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[Jett]

Hello everyone,

I wonder if I could ask for your advice and opinion? I have been asking a menopause specialist about trying Testosterone to see if it will help with my crazy dry eyes.  The doc said my estrogen needs to be optimised before I try it.  How do you know if your estrogen is optimised? Do they test or go by symptoms?

I have fibroids so don’t really want to up my patch from 50 if I don’t have to.  My worst symptom is my dry eyes, otherwise things are not perfect but not too bad and the thought of potentially upping estrogen and starting bleeding or upsetting my fibroids again does not feel very appealing.

I am going armed with documentation that suggests more estrogen may make my eyes worse just in case.

Does anyone know how the optimising is measured?

Thank you so much in advance for any insight,

Jxxx

[sheila99]

If it's the NHS they just go by symptoms. Blood tests are often unhelpful anyway as different people feel good on different levels. It's normally the lowest amount that controls your symptoms but in your case obviously the fibroid are a concern and as you say you may be better overall on a lower dose. How is your libido? The NHS will rarely prescribe T for anything else. I'm not aware of it helping dry eyes but it helped my muscle weakness and motivation as well as libido.

[Jett]

Thank you Sheila99,

My libido is trashed and has been for a good few years, so I will emphasise that.

I think I will try to stick at the current estrogen dose I’m on and not upset things too much.

Jxxx

[Cookie25]

Hi Jett

Have you tried Sea Buckthorn for your eyes?  Helpful for all dryness.

Take care
Cookie x

[Dotty]

Oestrogen being optimised means that your oestrogen is at a level where your symptoms are not there.

Have you tried Viscotears for dry eyes? I was prescribed that and Systane Ultra Drops by an eye consultant.

[Jett]

Hi Cookie and Dotty,

Yes Cookie I am taking the Sea Buckthorn and while it helps my VA it doesn’t seem to make any difference with my eyes.

I have HyloForte red for my eyes plus Hycosan gel for overnight Dotty.  I have tried so many but I don’t think I have tried Viscotears so I will take a look- thank you.

Jxx

[Berto77]

I have been suffering from dry eyes in the past few months, I went for my usual check up at the medical centre (blood pressure check) but it was the nurse and she couldn't do an increase in dose as I needed to see the GP for that and there are no appointments until next month. So I tried adding on an extra half a patch (I use evoral 50 so added an extra 25mg)and after a few days really the dry eyes improved as did my dry skin and lots of other symptoms that had been creeping back in so I really think my estrogen needed to go up at this point. I'll see my GP in a few weeks to formalise this change. Looking online it seems some sources say HRT can cause or contribute to dry eyes so perhaps you are on the right track with the testosterone! Do let us know how it goes!

I also have a fibroid and prior to starting HRT I had a lot of bother with it causing frequent bleeding but since being on HRT my monthly bleed is regular. I use 200mg of Utrogestan vaginally 12 days a month and that seems to control any issues with it and certainly I do not experience any noticable symptoms anymore. I don't have any experience of testoserone so I cannot speak to that.

Another thing that might help with dry eyes is using a humidifier.