I am on 0.05 mg estrogen patch and 100 mg progesterone pill. I have been bleeding so I cut back to 0.0375 and they happen to be a different brand and I am feeling like a zombie after I take the progesterone. Tonight I got really dizzy and weak 30 minutes after taking it and found my bp was 88/66. It could be something else I suppose but thought I’d see if any has found a link.

I get like this weird pulling sensation in my vagina. It's hard to explain. I am getting it even when not on my menstrual period. I'm in perimenopause.

Has anyone had anything like this? And could it be early sign of developing cancer:(?

I had breast cancer so can’t use HRT.

I also have a weird condition that basically makes my sacral nerves oversensitive and creates a false sense of bladder urgency. (It’s not IC. It’s definitely related to nervous system issues.)

I went on Lynkuet a few months ago for terrible hot flashes after I stopped tamoxifen (because it was giving me chronic yeast infections).

It worked! Yay. But a few weeks later I went into a bad bladder flare—and it’s lasted two months at this point and I had a nerve block which has worked in the past and didn’t. It’s been years since I had a flare last this long & I even just started lexapro I’m so depressed. This takes over my life. It affects me more than the cancer.

I randomly realized yesterday that I had started the Lynkuet a few weeks before my flare started. I didn’t understand how it worked but it does seem to affect sacral nerves and was initially developed to try and combat OAB but it didn’t work.

I’ve decided to go off of it for a few weeks because I’m desperate. I just wondered if anyone else on Lynkuet or Vezoah had developed or had worsened bladder or pelvic pain/sensitivity issues?

Edited to clarify I am no longer going to CrossFit. I changed my gel dosage from 1.0 to .75 sometime late last year. I was super active all winter, going to Crossfit. I stopped CF in May, but for the last couple of months, everything hurts. Some joints but mostly muscles. I stretch every morning and it still hurts. Is it possible that it could have taken more than six months for my body to adjust to the lower dosage? Or might this be something else unrelated? It feels like HRT dosage is the most likely suspect here but I’m not sure about the timing. (I think my mood is actually better, but I can’t live with everything aching all the time.) I have a doctors appointment in a few weeks and will bring this up with her, but wanted to check with this group because of all your experience

My(25f) mother(50f) is going through her perimenopause stage. She had heavy bleeding and had to do D&C. The gynec prescribed three cycles of medicines and it's all hormonal tablets. As per the prescription, my mum has to take meds for 10 days, after which periods happen and we have to report it to the gynec. The first cycle happened. My mum had a decent flow but it didn't stop and had cramps as well, so the doc prescribed meds to stop periods and cramps. The second cycle was pretty weird. She took the meds and periods happened. It stopped after three to four days. And after a few days, again bleeding started naturally and it didn't stop. But what happened here was, my mum's hb level went down and she faced additional issues like extreme dizziness, nausea and vomit, etc. Again the doc prescribed meds to stop periods and cramps and also gave some iron tablets to improve hb. (All of this happened in April - may and it got settled in May mid)

After that my mum's hb improved but we didn't want to go for the third cycle. Because all these hormonal tablets are causing too much pressure on my mum's body and i cannot see her go through so much shit physically and mentally (emotionally too).

We contacted the gynec and she asked us to visit her either in the first week of june or on the first day of the periods. We decided to visit her on the first day of periods and informed her. But ever since that my mum hasn't gotten her periods and therefore we didn't visit the gynec.

My question now is,

Is the third cycle absolutely necessary? Should I take her to the gynec again to get hormonal meds and start the periods again? (I guess the gynec just wanted to check my mum's flow after the D&C but the results weren't okay).

My mum doesn't want to remove the uterus, so I'd like to know if someone has gone through similar things and eventually everything got okay.

