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[Blue Kingfisher]

Hi all, I know testing for hormone levels is unreliable and symptoms are your best guide but I wanted to get them checked for my own comparative reasons etc. Is it 3 months you need to stabilise on a dose of progesterone and oestrogen before it’s worth getting them tested or is it sooner than this?

[laszla]

2- 3 months. I'm a believer in testing and if you're postmenopausal then tests are actually pretty reliable and stable (though perhaps you're still peri). I test quite regularly and wait at least 2 months following a regime change, I probably wouldnt do it sooner just to be sure that your system has registered the change in treatment.

[joziel]

I think that the blood hormones will show up quickly (within 2 days) after changing testosterone or estrogen doses. However, the reason to wait longer is because knowing what amount to take is not just about what the blood shows, it's about your symptoms. And your symptoms won't be resolved within 2 days. And you need that info to know what to do with the dose as well, especially the estrogen.

Symptoms can take 8-12 weeks before you know how they're going to stabilise and whether you need more or less estrogen. Or whether you're getting acne or excess hair growth from testosterone.

I think we need to look at both bloods and symptoms. I know it's often said just to treat by symptoms alone up to 100mcg of estrogen, but you need at least 250nmol for bone protection and some women don't absorb different kinds of transdermal estrogen well - so they could be on a 100 patch and not absorbing. And it can take a long time for them to figure that out if they have gradually increased it and waited 8-12 weeks at 100 before doing a single blood test....

For me, I have endo and I don't want to accidentally go too high with the estrogen for that reason too - it might stimulate the endo to grow. I want to find a level that keeps my symptoms away and is over the minimum for bone protection but not to accidentally trial a "higher than really needed" dose. So I am testing before any increase as well - and a few weeks after, too. My GP did the last test but I am going to try Medichecks for the next one, maybe alongside the GP - for accuracy testing.

[Bungo]

After starting hrt , when test hormones, should FSH levels drop? Is that a reliable indicator that are absorbing  ( when perimenopausal)?

[joziel]

No, FSH levels are not really relevant to anything. When they get very high, you are definitely menopausal. If they are still low, you are probably peri-menopausal if you have symptoms. But none of that affects treatment.

[Blue Kingfisher]

Thanks everyone, I’ll wait 2-3 months before testing in that case 🙂

[Bungo]

No, FSH levels are not really relevant to anything. When they get very high, you are definitely menopausal. If they are still low, you are probably peri-menopausal if you have symptoms. But none of that affects treatment.

Have had 2 blood tests this year, in both fsh were over 70. So guessing am very close to being post menopause. I thought either FSH or LH dropped when on hrt? Maybe misunderstood some article I read. Was on cerazette so no periods for years   So no point doing bloods to check for absorption for another year or so ( my own oestrogen levels are still fluctuating based on the bloods i had taken)