I can't remember where I read it hurdity. There's a lot of mis information out there as you know.
My gynae did say though that "you would've gone through meno naturally soon anyway and so it's the same but I felt I t might have taken years to transition but No meno to post meno overnight. No time to adjust.its too much all at once.
I have found It hard to get accross thst its different If your not meno when it's performed so thank you for your reply and to conolly for hers. I think if your not in meno when it's done you should probably start on a higher dose. Which can eventually be slowly lowered. It would be so much kinder to the body and it makes perfect sense. Instead the opposite has been done and it's too much of an initial drop resulting in a following uphill battle of increase. Anyway that's all too late for me now.
I so regret that i didnt go through natural meno supplementing what is decreasing if I needed to and I might or might not have chosen to instead of having to replace a total loss which I feel.i now have to do .And now seems I can never do anyway.
the ovaries continue to make some androgens but I dont know which ones because the only one that seems to be supplemented is T. Do you know what the others are and if they can be replaced
I would imagine that from whst you and others are saying an oopherised woman taking hrt could get her levels up to the same as a natural post meno lady but might need higher doses to do it?
Or is it that the natural meno is getting at least some from ovaries and that is superior or works differently in the body.
Does it mean whatever I try to replace wont work the same or as well for me and that I can't replace everything a natural post meno has and so will be disadvantaged whatever I do.
And the receptors If they have shut down then surely nothing is going to work for me.
I've already gone ifrom having not a single problem vaginally to 6 weeks later having VA bad enough for doc to diagnose it on examination. It feels so unfair that it got so bad without me even having a chance to try to prevent or treat it.
I realy feel this urgent unending need to replace what I have lost and that in no small part could be my body craving what is missing.chemically. and it makes me impatient and anxious for things to not keep on deteriorating.
I feel that I will always be inferior somehow because ive had my ovaries removed even amongst other women who are post meno but intact. I dont mean thst to offend anyone on here who have all been so supportive. It is my feeling and none of you have ever made me feel that way I wish I could say the same for a particular site I first looked at which I think actually planted that seed by telling me that. The effects of which have been realy damaging to me and others.i wish with all my heart I'd never looked at it.
The idea that the rest of my life will be so much harder in so many ways because I have no ovaries it's so hard to bare.
Thank you so much for your reply. Sorry for spilling out so many questions I do have so many I feel I need to answer and feelings to resolve which I'm sure you don't need to hear. Sorry. I just have no one I can say it to.
The endocrine production and synthesis is complex but ultimately the two hormones that can be depleted and that we want to replace are as you say - testosterone and estradiol. I don't want to burden you with links to too many studies but there is plenty of information, and detailed studies out there which show that the post-menopausal ovary continues to be a source of estradiol (and as far as I understand it both directly, and indirectly through conversion to androgens) for some years post-menopause, and androgens - ie testosterone via DHEA for many years.
You are right in saying that replacing these hormones exogenously (outside the body) is different from their endogenous production when everything is working and bio-feedback mechanisms operate etc - but we have to make the best of our declining hormones and replace how we can. Although I still have my ovaries - nevertheless I am still replacing oestrogen as well as testosterone because of the symptoms I experience without them - so I am similarly making use of external, exogenous hormones, however imperfect that may be.
Your receptors won't have shut down - as far as I understand it they remain responsive to oestrogen (although possibly not in the endometrium which can become atrophic in the absence of oestrogenic stimulation I did read?) - otherwise HRT treatments wouldn't work nor would VA treatments!
By the way I can't remember if you are currently taking a VA treatment as well as systemic oestrogen?
In terms of patches v gel - it seems that different women absorb these products differently and it will be different too for women without ovaries. I have only ever used patches and I find them a very stable medium of delivery - but then I am not on a high dose. It seems some women are more affected by the "hit" of oestrogen from application either by gel or by patch and you have to arrive at the method that works best for you.
I can see you may be to some extent mourning the loss of your ovaries, as well as other losses in your life, but try not to worry Tc and regret what could have been and concentrate on moving forward little by little to make the best of what you have and your situation now - and I know this is difficult.
Take care
Hurdity x
PS re your last post - you can get the same progestogen as was in the femseven patch from a Mirena coil ( I might have already suggested this?) and then use a different oestrogen only patch with it - if you found the Femseven patches were helping?
