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[Katherine]

Hi ladies

I’m taking 2 pumps of oestrogel per day but feel I need more, but not sure whether to increase the dose. It says 2-4 pumps on the bottles. I’m 47, regular heavy periods and in peri with mental and physical symptoms of low oestrogen. I don’t know how my periods are still going.  There’s a couple of symptoms that are mystifying me too. I can wake up feeling positive and quite good one day then the next feeling physically exhausted, like everything is wrong and there’s no hope, for no apparent reason. Nothing happened in between, apart from sleep.

 Also my brain has on a couple of occasions sort of gone to sleep while I’m awake. I was at a supermarket checkout the recently in the queue, I looked down to think and then suddenly all of my products from the conveyor have been scanned and the operator is looking at me waiting for payment. Today I put an egg on the kitchen surface and then look down and there’s an egg cracked on the floor. Is my tired brain just zoning out or something?

[DottyD68]

Hi Katherine,

I can totally relate to the "good day bad day" situation without any obvious explanation. When it's a bad day I just think "it'll be better tomorrow".

I don't think there is a definitive answer in terms of dosage sadly. It's trial and error on an individual basis. But the good thing with the gel is that you can gently tweak it. What I've learnt is that it's also a case of the "balance" of oestrogen vs progesterone at any given point throughout the month depending upon your own fluctuations.

I seem to feel ok for 2 or 3 months then have a blip and have to tweak things as my own hormones change. I've also learnt that less is sometimes more if that makes sense. I had a bout of anxiety and palpitations earlier in the year and having read it could be too much OR too little oestrogen I decided to reduce to 3 pumps from 4 and everything settled. Ive now got another dilemma as some of my symptoms are returning and I'm wondering whether to go back up or go lower. It's a bit like Play your cards right but not as much fun 

I haven't really had any brain fog issues (So far!) but I am pretty sure that will be down to your hormones.

I hope you find the right balance soon. Good luck x

[Katherine]

Thanks so much Dotty, that is really helpful. I think I will try increasing to 3 pumps and see how I go and also keep in mind that I may need to keep tweaking depending on how I feel. For some reason when I have a bad day I feel like it’s always going to be that way but you’re right I need to remember that it passes. Thanks again x

[DottyD68]

When you tweak it, it is important to give it a few weeks to see if things settle. I don't tweak on a daily basis as it can takes a while for things to adjust.

One day at a time is my mantra especially on a bad day.

Best wishes x

[Katherine]

Thank you so much Dotty x

[Gilla999]

Katherine just wanted to pop my head up and say... I'm 44 and also still having regular periods, but have been on HRT for two years.

Based solely on my own experience, I would urge caution when it comes to thinking of HRT as always the cause/answer. I had very typical low Estrogen symptoms of cyclical dreadful night sweats and 3am insomnia, so there was definitely something hormonal going on for me and it was fixed immediately by me starting HRT. But my periods remained regular and then it seemed to magically correct itself after a couple of years because my Estrogen level shot back up, and has stayed that way. But by then I was stuck on HRT, because it is SO hard to get off once you're on it, and I had terrible issues from my Estrogen then being too high as a result. Just because you mentioned your periods are still regular, I think it's important to make sure that too low a dose of HRT is definitely the cause of what you're experiencing - have you talked to a doctor about it all? As Dotty said if you do increase it's a good idea to increase slowly - I saw someone here suggest marking a line on the pump bottle so you can dispense half a pump, which I thought was a very good idea!

Are you taking Utrogestan or do you have the Mirena? Xx

[Katherine]

Hi Gilla, thanks so much for replying.I know what you’re saying, totally, but I think I’m quite in tune with my mind and body so I’m pretty confident when I think something is due to low oestrogen. Also I got an anterior prolapse when I was in my late thirties which I understand is due to falling oestrogen. Every month I seem to have two good weeks where I can feel good positive etc and two challenging weeks where I’m tired, sometimes exhausted, can’t feel good, negative, etc, and it’s definitely cyclical, but the bad period is getting longer and the good period shorter which all points to oestrogen. Im going to increase to 3 pumps and just see what happens. I have spoken to my gp and she suggested increasing the dose, she believes women usually know what they need and can increase if necessary. I agree, I tried stopping HRT at one point due to utrogestan related issues and I got terrible withdraw symptoms after 9 days which another gp says were just my symptoms returning, but it felt different. Anyway I’ve resolved the utrogestan issues. Can I ask what issues you had due to high oestrogen and how did you know they were due to high oestrogen? That’s a really great idea about measuring half a pump. Being in a similar position to you I’m very interested in your experiences and may PM you at some point if that is ok?