Hello!
So, I'm finishing up my first month on Estrogel (plus vaginal progesterone gel called Crinone). Previously, I'd been on a patch and oral progesterone (Utrogestan, or Prometrium as I'm in the US). But I took a month off an restarted with a new doctor, as some of that regimen was not working well for me.
My levels were at 25 pg/ml | 92 pmol/l after about 10 days on 2 pumps of gel per day. That was enough to do away with my hot flashes, but not my other symptoms. I had ovarian failure at 38 (I've got one ovary, but it's not working at all, total failure), and I'm only 42, so I know my levels could be higher. My main troublesome symptoms that persist are:
1. Vaginal/pelvic/urethral discomfort and pain, even with nightly local Vagifem or estradiol cream
2. No lubrication of my own at all, even with nightly local estradiol
3. Zero libido (I know I may have to re-explore adding testosterone at some point in spite of continuing and intense shedding/hair loss; I was briefly on T in the past and thought it made my hair loss worse, but that was 2 years ago, the crazy hair shedding continues anyway; if I'm going to have thinning hair, I'd rather also feel good!)
My endocrinologist put me up to 3 pumps of Estrogel per day just over a week ago. Should I be feeling better already?
I much prefer the gel so far because the patches always wrinkled/came off, affecting the steadiness of my levels. Is there a stronger gel? I googled it, and am still confused as to whether I can get a stronger gel in the US. I put in a call to my endocrinologist and will see him in 10 days, so will soon know more.
(Separate topic: here, Estrogel only comes in 50 gram canisters, so I get 3 plastic canisters per month? And I cannot recycle them? Add in the non-optional disposable Vagifem applicators, the Crinone applicators... OMG the plastic waste drives me nuts! Ugh.)