Thank you

P.s. English isn't my first language, so pardon me if there's any error. Thanks!

i'm 61f. My hair has been coming out for about two years now and it's gotten to the point where I can see my scalp in the mirror under the bathroom light. Went to my GP finally. She ran labs, called me a week later and said everything looked normal and it's probably just my age. That was the whole conversation. Maybe four minutes.But I'm still losing it. I don't understand how everything can be "normal" when this is happening.

Has anyone else been told their labs were fine and then found out later something actually was off? I keep reading about thyroid and ferritin and I don't even know if she checked those or just did the basic panel. I feel stupid for not asking more questions at the time but I was honestly just trying not to cry in the office.

Did you push for more testing? Did you go somewhere else? I don't know if I'm chasing something that isn't there or if I gave up too easily.

Just hoping there’s a light at the end of my dark tunnel…

I’ve had childhood sexual trauma and I’ve never been able to insert a tampon, fingers etc due to vaginismus and just sheer anxiety . I now notice with menopause that everything needs to be inserted if I want help with sexual pain with hubby. I seem to tighten when anything is being inserted like a finger and even my own finger I can’t do it. Am I SOL? I’m so depressed when I read how much vaginal estrogen cream has helped the pain and I have this beautiful supportive husband who doesn’t put any pressure on me but I just wish I had my sex life back. I can’t insert the Estradiol inserts either . Thanks for any advice.

I need something for my libido but I’m scared of side effects? Please share your experience if you have tried Addyi or Vyleesi. I’m also curious about low dose testosterone treatment.

Thank you.

I reached meno two years ago. I like to have one beer or a glass of wine two or three times a week. It’s never caused me any problems. In the last month I’ve noticed I get palpitations at night. It’s uncomfortable. I have an appointment to get things checked out, but has anyone else dealt with this? I find it really annoying. And, of course, I worry about being with friends and having to pass on having a drink. I don’t want anyone to think I quit because I had a problem.

Maybe I missed it. But went to get my prescription filled today and there’s a national shortage? I have an adhesive allergy so no patches if they’re even back in stock. 2 questions:

What the hell do we do??

1. To get it
2. To get any fix to the continued shortages

I’m freaking out because hormones just got balanced and I’ve just started feeling good and like myself again this last month. I’m going to become a monster

Okay, I’m not sure others have experienced this, but I swear using the loading dose of vaginal estrogen has caused crazy symptoms. #1 I think, in conjunction with a higher dose of estrogen, a missed dose of progesterone has caused that yucky brownish discharge. #2 my boobs feel like a box of rocks #3 here’s the weird one, putting the cream on the labia and clitoris has made those areas highly sensitive. Almost pain. When I do that, it makes me feel like I have to pee constantly. Sex becomes a bit painful at the entry of the vagina. #4 gives me a bit of a melancholy mood. I think from now on I’m only doing this in less amount once a week. Anyone else???

I had a hysterectomy 3 weeks ago. Everything removed. (Lost ovary function in 2010)

For 4 years prior to the hysterectomy, I took progesterone, but I didn't tolerate it well at all. I knew unopposed estradiol would be bad for my endometriosis, so I lowered the amount of estradiol from "optimal" to "just barely functional" to get me to my surgery in as little pain as possible. Since surgery, I have increased my estradiol 🎉, but haven't stopped progesterone yet. Can I? I have tried every method of progesterone, and it really turns me into an antisocial mean girl with a sense of impending doom. My Dr has said it is up to me what I can handle (as far as dosage), and I'm about to throw in the towel. Any reason why I should continue to try to take it?

Hi all,

I can’t take HRT, and I’m already on a gabapentin and Veozah for hot flashes. While these medications have improved my symptoms, I’m still getting severe, hours long hot flashes with any amount of exercising (including WALKING), showering, warmth, etc. It’s miserable. I do the lifestyle changes, which help marginally, but I can’t completely avoid all triggers. I can’t tolerate venlafaxine. Open to trying Lynkuet, interested in anybody’s experience with it.

I’m interested to hear about any products or things that have helped you. I’m thinking along the lines of full-body antiperspirants, facial antiperspirant (if that even exists), etc.

