Menu

Struggling to gain hormonal balance

by Robin
(California )

Hi Wray,

My name is Robin, I am currently 42 years old and have been on BHRT for 3 years now. I had a partial hysterectomy, ovaries still in tact, 11 years ago. In 2011, I started having hot flashes, night sweats & insomnia. In May of 2012 I started taking 150 mg oral compounded progesterone in the evening, and used a small dose of testosterone cream in the morning. I did start to feel better, but have gained 25 pounds in the last 3 years! I am an avid exerciser and eat pretty well, but no matter what the weight won't budge?

I moved a few months ago, and am seeing a new hormone doctor, she just recently changed me to 75mg/0.5 ML compounded progesterone cream in the evening, and .25 E2/.25 E3/1 Test/.5M compounded cream in the morning. Felt great the first 5 days, since then (2 weeks), literally feel like I have been run over by a truck! Extreme fatigue, have been sleeping 10-12 hours a night, can barely open my eyes in the morning..get nothing accomplished all day. How much does 75mg transdermal cream relate to an oral dosage? I read if taken orally, you may get the benefits of 10 to 20% of the dose - is this correct?

Last night I took 200 mg prometrium orally, slept 9.5 hours - but feel a little better today, not as much fatigue...I think the 75mg cream was way too much for me, any ideas?

Thanks!

Comments for Struggling to gain hormonal balance

Click here to add your own comments

Jul 16, 2015
 intereting
by: letitia

just want to follow any advice you get
Jul 17, 2015
 Advice Needed
by: Robin

Hi,

I posted a few days ago - haven't received any responses..Was hoping someone would have some advice for me.

Thanks,

Robin in California
Jul 22, 2015
 Struggling to gain hormonal balance
by: Joy

Hi Robin

Any form of oral progesterone is not the best delivery method, 96% gets destroyed by the gut and liver, see here. You are taking just enough to stir up your estrogen receptors which is giving you Estrogen Dominance symptoms. Also I do not believe that any woman needs to take extra estrogen and testosterone, please read Our Stolen Future. There are over 100 estrogen mimics in our environment as it is, why take more? Testosterone has been linked to Insulin resistance, see here, amongst other things. The dangers of take extra of both, are simply not worth it.

Please make sure that you use a cream that delivers the correct amount of progesterone. How to use Progesterone Cream will help you to understand how to use progesterone cream correctly. Do you know what your vitamin D3 level is as a deficiency reduces the benefits of progesterone.

Hope this helps.
Jul 28, 2015
 Struggling to find hormonal balance
by: Robin

Joy,

Thank you for your feedback, I would like to go back to using the progesterone cream, but feel the 75mg dosage may be too much for me. Any suggestions on how much I should be using? I was also using the entire dose in the evening, would it be better to use half in the morning and other half in the evening.

Thanks,

Robin
Jul 30, 2015
 Struggling to gain hormonal balance
by: Joy

Hi Robin

I hope you managed to make sense of the info posted previously, something went wrong when I posted the link and was hoping that it would get amended before it was posted. If not, let me know and I will repost for you.

The 75mg dose is not enough, you are in Peri-Menopause/Menopause where at least 100mg/3ml per day is needed, most women find relief on 200mg/6ml per day, but you may need more, it depends on how much excess estrogen you have. If you use too little it will aggravate the estrogen receptors and will cause terrible Estrogen Dominance symptoms. The How to use Progesterone Cream page explains exactly when and how to use progesterone cream. It should never be used once a day, twice a day is the correct way. The reason for this, is that progesterone levels start to drop after 13 hours causing levels to spike, the idea is to keep levels as stable as possible. Half in the morning and half in the evening is the correct way of using progesterone.

Please don't forget the importance of Vitamin D3.

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Progesterone faq.

Share this page:
Find this page helpful? Please tell others. Here's how...

Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?

  1. Click on the HTML link code below.
  2. Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment, your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.

Search over 8,400 pages on this site...