hrt in a sequi regime, please?

[Banjo1973]

UPDATE

Hi,

I switched from useless new oestrogel to Sandrena a few months ago. Although Sandrena has been wonderful compared to new Oestrogel, I never felt as good as I did on 3 pumps of old Oestrogel plus testosterone. I've been tweeking amounts and have been on 2g of Sandrena per day (sometimes a little bit more)

My blood results are: 587 pmol/L

That must mean I'm absorbing well (I think)

Unfortunately my testosterone results are high... I'll start a new thread for that one!

Banjo

Sorry, do you happen to know what your results were on oestrogel?  I'm just wondering what sort of difference in absorption you are now getting?  Just trying to decide what to do, patch or sandrena (I have both in my end of the world stash under the bed!).

Cheers

Reb

Hi Reb,

Sorry, I never had oestrogen levels measured before, I only ever went on symptoms.

I can only guess, but 6 pumps of new oestrogel only just kept symptoms at bay. I didn't ever feel good.

I am now finally settled on 2mg of Sandrena per day, 1 in morning, one at around 5/6 pm.

I took on board the tip of spreading over a smaller area and this has helped.

It has taken a while for me to settle on my new regime (approx 4/5 months) and I've made a few mistakes along the way (increasing my testosterone). However, even from day 1 it's been a massive improvement from new oestrogel.

It might be worth giving it another go, but try a lower dose and split it. (I never needed to split doses with oestrogel - but for some reason I need to with Sandrena).

Good luck and keep up updated!

[RebJT]

[/quote]

Thanks we have a Nuffield nearby where I have been to before, so will give it a try. What is best day to check to see if you are absorbing hrt in a sequi regime, please?
[/quote]

During or around your period as this is when your own E is lowest, so will give you most reliable indicator of what the HRT is giving you.  I keep a daily spreadsheet on a 28 day calendar (note symptoms doses etc) so I know I''m always booking on the right day of my cycle - I had been testing day 12 (peak my own E day) but just about to bump this to during period.  Key thing if you want to do multiple tests over time, do them on the same day of your cycle - so say you book day 5, then next time also test on day 5.  My gynae tells me not to apply gel on the morning of the test (and defo not on your blood draw arm) but opinions are split on this, again key is to do the same thing each test, so you are comparing like with like.

x

[RebJT]

Banjo

Thanks love, thought you might say that!  OK I'm gonna sleep on it and see what the gynae says when she replies, but will give whatever a whirl over the weekend as this gives me a few days to wobble, then I've only got to limp to Easter and can wobble some more!

I can guarantee the bright spark who decided to maximise profit margins on oestrogel by doing whatever it is they've done was a bloody man!

Reb
x

[Christine79]

If you have had problems with the new bottles, was it the batch codes that they have reported as faulty? Mine was a different batch. I haven't heard anything back from besin after sending a bottle back via my pharmacy.

[Penguin]

Thanks we have a Nuffield nearby where I have been to before, so will give it a try. What is best day to check to see if you are absorbing hrt in a sequi regime, please?
[/quote]

During or around your period as this is when your own E is lowest, so will give you most reliable indicator of what the HRT is giving you.  I keep a daily spreadsheet on a 28 day calendar (note symptoms doses etc) so I know I''m always booking on the right day of my cycle - I had been testing day 12 (peak my own E day) but just about to bump this to during period.  Key thing if you want to do multiple tests over time, do them on the same day of your cycle - so say you book day 5, then next time also test on day 5.  My gynae tells me not to apply gel on the morning of the test (and defo not on your blood draw arm) but opinions are split on this, again key is to do the same thing each test, so you are comparing like with like.

x
[/quote]

Thanks so much!

[RebJT]

If you have had problems with the new bottles, was it the batch codes that they have reported as faulty? Mine was a different batch. I haven't heard anything back from besin after sending a bottle back via my pharmacy.

Hiya

I have so many in a box under my bed (I had three repeats in one go) that I'm yet to check all the batch numbers, but the ones I've collected to send back already are not the batches they are saying are faulty, and I've thrown many more away, before I joined the dots and realised something was up. This confirms my suspicion that it's the product and not just the bottle.  I sent my gynae a list of blood results from last May (when I was on the old stuff) and then through the winter, testing monthly from the new cyclinder, and my numbers literally go off a ski jump, she couldn't believe how terrible it is.  She says if women are moaning, they've reformulated the product in her experience.  I am going to send these bottles back, but I've already emailed them to say that focusing on certain bottles is a red herring, because it's all of it.

Gynae has prescribed estradot, should be here by DPD tomorrow.  And if that fails, another go at Sandrena, but I felt so jittery on that I'm a bit loathe to go through that again!

Reb

[MrsMitch]

I'm wondering ladies, can you confirm if, as my symptoms are coming back with a vengeance, the amount I'm going to increase my oestrogel by is likely to be right please?
I'm on 4 pumps per day and so because the dose delivered by the new bottles is less than it should be I was going to add an extra pump a day to 5.
I can always tell when my dose isn't right because the first symptom is disturbed sleep and that's been about 3 weeks now plus I'm starting to get very hot again!
Thank you in advance.