Somebody please help!!

Hi Judy lady, when you say 1/2 mg estrogen, is that 1mg to 2mg or 1/2 (half)mg?

It's a long/sad story on my getting re-adjusted to estrogen, so I won't go through the complete nightmare story of getting back on track. My OBGYN decided he wanted me down to only .05 mg daily dosage of estrogen (estradiol, because of my being older-68). When, at .05 mg, I started going through what Shelley is going through now - one night I told my husband I needed to go to the emergency room as I felt like I was having a mental breakdown (Thank God for 1Tyelnol PM pill and 1/2 mg Xanax.  He decided to up my doseage from .05 mg daily to 2 mg daily. I was great for two weeks then the bottom dropped out (too much, too quick), he changed my dosage 6 times in 1-1/2 year and I was a walking zombie. "Patient heal thyself" I took the bull by the horns and started tappering down every month or so by 1/2 mg. Since I went from .05 mg up to 2 mg. (14 total mg. per week) I knew it was way too much so  I started tappering down from total 14 mg per week to 13-1/2 mg per week (but cutting a 2 mg. pill in half and then cutting the half (1 mg) in half, making it 1/2 mg. I only had a very mild couple weeks feeling antsy (not bad anxiety or panic attacks). I'm now down to a total (per week) 11-1/2 mg estradiol. I'll do this for 1-2 months and if I feel it's too much I'm going to taper down another 1/2 mg (making it a total 11 mg per week). I talked it over with my doctor and he agrees what I'm doing is just fine. He said we older women don't need as much estrogen. I'm bad about rattling on so if this is confusing just let me know.

Hi Judy lady,

do you use any progesterone? I have just gone on to the 1mg estrogen/1mg progesterone with a 1mg estrogen in the evening too. I felt quite anxious yesterday and had really disturbed sleep last night so I wondered if this was the progesterone element.

Hi supemack,

No, I only use estrogen. I got up too high (2 mg daily-prescribed by the doctor) so I'm tappering back down "slowly,"  When I was at .05 and even at 1 mg I was having terrible bouts of anxiety and nerve problems. According to my doctor, older women do not need much estrogen (I'm 68) so this is why I'm tappering down from 2 mg a day very slowly, letting the estrogen level a couple months and if I feel it's still too much (facial flushing, antsy, excess excreation in the vagina area) then I'll tapper down another 1/2 mg. When I was at 8-1/2 mg a week (by the cutting down of pills to equal the 8-1/2 mg) I knew something was wrong because I was a tiny nervous at times, burning hot mouth, bleeding gums with gum problems, itching skin, fatigue. When the doctor put me down even lower all these symptoms were a lot worse, plus the anxiety went ballistic. It's a vicious circle - I now know that 1 mg daily is entirely too low (total 7 mg a week), 8-1/2 is too low so I feel (for me) somewhere between 10 and 11 1/2 total mg a week is what I probably need. Also... I found that if I intake any caffeine my anxiety is a lot worse. I eat no choclate (whimper), no caffeine in my coffee and diet drinks - "no caffeine."  Every once in awhile I'll test it and sure enough, I'll be nervous for 3-4 days.

Do you not need to take progesterone to balance out the estrogen? My doctor seems to think so.

Hi Supemack39, I'm very interested in your applying magnesium night oil. Although I feel 98% back on track (due to estrogen), I've been reading about magnesium and all the benefits it has. Plus the fact, as we age we lose magnesium (I'm almost 69 years old). I purchased a bottle of L-Threonate magnesium and some of the oil. Do you apply the apply on your legs only? "Thank You"

Hi Judy lady, I apply the oil anywhere and everywhere! It doesn't seem to matter. You obviously had a problem with the low estrogen too. I have used the magnesium citrate in powder form, as I have a problem swallowing tablets. But I have managed to take too much as it's half a level teaspoon. .....what size of teaspoon? Taking too much has resulted in awful stomach cramps and diahorrea which we don't want along with everything else! If you look up magnesium deficiency it seems to be the answer for so, so many things. I've even got my husband on it for very cold hands and feet (he,s on blood thinners following a heart attack) and I've just read this morning that it should also help his tinnitus. I really have been quite amazed at the benefits of using Magnesium and wonder why the doctors don't advise us of the benefits, instead of prescribing painkillers, anti-depressants, beta blockers and sleping tablets, as they did in my case. You can get the magnesium oil night time, which I have been using and also a daytime one. Good luck with it along with the estrogen as my panics, anxiety and chronic insomnia have gone after five months, over four or five daY's. I am sleping again!!!

That's wonderful! I just recieved my magnesium and the oil the other day, so I'm going to start asap. I discussed taking it with my internist and would it be okay for me taking it and what exactly does magnesium do. He said it's a calming supplement, as well as having other benefits. The ones he prefer my taking are Glycinate and L-Threonate (does the trick without burning the stomach and diarrhea). L-Threonate is the newest, top notch one out now, although a little more pricey.

Oh my God thanks so much. ?????????. I'm not on hrt. I take nothing except herbal menopause concoction which I stopped because it made me feel horrible. My doctor refuses to check my hormones . Says it can't be that because I haven't had s period in 5 years. I'm currently trying to find somewhere to test my hormones. I'm literally only surviving right now because of people like you. So appreciated.

