I believe it is very difficult in the peri stage generally. Some women need very high doses to override everything but in my peri stage I had just one pump of oestrogel daily (so a low dose) which suited me 'just right'. When I tried higher doses I then got headaches and other side effects. Starting low is always a good strategy with anything and in early peri meno I think using a small dosage can be enough to just balance things out a bit.
As others have said there is no one size fits all. Suppressing ovulation is quite another thing - if your low mood etc is strictly to do with the fluctuations - so comes and goes - then I think you can have something that actually shuts down your ovulation completely and then add in the hormones you need in a controlled way - this needs to be under supervision of a specialist gynae.
If I remember rightly, it's your quality of sleep that is your main men symptom and I'm afraid that whilst HRT can improve this, unfortunately many of us find good nights sleep more difficult to achieve as we get older.
There is a great danger of ‘over thinking' everything when it comes to HRT - so many women want perfection and are constantly looking to find something that will make them feel good every day - HRT treatment takes time and a bit of experimentation but each dosage you try needs at least 3 months to settle and do it's magic before switching HRT or changing doses.
I'm afraid patience is the key - and don't expect anything to give results for at least 4-6 weeks. Dg xxx
