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[racjen]

Hi, I had chemotherapy for breast cancer last year and now find myself struggling with awful sudden  menopause symptoms. For me it's been crippling anxiety and depression, plus insomnia; blood test has showed very very low testosterone (<0.1) and very low oestrogen despite 3 months of Evorel 50. So I'm now on Evorel 100 and have just started testosterone therapy. I should mention that my tumour was triple negative so no problem getting HRT (seems there is a silver lining to triple negative breast cancer after all!) My question is, does anyone have any idea how long it might take for the testosterone to have an effect? I've been on it 5 days and so far feeling worse if anything, but I understand that if oestrogen is also low it takes a while for the body to stop converting testosterone to oestrogen. So are we talking weeks, months.....? I'm starting to lose hope of ever getting my life back 

[peri]

Hi racjen

I found testosterone to have a cumulative effect.  I noticed a slightly improvement after 2/3 weeks but a big improvement after 5 months.  It also gave me energy and mental clarity so definitely well worth while,  Just keep going with it x

[Annie0710]

Peri's right.  For me I didn't notice the effects straight away but one day a couple of months in I realised I was making social plans again .... something I'd completely shied away from for a couple of years.  Stick with it, and you probably will notice subtle changes

[racjen]

Thanks to you both, that gives me hope - just got to keep going by the sound of it.

[Hurdity]

Hi racjen

  . Sorry to hear about your breast cancer - and hope you are fully recovered now.

About the testosterone - the same with me! The gynae I saw said the full effects aren't realised until 4-5 months because of the changes in the body that take place. In fact I would say I didn't notice anything at all at first just like peri and Annie0710. I just noticed that my body aches and fatigue after exercise had lessened and some welcome sensations had returned .

I'm not sure that added exogenous testosterone is converted to oestrogen even though it is a precursor in the metabolic pathway - there are other steps and limiting factors in the process which will be under complex endocrine control. I'm not sure it's even fully understood?

If you have increased oestrogen from 50 mcg to 100 mcg then this could well need some adjustment - and depends how long you've been taking the higher dose?

Hang in there and hopefully you will feel better soon

Hurdity x