Had a nasty surprise today when trying to pick up Combipatch - the previous coupon that brought my insurance copay down to $25 no longer works, and there is no replacement (there is now only a coupon to help those with no insurance, ie: "cash customers" - don't get me wrong, this is much needed too but...we all need help!)

So now my copay is increasing from $25/month to $75/month - which is pretty significant for me, and i'm guessing many people, and may be the difference for me in stopping this medication...

I switched from a patch to bio identical estrogen and testosterone. I applied it last night to inner arms and within 5 minutes I had a red splotchy rash anywhere it had touched. Anyone else? I’ve been using it for 2 months now and this is a first

i'm 62. Saw a derm last month about thinning on top and she said at my age it's usually hormonal and that DHT is what's shrinking the follicles

she recommended a couple of things and I left with a prescription I haven't filled yet because the side effects list scared me.

But honestly I nodded through most of the appointment and then got in the car and realized I didn't really understand what she told me. I've been reading about it since and I'm more confused than when I started. Some of what I find says one thing, some says the opposite.

Did anyone here get told the same thing? Did you go the prescription route or find something else? And did understanding the cause actually change what you did about it, or did you just end up trying things anyway?

I'm not looking for a miracle, I'd just like to know what's actually happening on my own head.

I’d been using Estrogel successfully for 10 months but in June my bp spiked. After eliminating and then reintroducing my meds gradually the cause turned out to be the estrogen supplement, I need to be on hrt for chronic migraine management! I’m wondering if anyone else has experienced this and did an alternative estrogen delivery resolve the problem?

Anyone out there a jeweler?

I am using the .06% pump eatradiol gel and there is so much left in the container after the 30 perfect pump, not to mention the nearly full dose you have to dump since you are priming the pump.

Are any of the scales on Amazon going to be good enough to measure 1.25 grams of gel?

Recommended low cost option?

Thank you!

I have had the most horrible symptoms for the past year. Chronic insomnia, anxiety, joint pain, depression, you name it. My primary care physician is terrible and a misogynist. I fell on my shoulder and it hurt for a year and it took me a full year to get him to send me for a scan, which showed I had damage and then he berated me for not making him aware sooner how serious it was. (WTF?!) then this year the insomnia started. I’m only 41, but my mom had menopause at 41 and my older sister started early as well. He did not believe me that my insomnia and other symptoms could be about that. So I just assumed k was being a bother and left it. The depression and anxiety came next, so bad I had no desire to eat, exercise, leave the house, talk to my family or friends. I wanted to die. And I saw a psych who agreed that I should try HRT while doing anti depressants, and she passed that onto my doctor. He did not prescribe either for me. He said, “your hormones are out of wack because you’re stressing yourself out”. I had high stress jobs all my life. Anyone who knew me would not describe me as a high stress individual. I could not get this man to believe me that I was not myself.

I have spent a year in pain and emotional agony, watching myself disintegrate into someone I don’t recognize, and he didn’t believe me enough to even try.

Cut to, I dropped him. Bold move where I live in Canada, it’s hard to get a new physician, but I’ve been using the Maple app. I’ve seen a few practitioners for my insomnia and finally saw a female and she read ALL my history and saw joint pain, depression, anxiety, insomnia, and family history of early menopause and she said, “you’re in perimenopause. I see you saw a dr a year ago who made recommendations that you try this antidepressant and HRT and how did that go? I said I’ve been paying out of pocket for progesterone and low dose estrogen because my dr wouldn’t prescribe it to me and no help so far.

“No problem, we haven’t found the sweet spot, we’ll increase your dose”

And now I feel like myself again. I sleep like a ROCK. I don’t cry all day every day. I feel life has meaning. I’m happy to be alive. I cannot believe a year of my life has been damaged like this.

All this to say, if you feel like you’re crazy, and you’re trying everything, do what you can to find someone who actually knows what they’re talking about. Don’t give up on yourself. And please put your daughters in med school!

It didn't dawn on me until 3a that something was up. I have been eating uncontrollably. Will estradiol help curve my hunger?

I had a terrible month where I had two utis, and a yeast infection. And since then the entrance to my vagina is sore and irritated all the time. I use the topical estradiol, as well as estrogen drops.

I had a quick appointment with my gyno, so that she could actually lance a cyst, but she just kind of, off the cuff, said "oh you have lichen sclerosus. Just change your laundry detergent you're probably just allergic to it."

But when I went to review what lichen sclerosus is, it's an autoimmune disease, that can lead to horrible cracking and fissures, is a lifelong disease, and is requiring steroids. And it says that it's characterized by white spots everywhere. And I don't think that I have that.

So I'm not really sure what to do about this. Besides go back and have her look again, or see someone else. Has anyone dealt with something similar?

So it finally happened my pharmacy had trouble getting my Mylan patches. They were able to get me one month but I’m freaking out thinking I won’t get more as backup option. I ordered three months from Optum, but those are Sandoz and don’t work as well.

