Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[imgeha]

I thought I knew my stuff about hormones, but on HRT and 7 years into peri, I find myself completely confused.

In my 7 year of peri, I have had one month of skipped period, followed much later by 6 months. Re the 6 month gap, I had stopped my HRT as my gynaecologist said my oestrogen was too high. I had a withdrawal bleed and then nothing. My symptoms progressively came back, and I was able to restart on estrogel and utrogestan. I don't really have a standard dose of estrogel, as I find I need more after what passes as a period - typically one or two days of brown spotting - when I feel incredibly fatigued. By weeks two and three I find I need less. My marker is the daily sleep. When I am low in estrogen I almost have narcolepsy - I literally need to sleep suddenly, and will crash out for an hour or so, it can even be just after I have got up in the morning. It is completely unavoidable. Convenient, not.

So, if I am on HRT and have had a six month break from bleeding, but am cycling again on HRT, I am still in peri, right?
What if I continue on HRT and continue cycling? Does this mean my estrogen dose is too high? I just watched a video by a hormone doctor who said that women taking estrogen doses which made them cycle were taking too much, and they should not be cycling. This has confused me, as I don't see how I am taking too much, as I am pretty symptomatic despite the HRT, VA being the latest to join the party. I am taking 2 x 100mg Utrogestan daily, as this helps keep a GABA related problem at bay, and should also counter estrogen, if it is too high, pretty effectively.

The other thing is that for the past two months I have been taking Estrodose rather than Estrogel (I was in France). My symptoms have very definitely got worse this month, in terms of neuropathy, burning mouth, and VA, which I never had before. I am aware of the controversy over this, and would barely dare mention it, but things have suddenly got worse, and my cycle this month was 22 days, versus 37 last month.  Is the bleeding caused by too high estrogen or too low? I have got myself so confused over all this now.

I am seeing my gynaecologist tomorrow, and will for the first time be asking for symptom relief for VA. It's a club I didn't want to join.

The last thing is that I have just finished a dose of antibiotics taken as a precaution for Lyme, so that might have messed things up too.

Anything that will add to my understanding about HRT and cycling and estrogen doses will be gratefully received.

[sheila99]

If you're on sequential hrt you should have a bleed. If you're peri you're likely to bleed anyway unless you have a mirena. Some people who are meno choose to stay on sequential hrt and have a bleed. I don't think bleeding can tell you much about your oestrogen levels. Bleeding is caused by the withdrawal of progesterone, either your own or hrt. I find my own cycle is stronger than the hrt one.

You're meno if it's a year since your last bleed. If you have a mirena or are on sequential hrt you can't tell (I think conti too but not sure). If you have meno symptoms you need more oestrogen. You can get symptoms too if you're on too much oestrogen but I've only experienced the oestrogen deficiency ones.  If you have VA you will probably need topical oestrogen too, it often isn't controlled by hrt alone.