Hi Bea66
- no need to apologise and that's definitely not a long post!!
Sorry to hear about your symptoms and especially your sensitivity even to the 12.5 mcg Evorel patch. If you have got bad hot flushes then ideally the oestrogen is the only thing to help really and is advised as the first line of treatment. Usually any symptoms do subside once the body has acclimatised to them. Can you try to ride these out for the first month and then very gradually increase slowly? Can you take some time off work or do something to take your mind off things while your body gets used to it? Phyto-oestrogens like red clover have a weak oestrogenic effect and may help temporarily with very mild symptoms but other than that it's HRT (or certain ADs - for those who cannot take HRT for medical reasons).
Lifestyle measures can also help you cope with menopausal symptoms and generally improve your health - eg body weight (losing excess if needed), diet ( cutting out sugars, bad fats and processed foods), alcohol, exercise, and smoking.
I use Estradot patches - which contain the same type of oestrogen but may be avbsorbed differently - they are tiny to start with though so might be difficult cutting a 25 mcg one (although I use 12.5 mcg strips to add to my 50 mcg Estradot patch and they seem to stay on....).
Hope this helps
Hurdity x