Oh Shelley! Bless your heart, I'm so sorry you're going through this mess. A lady/friend in my husbands office was on the natural bioidentical (think that's the name) where the pharmacist compounds it out. She was a total basket case. Finally, she got with the OBGYN (that I now also go to) and he did bloodwork on her, she had barely any estrogen. She's now on a total 7 mg per week estradiol (1 mg dosage daily) (she's 70 years old). When I was going through this, losing my sanity mess, I'd give her a call and she would give me the pep talk, "grit your teeth and hang in there, at the end of 6 months you'll begin to feel "a fraction" better, at the end of 8 months you'll start to see a light at the end of the dark tunnel" and then before you know it, you'll feel pretty much normal again. I went through all this, I feel, because the doctor jumped me up too much estrogen all at once instead of tappering up. When I was at a total 14 mg a week (2 mg daily) I realized I was too high (and after going through months of torture) and that's why I'm now tappering back to to a level that's good for me. Let me tell you....at my last annual I told that OBGYN to stop telling women that it should be in your system in only two weeks. Yes, that's true, but it takes MONTHS to get to get leveled off, like it did me. If he had just slowly built up the estrogen in me, instead of going from .05 mg to 2 mg a day, I seriously doubt I would have gone through the horrible 1 year getting adjusted. Hang in there Shelley, find a doctor who will talk to you and see if you need estrogen, I bet you do. They don't like doing the bloodwork, too unreliable, but at least this new OBGYN did one to get a handle where I was. I was VERY low. You're going to hear over and over - taking estrogen might cause this or that, so I had a long discussion with my doctor on that and he said some women can go through life and never need hormones (I had a complete hysterectomy at age 47) then there are those who definitely need it. He has some 80+ year old patients still on estrogen. He said obviously I need some, since we've tried getting me off, and that sure didn't work. I guess it comes down to what kind of quality of life do you want. I literally wanted to kill myself when I was going through all those months, and I told him so. Now I feel good, want to get out do things and love life once more. 

Hello again. I can't imagine having to go another year before I feel better. Do I need a prescription for the magnesium oil or can I just buy it? I'm working on seeing someone to test my hormones. I just know I need help sooner than later and my doctor isn't even close to being the one who will help. Even just talking about this feels better . I will do anything to avoid more panic.

Magnesium can be purchased over the counter, at a drug store. I gave a reply just before this one, but I don't think we can give names of companies, which I did. Sorry 

Hi, how are you getting on with the magnesium?

I've taken one magnesium pill and sprayed the oil on my calves and feet one time, too early to tell yet, but from all I've heard it could help me. My doctor says magnesium helps calm the nerves - which I certainly need with having to deal with hormone regulating. This has sure been quite a trip dealing with hormones. I wished I'd never listened to my doctor who told me he would like to get me off hormones completely, or at least get down to almost nothing. We poor women!

I phoned my doctor today to discover that he is on annual leave. So another doctor who has wrongly advised me in the past, said to stop taking the progesterone/estrogen as I've had headaches since taking yesterday and today. Now I am worried as I still have a womb and thought I needed to take the progesterone to counteract the estrogen. I am in the same position as you in that the doctor tried to take me off hrt completely, then when that went wrong, I was put back on it for a couple of years, and then they put me on to patches which had very low estrogen and all the issues came back over a three month period. They then put me from 0.5mg right up to 2mg and I was in a horrible place for four months. The head of the practice then got involved and put me back on the original HRT. ...Elleste duet 1mg. Just over a week ago, I increased my estrogen to 1mg in the morning, and 1mg in the evening. The first sleep I have had in five months even if up once or twice. The other symptoms bare manageable and reducing. However, I am now really confused as about the progesterone element. Any suggestions?

Well I dont have a womb and I found the patches were the best for me I used to be on Esetelle duet but they gave me headaches the patches are the best hrt for me no side effects at all

Like Caroline, I also don't have a womb, therefore progesterone isn't needed. I "now" do know that going from .05 mg to 2 mg is too much at one time and who knows - the 2 mg might have been too strong for you, like it was for me. 2 mg was great for me in my late 40's, but once I hit mid 50's I didn't need as much. Some friends I have love their patches, some do not, so my advice on that would be to get with your doctor whether to do the patch or not. I had a full hysterectomy - everything taken out 21 years ago. Also, for me, when he jumped me up that much it took a full 6 months to begin even feeling a little better - tappering "slowly" up or down is the only way to do it, in my opinion

I had mine in Nov 2015 and I'm on the lower doze I wonder how long you should take it for I don't fancy been on it for years

Caroline, I just don't know how long to take it. In the beginning I thought about that quite often, and would it harm me. 3 years ago (at age 65) my doctor tried to get me off them completely, or at least down to .05 mg. Well, I tried and tried (by tappering off), but by the time I got down to where he wanted me, .05 mg, I started having full blown panic attacks, aching joints, skin itching like ants were crawling all over me, couldn't think straight (to the point I felt I shouldn't be driving) blood pressure shot up to 203 over 110, gums bleeding with the beginning of gum disease, mouth and back of throat was on fire - it was just awful. After going up and down (6 times in a year and a half) feeling like this every day, I found a new OBGYN and he took my blood - as I suspected, I was extremely low in estrogen, as soon as I got more estrogen in my body all the symptoms went away - slowly, one by one. So in answer to your question, I just can't advice on this one. As my doctor told me; every woman is different, some can get off and some can't - unfortunately I can't so I guess I'll be on them as long as I live. If I ever develop breast cancer, then I will have to stop, so I pray that never happens. You know what? At times it sure can suck to be a woman

Yes true right it is I suffered terrible even before I had hysterectomy with menopause and after I had hysterectomy very bad hot flushes thank goodness now I'm on patches and more comfortable I'm only 51 I might try going off them in about a year but if I need them for life so be it I'm sorry you've had such a hard time glad your OK now I've had gyne problems for years before I had hysterectomy thanks for your advice 🎈

You bet! I had painful endometriosis, therefore the hysterectomy. I've felt so wonderful all these years until he said it was time to get off. I never had hot flushes or anything.