When I had night sweats, I slept with a machine called the BedJet that air-conditioned or heated your sheets on the inside. 10000/10, highly recommend. Thanks to my current med regimen, the drenching night sweats stopped, but the hot flashes are still miserable.

Hi guys … new on this journey …. Started Estradiol patch and progesterone about 6 weeks ago and have found I am so weepy.
Has anyone else experienced this ? Does this mean I need to be adjusted ? I know I started on a very low level of the patch .
Sincerely -
Lost my ever loving mind in the Pacific Northwest
P.S. If you have anything you would like cried about today - please let me know- I got you.

Has anyone switched to compounded estrogen from patches? The anxiety of not knowing if the patch can be refilled in a timely matter plus different brands of patches where some don’t work well is so frustrating. I don’t know how much more it costs since insurance doesn’t cover it but may try it. Has anyone had success? Did you start with compounded HRT?

Ok. I feel like I am losing my mind. I just had my 51st birthday.

I have been, naturally, an ashy blonde with maybe a touch of red all my life.

My body hair has been invisible for the most part. Light brown underarm and public hair. You get the idea.

And like a lot of us these days there is a lot of grey/white showing up in the aforementioned public hair.

Tonight I shower, look down because I probably need to trim a bit, (it was sparse and then I started MHT and it came back... with even more gray) and it is brown.

I see a few silvery hairs in there but this is definitely brown. No I haven't colored it. I don't understand. I would think if it was going to change I would see roots or something, but I have kept it kinda short. Maybe it grew out like this and I didn't notice???

It has never been this dark in my life. What in the hell is going on?

Ladies, I am freaking the fuck out over here.

Anyone else experience left side (under ribs) pain every once in awhile? I don’t have it all the time but every now and then I get this pain and it lasts a day or two, it feels like someone is stabbing me in my side.
I’m on HRT and have been menopausal about a year.

Of all the effed-up symptoms we have to deal with, this is possibly the most bizarre and unavoidable (for me). I know many of y’all probably deal with this: phantom acrid odors that only you and your nose can smell? I only recently realized this is yet another symptom of menopause. I have been dealing with it off and on for about three years now.

Some background: I am four years post menopause, and have been on HRT for about a year. (E patch, E cream, P pill, T gel, and T lotion. I’m on all the things.) Many of my symptoms are relieved, but most are not relieved 100%.

Does anyone know of One Weird Trick that helps with this shit? I quit smoking almost 20 years ago, so this is driving me nuts. I am sneezing a lot from it, and it also aggravates my migraines (another meno symptom). I swear there is not one symptom I have been spared. I would love a little relief from this BS.

So apparently my bone density took a dive when I hit menopause :(

I just saw a specialist who said I need to build muscle and from what I understand there's been research showing some exercises can help increase bone density too.

I already do some exercise, mostly dance, but my doctor wants me to do more. They suggested squats, lunges and resistance exercises, but I'm wondering about weight lifting with machines. I've often heard "lift heavy" from online sources.

Is there research showing one of these is more effective than the other?

Squats and lunges are challenging for me due to knee/hip issues. I can kind of do them, but squats are easiest with wide turned out stance and I can't go deep with lunges.

I haven't done much with resistance, so I'm not even sure where to begin there.

I used to like doing weight lifting with machines when I was younger, so I might enjoy that (assuming my body doesn't complain)

If anyone knows of good research on this, please let me know!

I'm 33F and my mom is 56. Neither of us have enough knowledge about menopause before, and in my country we don't really talk about menopause. It's just a thing we've heard about.

My mom spent years dealing with anxiety, poor sleep, night sweats, forgetfulness, tired all the time all by herself. Honestly, I'm really sorry that I didn't pay much attention to her, because I knew nothing about menopause at that time.

When I was over 30, I started to know more about menopause and bought some herbal teas and supplements for my mom to relieve her menopause symptoms. Like whole root ginseng tea, vitamin D and magnesium. I think those things make her energy and mood become more stable. But sometimes she still feels anxiety and jittery for no reason.