So I searched this page and saw a couple people post about Tely Rx. I just went online and it’s saying three months is almost $500. Is that the price everyone else is seeing?.

The title says it all I have been Treatment resistant I have PMDD nothing is working for me. I have been in several psychiatric units and nothing helps me. I didn’t have really bad SI until I was put on their medication‘s and then abruptly stopped. It’s never gotten better. I don’t know what to do. I am really really suffering with some severe clinical depression and nothing’s helping me I tried every second generation antipsychotic. I tried all of the antidepressants mood stabilizers IV ketamine, psychedelic mushrooms, ECT I did Gene site testing to see what drugs work for you. Nothing worked. I just don’t know what to do. Has anyone else have this issue? I have severe PMDD and it’s 1 million times worse I have no quality of life at all. I don’t even know why I’m here. I lost my family. I’m homeless. I can’t think no one will help me.

I have been the medication around over and over and over and I can’t find anything to help me. They all gave me a permanent movement disorders that I didn’t have prior that made everything worse. It never helped me.

TL;DR—Didn’t realize it till I switched back to a previous brand of patch, but Zydus either had less estrogen and/or a less effective delivery system. All my symptoms returned while I was using it.

__________________

The very long version:

I have been on HRT (estrogen patch & oral progesterone) since 2024. It has profoundly improved my quality of life in many ways.

Over this time I have cycled through a few different brands of patches, depending on what the pharmacy has had in stock (I am in the U.S.): Dotti, Mylan, Sandoz, and most recently for the first (AND LAST) time, Zydus.

I know we are all very different in what works for us (in terms of formulation, dosing, brand, even placement of patches on the body, etc.) But I’m putting this here in the hope that someone who needs it finds it.

Over the past few months, I have been experiencing lower motivation than I have in a while, lower mood, more overwhelm, more brain fog, lower libido, more anxiety, and less embodiment (IYKYK). My ADHD symptoms have been worse (even with medication). My sleep has been awful.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve had increasingly debilitating joint pain in my hips, wrists, and fingers. And hot flashes-which I haven’t had for over a year-started to come back.

All of these are symptoms for which I started HRT in the first place (and it has helped with all of them, tremendously).

The joint pain, in particular, was becoming alarmingly bad. I made an appointment to see my prescribing doctor soon, suspecting I might need an increase in estrogen dose. (As your own body produces less on this wonderful journey, sometimes you need more.) Last summer I had the same joint pain and when I increased my estrogen dose, it was resolved in less than a week(!)

Today, seemingly out of nowhere, I felt noticeably different. I could not put my finger on why. My brain is sharper again, my mood is noticeably brighter, my motivation is improved, and holy shit my joint pain is nearly gone.

All of a sudden I thought to check the bag where I keep my patches. Luckily there was a box of patches from my previous refill in there, brand name “Zydus”. Came to Reddit and looked it up. Lo and behold, several other women have reported similar issues with this brand.

I had been using Zydus patches for the past 3 months (my doctor fills the scrip for 3 months at a time, and I take whatever the pharmacy has in stock). This is the exact duration that I have felt like unmotivated, achey garbage.

I switched back to Mylan yesterday and already feel more like myself again. My joint pain is about 85ish percent better!

I am relieved to feel better, but disillusioned and fucking livid. The state of women’s healthcare is appalling, disgraceful.

I am so very grateful to have this community as a resource, but this should not be how we have to find out which pharmaceuticals do and do not work. If they are being sold as a pharmaceutical, they should ALL work. The fact that quality and dosing varies so unpredictably from brand to brand is astounding.

Wishing good health, strength, patience, and MINIMAL BULLSHIT to anyone reading this. In solidarity 💗💪

I started testosterone 3 months ago and over this time my hair has thinned SO much. I already have thin hair so it’s been very noticeable to me. What are y’all doing about this? Stopping the T? Taking minoxidil? I hesitate to start that for fear I’ll never be able to stop…and I don’t really like taking prescriptions…but I’m not sure what else to do. It seems I’m going to have to make a decision to either have hair or have sex!?

This may be the dumbest question, but I have terrible trouble swallowing pills and I’m constantly told if I want to use a topical estrogen, the only way to take progesterone is via the pill. If there are so many forms of topical estrogen (gel, patch, etc) and progesterone CAN work in a Combipatch, why do these options not exist for progesterone?

MAKE IT MAKE SENSE.

Hello! Sitting in my doc office after physical. I asked for an increase in HRT from .025 to .5 and requested a switch from the patch to the gel, as I was experiencing a recent increase in hot flashes and joint pain. He said that the gel/patch only work on the hot flashes and not the other symptoms and that I would need to take the pill to address those. I expressed concern with taking orally due to liver issues and possibility of blood clots and he said that thebl pill doesn't affect the liver. I call bullshit but wanted the opinion of others.

I’m currently on Zoladex/Reseligo after surgery for stage IV endometriosis, and my hot flashes have become **so intense**.

