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[Sammiejane]

evening ladies

hysterectomy

i was hoping you could let me know if any of you have had hairloss or shedding since initiating estrogen only hrt and if you stopped it did the hair stop shedding ?
or if you swapped to another brand did this stop it !
or if you added in testosterone did this stop shedding ?

[Dotty]

Hi I thought I'd answered a question you asked me on another thread but I can't find it now!

My answer was, yes I started Oestrogel, Utrogestan and Testosterone all at the same time. I'd been on Hrt tablets prior to this for 4 months but they didn't help me x

[Sammiejane]

hi dotty

did you notice any change in your hair ?

as u know i'm on estrogel unopposed but am shedding hair daily much thinner and wondering if an imbalance at play or the medication itself ? dermatology want me stop and menopause have given me testosterone to see if it's an imbalance but surely this would make it worse !

[Sammiejane]

hi dotty

i'm wondering whether to take my 2 pumps plus 100mg utrogestan as menopause said i can try this as wont do me any harm and also take my testosterone one pump every other day and see what happens to my hair cause i believe progesterone protects the hair from testosterone effects !

what do u think ?

[Dotty]

Hi I'm not a doctor so I can't really comment on what's best. X

[Sammiejane]

hi dotty

i know and appreciate and advice you can give i'm seeing my GP next week and going to explain to her what's going on to see whether they agree with menopause or not x

i feel i've lost myself since starting hrt and envy those women who manage to find one that suits to be honest i'm willing to suffer anything if my hair would stop falling out !

[Dotty]

Hi in your position having had a hysterectomy and at yr age I think the advice is that you need the hrt to protect your bones and heart.

I think your symptoms are more likely to be due to low oestrogen. You probably need a much higher dose. My horrific symptoms didn't start to improve till I got onto 4 pumps of Oestrogel. X

[Sammiejane]

hi dotty

the problem i have is the more estrogen i take the worse my headaches are and boobs swollen more fatigue thicker head and effects my bowel i did go up to 3 pumps but found i had to reduce again although adding progesterone did help with the headaches so maybe i'll go 3 pumps and take progesterone x

[Sammiejane]

hi dotty

if it is the gel causing shedding of my hair increasing this is going to make it worse and like yourself i started one pump then 2 then 3 !

you didn't start on 4 pumps did you ? plus u had progesterone and testosterone same time ! and you still have ovaries and own hormones !

i'm either going to stop or add progesterone in !

i don't think progesterone will make a difference as other women on here don't have hairloss with estrogen only !

[Dotty]

Sammiejane.... I'm going to stop replying to you now as I don't like the tone of your last comment to me with all the exclamation marks. I am quite upset by your comments.

I've tried to help you and I've given you my opinion on my own situation . You are right that I'm not in the same position as you and that I did start all 3 hormones at once. That is the truth and I can't get away from that.

I'm sorry that I can't help you and I hope you find some answers .

[Bobidy]

SJ - I think you would really benefit from seeing a meno specialist or emailing Dr Currie with your query if you haven't already.

In the meantime ask your gp to do a range if bloodtests if they haven't already for thyroid, anemia, coeliacs, vit bs, d, zinc etc which can all cause hair loss.

For any hrt you will need to persevere unfortunately for at least 6 months I would say at the same dose to see if it is working. That's just based on my own experience as only at 6 months I've got a handle on whether I need to up my estrogel any more. It is very frustrating though when feeling so rubbish.

Try and find some calming activity for yourself too as high levels of stress and cortisol will also cause hairloss. If you are low in oestrogen your adrenaline glands may be going bonkers trying to produce oestrogen (mine were, but this has stopped now). Check out Headspace app, yoga, breathing activities, brisk walking, art and crafts etc.

You could get Liz Earle's Menopause book and Dr Newsons menopause book as both are excellent sources of information and help. Lots of great podcasts on Liz Earle and The Menopause Doctor websites. Liz Earle in particular has lots of general wellbeing podcasts which are really interesting and helpful.

Apologies if any of this sounds patronising or if you have tried it already.

You will get there eventually I'm sure.

