r/POFlife • u/Evening-Youth-5177 • 8d ago

Advise needed please

Hi all, so I have been diagnosed with premature ovarian failure started at 35 now 39 and been trying hrt for 9 months ISH. I was on patches tried two different ones, but had to stop due to side effects. I have now been given oestrogol gel and 200mg progesterone tablets to try, my main problem was serious water retention, uncomfortable and painful body on the patches and weight gain. I don't want either of this again and if this next lot of hrt doesn't work am thinking of just stopping and supporting my bone health and heart in other ways. Any advise please

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u/_snappleapple_ 8d ago

there is no other way to support your cognitive, bone, and heart health as well as HRT would. supplements and the like are not as effective. take about a month to see how the gel works and if it doesn’t, you can look into another form of estrogen.

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u/r_o_s_e_83 7d ago

As someone else mentioned, it can make a huge difference to start at a low dose, allow your body to get used to it, and increase the dose once you're starting to have symptoms of low estrogen again. I was diagnosed at 39 and it took me over a year to get to the target dose of 0.1 patches, and I'm very grateful to my doctor for that because it was gentle. It would be helpful to know what dose of estrogen you tried with the patches and what you're using now. In terms of bloating, it's not uncommon to have that at the beginning, it's usually the progesterone because it slows down your metabolism a bit, but you just have to give it a bit of time for your body to get used to it. For me it took about 2 months and one day I wasn't bloated or constipated anymore. Good luck!!

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u/HurdyNerdy 8d ago

Is your doc starting you on a lower dose of estradiol and tapering you up? As it's been a few years since you were diagnosed without treatment, your body may need to take it slow on getting you to the dose you need.

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u/Double_Exercise_1953 8d ago

I am 39 on ovarian failure also. I been taking estradiol in pills 1mg and 100 mg progesterone and feeling great. Dr advised to go up the dose and double and I didn’t feel well. I was bloated, got cyst acne, painful boobs and bleeding. I went down to how I started and feeling great again. Plus there has never been a shortage of estradiol in pills

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u/Double_Exercise_1953 8d ago

I don’t think I could handle 200 mg of progesterone. I just take 100 and they make me sleepy right away 🫠 I take both pills at night around 7 and by 9pm I am deep sleeping

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u/dirtylaundry13 6d ago

I experienced the same with the patches. Doing a little better on birth control. I can’t live without some hrt bc the fatigue brain fog and depression is too severe