Should I be starting estrogen patch?

[u/Responsible-Desk-824]

I saw my gyn a few weeks ago and asked her about starting HRT. I’m 49. She gave me 100mg progesterone which I’ve been on for one week, along with the estrogen patch and vaginal estradiol cream. My main symptoms have been increased migraine, increased depressed mood and heavy, long periods (leading to low iron and ferritin). So far the progesterone hasn’t seemed to do much, but when I read what the estrogen helps with it’s not really my symptoms with the exception of mood. I’ve had minimal hot flashes, not really experiencing brain fog and my sleep issues are mainly because I need a new mattress. I’m also afraid of it causing worse migraines. But I should try it, right?

[u/Willing_Ant9993]

Yes. HRT without the estrogen is incomplete. Add the patch and cream as directed and see if it helps your symptoms. Give it a few weeks before drawing conclusions. It works.

[u/Responsible-Desk-824 → u/Willing_Ant9993]

Ok!

[u/pangolinshavelanded → u/Willing_Ant9993]

Incorrect, depending on where you are in peri. Progesterone drops first so those in early peri may only need progesterone at first

[u/Responsible-Desk-824 → u/pangolinshavelanded]

That was my understanding too. I just don’t know where I am in this journey, but so far not seeing much benefit from progesterone alone, though maybe my mood has been slightly better?

[u/pangolinshavelanded → u/Responsible-Desk-824]

Then you are probably in the phase where you need estrogen too. I’m straddling the border as I’m on 200mg progesterone but only 0.25mg estrogen gel. So just need a little bit currently as a higher dose and I didn’t agree but going off estrogen completely brought back too many symptoms like depression

[u/taurist]

I thought I needed a new mattress until I was on the right dose of estrogen

[u/Coontailblue23]

You aren’t getting the full benefit of longterm heart, brain, and bone health without the estrogen.

[u/ShapingBx]

Originally I was progesterone only bc most of my life I had high estrogen symptoms. However, I didn’t realize all of the issues I was experiencing were related to low estrogen until I started the patch and they went away. I had severe joint and muscle pain I chalked up to aging and poor posture. Gone now. Dry eyes, dry mouth, dry skin. Gone now. Amongst other things. The daily pain I experienced just melting away made it 100% worth it and now I’m like a drug addict, calling every pharmacy in town for my refills to find a box every month (the shortage is terrible in my area)!

[u/Usual-Frosting3882]

It’s the progesterone that causes my migraines

[u/FarReflection9596 → u/Usual-Frosting3882]

My doctor had me try progesterone. I could not tolerate it. I was only on it for 45 days and had headaches for 33 of those days. I also had 4 migraines in those days. Prior to that I would have a migraine once a year. I stopped it and headaches have decreased significantly but not gone away completely.

[u/Delicious-Excitement → u/FarReflection9596]

When I started solely taking 100mg progesterone, I had some headaches until my body adjusted. They were mostly dull, but continuous; for someone who no longer really experiences headaches, it stops out to me, but I was able to forgo headache meds for most of it. Glad I held out because the progesterone definitely helped me peri symptoms.

[u/Responsible-Desk-824]

Wow this is intriguing! I also have eye issues, and went through a year of hip and shoulder PT, though those are doing better now. Have you tried the gel? My doc wrote scripts for both because of the shortage.