[Sammiejane]

hi dotty

that is completely your choice not to reply .
you have misread my comments and it wasn't meant as anything untoward.
i didn't use exclamation marks they were question marks asking you if you started straight on 4 pumps or increased it slowly so my apologise you have been offended.

bobidy

thanks for your reply and yes i have had all blood test done already include autoimmune and zinc thyroid vit b12 vit d iron etc all ok x

i'm currently already under a menopause specialist as early menopause and they are not to helpful as have kind of left the decision up to me wether to stop it swap to patch or add in progesterone and testosterone at the moment they advised to stay on the gel as i'm obsorbing it ok and add testosterone every other day (have been on hrt 1 yr) but there is a risk that if it's not an imbalance causing my hairloss then testosterone will make it worse x or i can stop for 4 months see what happens and then start again but the downside to that is whether the symtoms are bad but i guess i less i try i will not know x i guess i'm trying to get opinions from lots of ladies on here that currently take the same medication as me to see how they have got on to try and help me make my decision. i'm scared that adding in progesterone or testosterone may make no difference if it is the medication causing hairloss as staying on estrogel it will just continue.

i'm seeing my lovely gp on the 13th so i will see her opinion to . i'm guess i'm one of people who handle situations better when there's no choice i'm just told x lol

[Wilks]

Hi
I agree with the comments above that low oestrogen and stress can cause hair loss. Before I started HRT my eyebrows and eyelashes were noticeably thinner which was quite distressing but they have grown back. It took some months though.

I'm not a medical doctor but I'm not sure that testosterone will help with scalp hair loss, (though it's good at giving me hairy legs where I apply the cream!)

[Rosie63]

Hi Sammiejane....I just thought I'd briefly share my story with you which might just give you a little food for thought.

I'm much older than you, mid sixties now, but I remember clearly when I first started going through menopause at the age of 50 my horror at the amount of hair I lost in a short amount of time.  I went to the doctors shortly after because I started getting other horrible symptoms and she suggested trying HRT.  After talking me through the pros and cons she made it clear that it was totally my decision and I decided to give it a go.  I was on the same HRT for 13+ years and it worked for me until it was discontinued a couple of years ago.😞 However, looking back, I have continued to shed hair, although not to the extent I initially did.  My hair is definitely thinner along the parting and fringe area but thank goodness, it hasn't go any worse than that.

So over the last couple of years I have been trying to find another HRT that deals with the symptoms without giving horrible side effects.  At the moment I'm trying Oestrogel, Utrogestan and Testogel.  Only 2.5 weeks in and still very up and down but I'm determined to stick with it for the suggested 3 months in the hope it will settle.  I am like you in that it would appear that the more gel I apply, the worse the side effects are so at the moment I'm only applying one pump.  My hair loss is a little less I would say on this regime though. 

Sorry for the long post but I guess what I'm saying is that, in my non expert opinion and as other ladies have said here, I would say that your hair loss could be due to low oestrogen or hormone fluctuations.  It's definitely a case of trial and error both for us and the doctors that try to help us when it comes to HRT and unfortunately it can take a long time to hit on ‘the one'  as I've found out over the last 2 years 😏 Once you find the right regime and dosage for you, I'm sure you will see an improvement. 

Try to keep positive and I hope you find the answers you're looking for soon.

Rosie63 x

[jaycee]

Hi Smmiejane, i get your frustration with the hair loss ,as you will know i have had conversations with you before about this, my hairloss only tarted after re stating HRT i had none before, but trying a patch with high progesterone in it  ]Evoral Conti] with Norethisterone as the progesterone,my hair loss got 10x worse within 4 weeks, so as far as mine was concerned the progesterone din't help it made it worse
I am well post meno, so the actual meno[ause didn't cause my hair loss, it could have been the restarting of HRT or as my dermatologist thinks caused by stress,
I think it could be a mixture of both as i had a lot of stress at the same time as restarting the HRT,[Livial] although been on that years ago, and no hair loss
I dont know what the answer is, but like you i am doing all i can to get answers,and can empathise
It can become an obsession, i am looking at getting a hairpiece now as i don't know what else i can do, and can't go anywhere i can't wear a hat
Oh and i have had all the tests too1