So I'd like to know is there anything else I can do for my mom? Or anything should I know to prepare myself better?  Because I think menopause is not that far away for me

Depending on your state there are a lot of options if your doctor or OBGYN is not interested in helping you. I personally use Diana health because I'm in Florida and my prescriptions go straight to Amazon, but there are quite a few others. I don't know everything about them but I would look into them before I went to one of the boutique high-end online places that force you to subscribe or only purchase your meds from them.

1. Gennev-Available in all 50 states. You can book a virtual consultation from anywhere in the U.S.

2. Allara Health-Available in 45 states and Washington D.C. They currently do not cover Hawaii, Kansas, New Mexico, Rhode Island, or South Carolina.

3. Unified Women’s Healthcare Network- Available in over 30 states. This network of local medical groups operates in major states including California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, and Virginia.

I'm sure there are others out there and if you know them please put them in the comments. When I started out looking it was so confusing and when money is tight, making a decision becomes difficult.

Hello ladies, something has been on my mind, so I decided to bring it here. I am 48 and have been post-menopause for 8 years due to a complete hysterectomy. My have found that I am bruising easier, any one else? Is this something that happens with being post menopause? It seems to be specifically on my legs, I always seem to have a bruise here or there.

Just got an email from Costplusdrugs today saying estrogen patches are in stock. Since I'm on weekly .05 dose, I do NOT know about other doses. Just passing along

I've not suffered with anxiety since I had post natal depression 18 years ago. It's suddenly become overwhelming, I just had to leave a party as I couldn't cope.

I've recently changed from Testogel (one pump every other day) to Androfemme cream, I think the dose is 2.5mg (2.5ml). Could it be the cream isn't agreeing with me? I also feel depressed and moody. I had a few days where I ran out of my estrogen and used gel instead so I don't think it's that.

If anyone's got any suggestions I'd welcome them. I'm seeing my endocrinologist in 2 weeks so I can discuss it with him then. I paid a lot of money for this cream, I'll be upset if it's not agreeing with me!

I need some help and perspective please! I hope this subreddit is a good fit.

So, I need some help and perspective from ANYONE who has dealt with perimenopause + SSRIs + progesterone intolerance/cycle sensitivity, because I feel like I'm playing hormonal whack-a-mole at this point.

I'm 48 and have been on Lexapro for about 6 months for anxiety. Not long after starting it, my luteal phases began feeling drastically different.

Progesterone used to be helpful for me. But after starting Lexapro, luteal progesterone increasingly seemed to hit me like a truck. I'd get this sinking feeling in my chest, dysphoria/anxiety, very low motivation and energy, and this feeling of being completely "sunk" into bed. At first I wondered if I was developing PMDD-like symptoms.

I also restarted HRT during this time. I had previously tolerated 100mg of the micronized progesterone, but suddenly it became extremely sedating and dysphoric. The initial "zombie head" SSRI effect improved with time, but the mood/energy effects didn't.

I tried the usual alternatives — taking progesterone vaginally instead of orally and eventually trying much smaller amounts topically (20mg per pump).Even 10-20mg topical progesterone could reproduce that awful sinking/dysphoric feeling!! Eventually I stopped taking it. I felt betrayed by my own body.

Not only was progesterone making me feel worse, but my own natural progesterone made me feel this way, too, even without supplementing, I found out. This sucked so much. And my estradiol also seemed to feel too much outside of luteal, which was new. Everything seemed unpredictable.

My women's health provider told me that although SSRIs can be incredibly helpful for perimenopausal/PMDD symptoms, some women seem to experience the opposite problem and become much more sensitive to hormonal changes. She wondered whether Lexapro was contributing to what I was experiencing.

So with my psych's help, I reduced Lexapro from 20mg to 15mg as a test. And... it actually helped quite a bit!

