When I spoke to my doctor about the 'worse before better' thing, she said that I had to remember that my body hadn't been used to estrogen for a while. This is not natural for someone in their very early 40s, but by body would have started to see it as the 'new normal'. As a result, any increase in estrogen increase would make my body initially feel strange/different. She said to keep hold of the picture: at my age, my body needs estrogen to keep me healthy, so a few teething problems would still be better than major heart and bone issues in 20 years. She also pointed out that if I was taking the pill, I would be on a much higher dose of estrogen.
Every time I feel a bit wobbly, I try and remember this (not always easy!). I am actually now thinking of going on Qlaira, a more natural, HRT style pill, as my own cycle is still causing problems and I think I need something stronger that will suppress my own slightly crazy hormones!
Good luck x