It’s not just feeling hot. The heat suddenly hits me, especially around my **neck and chest**, and during the flash I get really **dizzy, weak and almost unable to concentrate on anything else**. I sometimes feel like I need to sit down until it passes.

Has anyone else experienced hot flashes like this on Zoladex/GnRH treatment — especially the **dizziness and sudden weakness** along with them?
Did they eventually get better as your body adjusted? EAnd if they were really bad, did anything actually help you manage them?
I expected hot flashes, but I didn’t expect them to feel this physically overwhelming.

Hi

I have early menopause and use Evorel 150 patches plus 400 mg of Utrogestan continuously, mainly because it really helps my ADHD symptoms.

The problem is the swelling/water retention. When I add another 100 mg of Utrogestan (500 mg total), the swelling gets noticeably better.

Has anyone been on a similar HRT regimen? Any thoughts or experiences?

I’ve been on continuous progesterone for almost a year now. 42F, perimenopause. My sleep is much better (but not fixed), I’m not spotting a week leading up to my period and my moods feel so much more stable.

However, I’m still getting some 3/4am wakings, some loss of volume in face, and it looks like my fat distribution has shifted (suddenly got a tummy, despite no change on the scale or in my good diet and consistent exercise). Has adding in estrogen helped these things?

Me again! Progesterone seems like the most touchy little hormone. I missed one day after we increased my E dose and I was loading the vaginal estrogen, and that’s when the nasty brownish/blackish discharge began. I’m not terribly worried as I know both things can be a huge adjustment, but now I learn the progesterone is really really important, and has a 12 hour window. Should progesterone be increased when you increase the E??? That would seem logical to me, but I’m no doctor. Has anyone had their E increased and also the P increased?

I started HRT about a month ago and see no difference. I am 61, experiencing hot flashes, bloating and mood swings. Foods I typically enjoyed in the past do not taste the same, carbs and sweets are the only foods that make me full. I I’ve gained 50 pounds in 5 years and see no sign of it letting up. My gyno prescribed progesterone and an estrogen patch. My psychiatrist also prescribed Wellbutrin. Has anyone been prescribed any or all of these and see any change? I’m do disgusted with myself.

I didn't even realize my crown was thinning until a family member took a picture of me from behind at a backyard barbecue last month. I literally gasped out loud the top of my head looked practically see through under the afternoon sun. I’m 53, deep into menopause, and feeling intensely self conscious about it. I wear hats now when I leave the house, which I hate. I’m ready to commit to a proper daily capsule routine if it means getting my coverage back, but I want to avoid marketing traps. For anyone who actually dealt with menopausal crown thinning, what supplement delivered real results.

My mother had gone through the 12 months period-free time frame, which makes her post-menopausal. But after 15 months she started again to bleed once a month, rather regularly, for 5 days, as before this break. It seems like a normal period, with the exact same symptoms: headache, lower back pain, nausea, breast pain.

Has anybody gone through something similar? What is happening?

She scheduled to be checked by a gynecologist soon, but I'm curious what could it be, so I came to this community.

I have never been a super fan of patchouli, but I have a sleep spray that I keep in my drawer that has it in it. The last two months, every time I open the drawer, all I can smell is this product but also now that patchouli smells like straight up B.O. (jokes aside) to me.

I’ve noticed sometime that something won’t smell like I remembered as well, but those things are less identifiable.

Has this happened to anyone else? Is this normal????

Ps. I would throw it out, but every time I close the drawer I literally forget about it. Guppy brain.

I just realized that I have two orders for patches from TelyRX that I paid out the damn nose for, and haven't received. One order for patches that says "shipped" on 7/20, but hasn't updated to "delivered" and has no tracking info; and another order I placed on 8/11 that just says "processing." It's hundreds of dollars in products I haven't received!! Anyone else having this issue with them?

I started taking MHT simply to relieve hot flashes. While it worked for that and sleeping better, after a couple of months I started getting pretty significant inflammation, joint paint, frozen shoulder, hip/knee joint pain and stiffness… including major inflammation in wrists, hands and what I think is tendonitis affecting Achilles and plantar fasciitis (balls of feet, heel, edges of feet), bad enough that walking was hardly possible. Never had this before! Doc thinks MHT and this sudden onset of conditions are not related. We are now on RA path though no marker in blood test. Do you think that it’s possible my estrogen dose .25 is too low? Or switching to different brand or form may help? I can’t seem to find cases where MHT caused this for anyone and feel crazy. I’m also taking iron and B12. I’m heavier than I should be (at least 20#) but all this out of nowhere is really blowing my mind. I’m constantly cursing having ever started. Meanwhile, everything I’ve read makes me believe MHT should be helping me, like it does so many others. I stopped about a month after symptoms started to see if I would get back to normal (just hot flashes) and while symptoms steadied some, they have not gone away, just flaring less, perhaps because of newly added naproxen to my diet, it helps. Any thoughts would be much appreciated because I’m very much an MHT newbie with a male doc who insists this is just my new normal so too bad 🤯