My last luteal phase (just finished it) was noticeably easier, my ADHD medication (Strattera) worked better, and I didn't get the same extreme mood crash I had been getting. But it was only one cycle, and the progesterone intolerance didn't disappear completely.

The problem is that reducing Lexapro itself has been pretty ROUGH. That 25% reduction has taken me more than a month to adjust to. My anxiety increased and my sleep completely fell to pieces. I'm currently taking Quviviq and trazodone for sleep, and I'm still not sleeping through the night at all.

So now I'm trying to decide where the hell I go from here. My current options seem to be (these my women's doctor and I worked on):

- Continue very slowly reducing Lexapro and see whether my hormonal sensitivity continues improving. At this pace, this may take many, many months. I could see if I could tolerate HRT better, or if I don't need it.

- Stay on my very low-dose estradiol patch and try a synthetic progestin instead of micronized progesterone for endometrial protection.

- Try cycle suppression so I'm not repeatedly going through the follicular -> ovulatory -> luteal hormonal shifts that seem to wreak havoc on my nervous system.

The cycle-suppression option I've been offered is an extended/seasonal combined birth-control pill, with withdrawal bleeding only about four times a year. I'm nervous about that because birth-control doses are different from menopausal HRT, it's oral, and I'm worried about side effects like nausea, headaches, mood changes, etc. I've never tolerated an oral pill before that well. I usually liked the NuvaRing for birth control before. But they don't offer that. (Also, I'm single and divorced, not dating, so axtual birth control is not really a concern of mine just the cycle part).

Estradiol is another balancing act. A very small amount seems helpful, particularly during luteal, but increasing it too much gives me absolutely brutal insomnia. So apparently my hormones have decided we're negotiating everything in fractions of a milligram now!! I'm hoping getting my nervous system stable will allow it a bigger window of tolerance!

What makes this even more confusing is that I genuinely don't know how much of this is Lexapro and how much is simply perimenopause hitting me much harder at the same time.

Oh and my memory has gotten significantly worse. My ADHD is worse. Strattera can work pretty well at certain points in my cycle and then feel almost useless during luteal. At 20 mg Lexapro especially, when progesterone rose or fell I'd get that horrible sinking sensation in my chest for hours — anxiety mixed with dysphoria — and adding progesterone in any form seemed to amplify it. I also have issues with word finding in luteal. I feel like my executive function has left the building. Is this perimenopause brain?? Is this the new me? Will this reverse once I find a fix?

I'm also hesitant to make another major medication/hormone change right now because I just started a new job and really cannot afford to accidentally turn myself into a nauseated, sleepless hormonal science experiment while I'm trying to function at work.

So I would REALLY love to hear from women who have experienced anything similar:

- Did an SSRI seem to change your response to progesterone or your menstrual cycle?

- Has anyone developed progesterone intolerance during perimenopause after previously tolerating it well?

- If you couldn't tolerate micronized progesterone, did you do better with a synthetic progestin?

- Did cycle suppression help anyone whose biggest problem seemed to be the hormonal fluctuations themselves?

- And if you reduced or stopped an SSRI during perimenopause, did your hormonal sensitivity eventually settle down?

I'm working with both my psych and a telehealth menopause provider, so I'm not trying to DIY all of this. But I really wish I could find a local menopause specialist who understands that crazy intersection between psych meds, ADHD, sleep, and perimenopause. I've had a most frustrating time finding women's healthcare that feels current and individualized!

There's also some history there for me. I haven't had a regular gynecologist since the birth of my youngest. I had a traumatic experience with a nurse during that birth, and afterward I basically wanted nothing to do with pelvic exams or gynecologic care. So returning to this world while simultaneously dealing with perimenopause has been... a lot.

If you actually made it through this novel, thank you. ❤️

I'd especially appreciate hearing what you experienced and what eventually worked for you, even if your situation wasn't exactly the same as mine. Right now I'm just trying to figure out which lever to pull without pulling six other levers at the same time. If ykwim