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[Cotts]

I am worrying about my Estrogen dose patch being too high for my age
I decided to reduce to 50 mg estradot and my doctor was a bit baffled by this , unfortunately it was not working for me and went bk to 75mg
I have recently had a lot of stress with life and a few health problems, all ok now but can’t seem to get bk to my normal self
Any advice appreciated

[CLKD]

It's The Change - does what it says on the tin 

Does 75mg help ease symptoms at all?  Why would oestrogen be too high, it's what we have naturally even when levels begin to drop.  U R replacing it in order to feel 'better', which symptom did U want to help initially?

Stress may increase all types of symptoms, we shouldn't blame everything on peri-menopause ;-)

[Joaniepat]

Oestrogen dosage is not age-dependent. You need the dose that relieves symptoms and you can take it forever. (I am almost 76 and on 100 mcg patch.)
JP x

[sheila99]

How long have you been back on the 75 patch? I wonder if you haven't given it long enough to work completely yet? I'm not at all you need less as you get older, I've only ever needed more as my own supply packed up. Stress and other health problems definitely don't help. What symptoms do you still have?

[bombsh3ll]

Your body is the best judge of whether your estrogen dose is right for you. A DEXA scan if you haven't already had one also provides useful information.

Estrogen has many health benefits and it is really sad when women have internalised negative messaging and feel as if they are doing something wrong or bad by replacing it, and keep trying to reduce it as if it is a narcotic.

If men routinely outlived their testicles they wouldn't feel guilty about taking whatever helped them live their best life.

[Cotts]

Thanks for your responses
I think I will stick with the 75 mg as it did make me feel better.
As you say I clearly noticed the difference when reduced.
I was told to stop taking because of womb lining thickness 7 cm , had hysteroscopy and was negative.
The consultant said I shouldn’t have stopped taking it but HRT nurse insisted.
I then went back on to 50 mg as was worried about HRT but just didn’t do anything.
There is a lot of negativity about taking high doses but advice and reading on this forum makes sense.
So thank you all!
Hopefully I will get back to my happy place ❤️

[sheila99]

If your lining is too thick it's better to adjust the progestogen than reduce oestrogen. You can increase your dose or change to a different one, the synthetics or a mirena ate more effective than Utrogestan.

[bombsh3ll]

Unfortunately this is a case of treating female patients as if they are just a uterus rather than looking at you holistically and thinking about the top to toe effects of estrogen or its lack.

My approach like Sheila says would be use the dose of estrogen that you feel well on, and titrate the endometrial protection to control your lining on this dose, rather than stripping your whole body of estrogen to manage a lining that is not pathological in the context of hormone therapy.

It is worth remembering that the normative value for endometrial thickness of 4mm was derived from UNTREATED postmenopausal women.

No such normative limit has been agreed upon for women on hormone therapy, but if your skin, bones, genital tissue etc are plumper, stronger, juicier then it is illogical to expect the endometrium to be all shriveled up and completely atrophic.

[Cotts]

I have Mirena and my doctor didn’t suggest more progesterone
As you said she did say there is different guidelines for uterine thickening when on HRT
I think I have been wondering why they would keep check on this.
Thanks again ❤️

[CLKD]

The consultant said I shouldn’t have stopped taking it but HRT nurse insisted..  there is rarely any reason to stop a regime prior to investigations.  I don't suppose that the Consultant wrote to your [apparent] HRT Nurse to update her?

What medics fail to realise is that when a patient in any speciality stops treatment it may be weeks/months B4 they get the scan/investigations!  With staff shortages, cancellation of appts., NHS strikes .........

The Mirena should be enough, it's the oestrogen that needs adjusting.  Some find that 50 plus the added 75 a few times a week is also beneficial.  We don't listen to our bodies enough! 

7mm used to be the guide, now some feel that 5mm is the worrying point, however I believe that it depends on where about in the cycle the scan is used?