Thank you so much for your support Hurdity & everyone else.
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CLKD, I’ve been through a plethora of specialists from endo’s to gyne’s but the doctor I’m under now is my best bet to be honest for now as she is the first person I’ve come across that understands both and can prescribe for both across a broad range of options.
AKatieD, I suffer from reverse T3 and T3 is very harsh on my body - contributes to the severe crashing.
The latest regime is to take adrenal support before my thyroid meds, put my oestrogel back to alternating between 2 & 3 pumps and go back to Utro 200mg vaginally but for either 14 or 21 days of the month (not 7).
Hurdity, you were right, I had reduced my oestrogel and this was driving the chronic insomnia, I’ve put it back to the original dose and although I’m waking say 3 times a night, I can sometimes get back to sleep over the past couple of days. Im the. awake from around 5am but this is a huge improvement and one I can live with.
I was on the Studd regime before this for a couple of years on very high dose of oestrogel (5 pumps daily) and 200mg Utro vaginally 7 days a month. Studd clinic diagnosed me as progesterone intolerant but current doctor disagrees and was quite alarmed at my oestrogen dose. She tested me via saliva whereas the Studd clinic (and probably most clinics I’d imagine) use bloods. I did challenge her on the saliva Vs bloods issue and she felt the Studd clinic were good but quite old fashioned in their approach. Make of that what you will and quite honestly I don’t mind who is right as long as I start to feel better. I also feel OK on the progesterone it was the withdrawal that was totally brutal…..is that the same as ‘ Progesterone Intolerant’?
I do feel better at the moment on the Utro Vs the lozenges (although they were OK at first) and I’m hoping the higher dose of Utro for 14 days minimum doesn’t become too much for me. It could be the lozenges are an option in the future for me but at a higher dose than I was on (I was only on 10mg daily, I did try upping to 20mg daily but seemed to make things worse for some reason but I didn’t try for long). I stopped the lozenges for 8 days and had no bleed so that made me worry that I wasn’t absorbing enough progesterone to bring on a withdrawal bleed. Anyway, I was on this low dose of progesterone for almost six months so I’d imagine my body may be progesterone depleted at the moment so this new regime might work for a while at least.
She did say the adrenals will take a good year or two to heal (she ran a cortisol stress test) so I’ll just have to continue as best I can and try to be kind to myself as much as possible. She is also addressing the thyroid issue and I’m taking a prescription for that. It’s the collision of hormones I think I particularly suffer from so I have to be careful when I apply my oestrogel in relation to when I take my thyroid meds etc but as my levels are unstable currently (M
maybe now low progesterone & this is what my doctor thinks) it doesn’t always pan out the same everyday so it could be an OK day…..or it could be a ‘need to be in bed’ day.
I had a blood test earlier this week at my local surgery for my oestrogen and progesterone levels. My GP didn’t really see the point as he said your on HRT but it will be useful for me to compare the levels to where they were when I was under the Studd clinic and apparently had low oestrogen. I should add that I have no qualms with the Studd clinic and they were always very sympathetic and did their best to help me. I guess we are all different and it’s unrealistic to expect their regimes will suit everyone.
Hopefully things will start to turn in the right direction now but I already feel better on the Utro…..I just don’t know how long for!