I’m intrigued…do you mind giving more info, like exactly what does it help with (brain fog, rage, anxiety, forgetfulness, night sweats, digestive issues)? Because I have all of the above!
I asked my GYN and she said there’s nothing she can do for me right now because the go-to treatment approach is to prescribe a low-dose birth control, which I’m already on. I asked her if we could have my hormone levels measured and she said we could but that the test wouldn’t be informative because I’m on the pill. I need to find a new GYN since I’ve just moved, so maybe the next one will be more helpful!
I think birth control is usually a combination of synthetic estrogen and progestin, whereas HRT would probably be bioidentical estrogen (less risky).
I could see why a doctor would be worried a blood test would be thrown off by the synthetic estrogens in the birth control pill, because it might lower your body’s production of estrogen as it relies on the synthetic stuff.
You are still left with a situation where it seems like your levels are too low and you are having symptoms, so you might still need a higher dose to compensate for menopause and to alleviate your symptoms.
You might also look into a birth control pill that is a progestogen-only pill and then introduce bioidentical estrogen for HRT (ideally as a cream or patch, oral estrogen is poorly absorbed and is metabolized in spikes which creates mood swings and results in uneven blood levels, just an awful way to get estrogen in the body tbh).
Either way, I would advocate for getting more estrogen in your body somehow, because what you are describing (night sweats, anxiety, brain fog, etc.) all sound exactly like the symptoms of low estrogen.
You wanna know something wild? I just saw a GI today for an IBS flareup that’s been going on since September, and I mentioned I thought it might be peri-related, and told her about a few more of my non-GI symptoms. I kid you not, she said “it sounds like you’ve got low estrogen, you should ask your GYN about bioidentical estrogen.” So the two of you convinced me to make an appointment with a new GYN and start that conversation! Thank you! :)
It helps with anxiety/rage, but it took about two months. Night sweats seem to get worse and turn into morning sweats (and morning tiredness), but not unbearable. Did I mention anxiety is almost gone?
No brain fog and digestive issues here, sorry to hear that you got the full Monty.
Visiting a specialist for PMDD also helped (thats where the agnus castus came from. It was either that or SSRIs so we tested a.c. first.)
Also there are no additional hormones from meat, we’re is vegan. To me this helped with what I called the feelings-corckscrew (non native English speaker here, I don’t know if this translates well).
Pls keep in mind, this is a sample size of one. Wish you all all the best, sending you a long, gentle virtual hug.
I’m intrigued…do you mind giving more info, like exactly what does it help with (brain fog, rage, anxiety, forgetfulness, night sweats, digestive issues)? Because I have all of the above!
that sounds like low estrogen, have you considered hormone replacement therapy?
I asked my GYN and she said there’s nothing she can do for me right now because the go-to treatment approach is to prescribe a low-dose birth control, which I’m already on. I asked her if we could have my hormone levels measured and she said we could but that the test wouldn’t be informative because I’m on the pill. I need to find a new GYN since I’ve just moved, so maybe the next one will be more helpful!
fingers crossed …
I think birth control is usually a combination of synthetic estrogen and progestin, whereas HRT would probably be bioidentical estrogen (less risky).
I could see why a doctor would be worried a blood test would be thrown off by the synthetic estrogens in the birth control pill, because it might lower your body’s production of estrogen as it relies on the synthetic stuff.
You are still left with a situation where it seems like your levels are too low and you are having symptoms, so you might still need a higher dose to compensate for menopause and to alleviate your symptoms.
You might also look into a birth control pill that is a progestogen-only pill and then introduce bioidentical estrogen for HRT (ideally as a cream or patch, oral estrogen is poorly absorbed and is metabolized in spikes which creates mood swings and results in uneven blood levels, just an awful way to get estrogen in the body tbh).
Either way, I would advocate for getting more estrogen in your body somehow, because what you are describing (night sweats, anxiety, brain fog, etc.) all sound exactly like the symptoms of low estrogen.
You wanna know something wild? I just saw a GI today for an IBS flareup that’s been going on since September, and I mentioned I thought it might be peri-related, and told her about a few more of my non-GI symptoms. I kid you not, she said “it sounds like you’ve got low estrogen, you should ask your GYN about bioidentical estrogen.” So the two of you convinced me to make an appointment with a new GYN and start that conversation! Thank you! :)
That’s great!! 🥳
Hoping your appointment with the new GYN goes well 💕
It helps with anxiety/rage, but it took about two months. Night sweats seem to get worse and turn into morning sweats (and morning tiredness), but not unbearable. Did I mention anxiety is almost gone? No brain fog and digestive issues here, sorry to hear that you got the full Monty.
Visiting a specialist for PMDD also helped (thats where the agnus castus came from. It was either that or SSRIs so we tested a.c. first.)
Also there are no additional hormones from meat, we’re is vegan. To me this helped with what I called the feelings-corckscrew (non native English speaker here, I don’t know if this translates well).
Pls keep in mind, this is a sample size of one. Wish you all all the best, sending you a long, gentle virtual hug.
This is helpful, thank you so much! 🤍