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[wuzzie]

Hi Ladies, I’d be really grateful for a little help understanding my estrogen levels.  I’m post-menopausal (66)

Long and the short of it is I was on Estradiol but my estrogen levels were low (112 pmol) so I’ve been put on Lenzetto spray as GP thought I
wasn’ t absorbing the gel.  Had another blood test and levels are now 218 pmol but I’m still struggling with anxiety which I never had pre-menopause.

Is 218 pmol considered on the low side still and what should be the optimum level if there is such a thing! 

Thanks so much.

[sheila99]

218 is still low. People fell well at different levels. The NHS seems to think 250-300 is fine, some private practitioners say 400, some individuals need 800. If you're still below the NHS limit for lenzetto I would ask to increase and see if sorts it out. For me anxiety is an oestrogen deficiency symptom too. If your anxiety arrived with peri then it will most likely go with sufficient oestrogen, mine has.

[wuzzie]

Thank you for your reply.  I have emailed my consultant.  It’s sometimes hard to remember what we were like before but I know my anxiety wasn’t like this!

[joziel]

Lenzetto is really low dose in terms of what you get from it even on max dose. It would have been best to increase your gel dose to at least 4 pumps before switching you to another product. Did your GP do that?

There are also patches you can try. However some people (I'm one of them) don't absorb well transdermally and need a much higher dose to get their serum levels anywhere decent (400+ is a good amount to aim for). For eg, I am on 3x 100mcg patches plus 3 pumps of Oestrogel. I think this gets me around 650pmol although I haven't tested on this dose yet. IF your GP won't prescribe above the licensed max dose then really you'd need to go private to get prescribed it and often your GP will then continue the private prescription...

[wuzzie]

Thats really interesting, thank you.  Yes, I was on 4 pumps of the gel before switching to Lenzetto.  I’ve sent a letter to my private meno consultant so will see what he comes back with.  Its such a minefield…..

[joziel]

Like most women, you need more estrogen. At some point they might stop begrudingly doling out starvation rations of estrogen and actually give amounts which work. Until then, you have to advocate strongly for it.

[wuzzie]

It’s just so confusing, the GP says one thing, my consultant says another.  I don’t even know if my symptoms are (post) menopause related.
Everything takes so long to resolve….or not!  Thank you for your reply, it’s such a help having this forum and all the ladies on it.