by MetrOgirl
(Australia)
I am 54 and have suffered chronic fatigue on and off and to various degrees over the last few years. I was a flight attendant for many years and had to resign because I felt weak and exhausted most of the time and couldn't push through it anymore. At this stage I had been on Bio Identical Hormones for about 5 years with at times some long periods of feeling ok. During this time I must say that I had terrible ongoing stress in my life which didn't help.
I started off with Progesterone only at 100mg. I remember it seemed to cure my chronic fatigue! for a long time. During more stress I was advised to up it to 200mg as the fatigue was coming back and I had no energy. It helped and was good for a while until even more personal crisis and situations were added and at some stage I was told I needed estrogen - Biest as my blood level was only 10. I then ballooned out and put on a few kilos despite eating only organic and unprocessed foods. It's been a yo yo effect over the last few years. I was also using DHEA, Pregnenalone for about 3 years, but was still battling with the chronic fatigue. I have recently been on testosterone 3mg cream , Biest 5mg, Progesterone 300mg and despite eating organic, I have put those few kilos back on.... very quickly. Also, feel yuk and weak and wrestlessness in my body especially at night and I have had insomnia for years. Melatonin at high doses worked but made my fatigue worse. However, the terrible anxiety and depression I had a few months ago has completely subsided on increasing a low dose Biest to 5mg, although they haven't helped too much with my fatigue and I don't like the weight gain and other symptoms.
With the depression and anxiety back then my blood estrogen levels were 10!! That is why my doctor increased the Biest dose. Can someone please tell me then, if I was having estrogen dominant symptoms....... why then, did my blood levels show such a low reading??? I have done a lot of research and learnt a lot over the years on Hormones etc. but I can't figure that one out. Many thanks.