Hormone Replacement Therapy E4 Women

[LillyBritches]

Well, this is an interesting turn of events, ladies. It's been a crazy estradiol-ride for me since I started HRT - all my hormone levels have tested consistently on point except for THE most important (IMO) one: estrogen. It's either too high (110) or not high enough (30-35). Trutt is happiest with it at 75. At one point it was a tad over 50, and he was okay with that, but we thought we'd try to push it up closer to 75. That's when it went to 110 and my Auntie visited again for a month.

Well, on my most recent dose (as of circa 1.5 weeks ago), I started having some "tenderness," if you catch my drift. Trutt wanted me to tell him the minute I did, so I emailed him. He told me to stop my estradiol cream altogether, wait for the symptom to resolve (about two days), and then begin again on a decreased dose.

Third day today and it still hasn't resolved. So we emailed back and forth, and he's not concerned...but get this. His most recent email said that I probably still have circulating estrogen, because, AND GET THIS: my FSH levels are still low and have always been low, so he said I'm not really in menopause yet.

*blinks*

Sisters. I'll be 57 in January.

What the serious hell??? lmao

[Julie G]

My short squaty telomeres are supremely jealous, you young THANG

[circular]

I had a friend who in her 50s went the official full year without getting on her pyramid and began her celebration. The next day the Goddess put her back on her pyramid ... wait for it ... on her birthday!

[LillyBritches]

Jul - LOL! Hey. Trutt told me flat-out that my telomeres aren't as great as he would have expected, given that my immuno function was allegedly so good. That scared me enough to not ask him HOW short some of them were. And you are far from having all your telomeres short. Not with the female-longevity in your family.

Circ - pyramid. HA! And, whoa. Get outta here. That really happened?

So did she look up at the sky and say, "Congratulations, universe - you win"?

[Stavia]

Lily honey, oestrogen suppresses fSH and LH so they have to be low on hrt if the dose is enough. Hes splitting hairs, you " arent in menopause" cos youre taking hrt, youre not making the oestrogen yourself...I dont understand what hes saying....
Lilbunny, units!!! I feel like G but I wanna compare pls. My oestrogen level is now 150, its perfect apparantly. However I am spotting so will have to fo cyclical with periods. Meh its ok.

[TheBrain]

This has been a very active discussion!

I'm 54 1/2 and perimenopausal. So I'm still getting periods, though they have become lighter and irregular, and I have more spotting. My cycle is usually shorter now, though I did go 7 weeks once this year before my period finally started.

Can anyone comment on whether it's wothwhile to start HRT while perimenopausal? I did a forum search on "perimenopause" and came across a post from circular where she wrote the following about a study (on page 6 of these posts):

"CVD risk in women who initiated HT closer to menopause was substantially lower than that in older women, supporting the relative safety of initiation during perimenopause."

My most troubling symptom right now, and for a long time, has been insomnia. I wonder if HRT might help. Some years ago, I used progesterone cream by itself, and it didn't seem to do anything. The only thing that consistently gets me back to sleep is Klonopin (a benzodiazapene), and I know it's not good for me.

I tried the melatonin and l-tryptophan strategy, and it didn't work.

[Welcomeaboard]

Lilly your Immuno function is allegedly so good due to the supplements that enhance your Immuno function as well as increased sleep. Either way you are good to go as they say.

[Sandraz]

Hi Alysson,
I would guess you need to get doctor to blood levels to see what is going on. Lilly and others seem to know a lot about this stuff. I was having sleep issues but sleep much better now I am on 0.05 mg minivelle patch (estradiol) plus 50 mg progesterone (compounded) at night. I started this year with info from this site even though for me, I am 7 years into menopause even though I am 52.

I am hoping the Bresden study will give us some answers since I think one of the protocols is optimizing hormones levels so maybe answers from there in the near future??

[Stavia]

Alysson, you can certainly start HRT to supplement what your body is making at a reduced level. If your sleep disorder is due to this, it will help.
And I agree with Sandra, bloods would be helpful but you need to understand that hormone levels fluctuate in the perimenopause thus a normal level today doesn't mean that its not low yesterday or tomorrow. Your age and symptoms are more important in assessing if HRT is appropriate.

[KatieS]

Allyson, I started on a plant-derived progesterone around age 49, which benefitted my sleep. In my early 50s,I added the Vivelle patch. Then I decided that I wanted my progesterone and estrogen in the same patch and stated the Combipatch, which has a bad synthetic progesterone, so avoid this. Menopause was around 53, a very slow decline. Once I stopped this patch, the sleep was precipitated. Now at 62, I'm again on Vivelle, only half a patch, but being a Met/Met (Val/Val may need a higher dose), seems to benefit my sleep, as evidenced by my sleep machine numbers.