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[Turkish delight]

Hia Chopsuey, love the handle, yours and Crispychick make me smile.

Yea it is the old Oestrogdose with Oestrogel label crudely stuck on top.

I am an old timer on here and aware that there is a difference between the above-mentioned.
I myself did have an issue very early on with the Oestrodose being less good(or rubbish)let us say.

You'll probably see me posts either on this thread about it from years ago.
I have been using half the cylindrical bottle and half Oestrodose kind for some time at 6 pumps and wasn't doing well on it.

I upped 1 pump a week ago and it seems to be cleaning up the mess of reoccurring symptoms I have found myself in. Only been a week mind, but
it's looking up atm.

TD

[Gnatty]

It was oestrodose that made me swap to Sandrena. And yes the label was covered over!

[chopsuey]

Never tried Oestrodose myself but have read that most people ( on here at least) don't find it much cop.

TD - just to clarify, did you request the old shape bottles in the hope that you'd get the old stuff or did you realise that it would be Oestrodose but just find the dispenser better? Do you think Oestrodose and the new Oestrogel are the same product, just in different bottles?

Thanks

[Turkish delight]

Never tried Oestrodose myself but have read that most people ( on here at least) don't find it much cop.

TD - just to clarify, did you request the old shape bottles in the hope that you'd get the old stuff or did you realise that it would be Oestrodose but just find the dispenser better? Do you think Oestrodose and the new Oestrogel are the same product, just in different bottles?

Thanks

Lol, this is getting a little confusing.

I can't even remember the last time I had a bottle of the original Oestrogel. I've been given either the round bottle or the Ostrodose with the slapped-on Oestrogel label. Does the OG Oestrogel still exist? I asked for the latter bcz it seems the best of the available options. It dispenses more and doesn't have the stupid stopper. For those reasons, it seems to work better maybe.... possibly!? lol!

TD

[chopsuey]

I think stocks of the old stuff disappeared last summer, in my area anyway and I reckon probably for good. I used my last bottle of the old stuff over Christmas ( I'd been saving it!)

It would certainly help to have the better dispensers, although I think the two gels are probably the same now, just made in different factories and countries. It all seemed to change when Besins took over another hormone gel producing factory in Belgium, where I believe Oestrogel used to be made (presumably under licence) in order to meet increased demand.

[joziel]

Oh my gawd peoples....

I just saw on Instagram that Besins have accepted that there are random issues with the cylindrical pumps not dispensing the same amount of gel as compared to the old style pumps with the sloping sides up to the top. A Besins rep told this doctor on Insta that they are going to switch back to the old pumps next year due to this....  I can't find which meno doctor it was now, who did this Live...

[chopsuey]

Wow! Progess of sorts, although we all know it''s not just the pumps that have changed. If they are accepting that the pumps are not reliable though, surely they have a duty of care to switch long before next year, whatever the cost to themselves. This is a medicine we are talking about, not hair gel!

Joziel - did you ever discuss switching to Sandrena with your specialist? If must be quite a faff applying 10 pumps a day but glad to hear that it seems to be finally helping. My GP would never sanction going over 4 per day but I know switching to another product is not always a straightforward option either. 

[joziel]

Luckily my GP has accepted my Newson doctor's letter saying I need 10 pumps because I don't want to have to pay for that 

I thought about Sandrena and it's still an option for the future but since changing products can often mean going back to the drawing board in terms of symptoms and getting the dosage right, I just don't want to do that right now given the severity of my night time symptoms.

[Turkish delight]

Luckily my GP has accepted my Newson doctor's letter saying I need 10 pumps because I don't want to have to pay for that 

I thought about Sandrena and it's still an option for the future but since changing products can often mean going back to the drawing board in terms of symptoms and getting the dosage right, I just don't want to do that right now given the severity of my night time symptoms.

I'm on the same page as you, not on 10 pumps but not wanting to switch. Reading other ppls experiences of being all at sea and some doing ok on other gel or patch after time and tweakments doesn't seem a whole lot different to what we are experiencing. As of 10 days ago I went up from 6 to 7 and I seems to be stabilising.

I mean it's not like there is no active estradiol in Oestrodose, it's weaker for sure by ?/however many percent.
If we knew how much weaker it was we could adjust exactly and hit the sweet spot instead of it being Russian roulette.

TD

[chopsuey]

I wonder if we ever will get to the bottom of all this? Besins just insist 'nothing has changed' and from what I've read, it seems like Oestrodose was always weaker than what we used to get in the UK. If so, I wonder how women in France got on with it, or did they never feel that great? I assume over there it is only licenced at 4 pumps as well.  If lots of women are now needing to use a lot more to get good symptom control, they will have to change the licenced maximum doses, as I would think many GPs would not be happy to prescribe at much higher levels, even with a specialist's letter. It would cost them too much for a start!

[RebJT]

Hi ladies

In haste, I've been on Evorel 75 for about three weeks and my blood results are back, on the way up again at 319 pmol. 

I'm going to increase to 100 and test again, but hoping that'll put me in the right ball park.  I feel so much better and chirpier, people are telling me I look and sound 'like me' again!  The initial slightly revved, ADHD, wired but tired feeling has passed, I feel steady and solid and fine! I'm still using utrogestan for the P bit of my sequence and just started that and not feeling it anything like as much as I was at the end of gel, which I assume means my ratio of E to P is also better.  Apparently some women find sandrena and estradot rev them up, but find Evorel gentler, which is my experience too, just in case that's helpful to anyone.

To recap, on Oestrogel:
4.5 pumps, day 12, May 2023, E = 1590  (old bottle)
4.5 pumps, day 12 Nov 2023 E = 321 (new cylinder bottle)
5.5 pumps day 12, Jan 2024 E = 271
5.5 pumps day 12, Feb 2024 E = 205
7 pumps, Day 12, March 2024 E = 190

I don't believe this is just a faulty dispenser, it's the product, they must have done something to the gel for me to go off a ski jump like that!

Anyway, I'll test again next month and report back, but I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER, hurrah, at last!

Reb
x

[chopsuey]

Sounds promising Reb. Let's hope things continue in that general direction with the increased dose. Will be interested to hear how things go with your second test.

[Banjo1973]

Hi Reb,

Really glad things are working out for you finally.

Interesting what you say about Sandrena and Estrodot being similar. A friend of mine also said something similar. She is now really settled on Evorel.

Keep us posted x

[joziel]

I am going down the route of bathing in gel. Partly because my Newson GP prescribed me 10 pumps and I got my NHS GP to approve that. If I now want to switch product I have to pay for another Newson appointment and then convince NHS GP to change prescription. Plus who knows if that will work any better or require further tinkering. Maybe I should just pay for it all myself until I get the product and amount sorted....expensive. But for now I'm stuck essentially bathing in gel...

[Turkish delight]

I am going down the route of bathing in gel. Partly because my Newson GP prescribed me 10 pumps and I got my NHS GP to approve that. If I now want to switch product I have to pay for another Newson appointment and then convince NHS GP to change prescription. Plus who knows if that will work any better or require further tinkering. Maybe I should just pay for it all myself until I get the product and amount sorted....expensive. But for now I'm stuck essentially bathing in gel...

Are you seeing any improvements?

TD