Does this mean to draw to the 10 unit mark on an insulin syringe?

I could really use some input from those who are pinning Estradiol Cyp and Test Cyp.

for background 62f post menopause was on 1 mg 2x/week patch, 1mg per day divigel and 8mg per day compounded Test cream for 2 years. 200mg nightly Progesterone.

Switched to T injections about 4 weeks ago at 3.5mg Every other day. Have been doing what I thought was great! LOL. Then about 3 weeks ago added 1.5mg every 3.5 days of Estradiol Cypionate. was feeling some low Estradiol symptoms but did keep one of my patches on for about 7-10 days while I transitioned over fully to injections.

As I said everything has been as expected, rather uneventful, a couple of low energy days which I have attributed to the transition to a new delivery method. Have not tested levels yet, will do that in 2 weeks. levels prior to starting were great and I felt good. Total T was 135, Free T 7 Estradiol kind of high maybe? it was 150

Last night I had a hard energy crash post workout. Got a headache and felt really irritable and just "off". Went to bed slept good until about 2 am and woke up really wired but tired. Felt some Central nervous system activation like I was feeling a little "speedy" if you know that feeling. Had a hard time but finally got some more sleep in. Still this morning feeling wired but tired. Trying not to over think but wondering what the cause of this might be.

Any insight would be great. I don't feel many typical symptoms of low Estrogen right now. Thanks!

I’m looking for other women that are taking Provera (medroxyprogesterone) along with their bioidentical estrogen. I’m wondering what dosages and how you’re taking each of these.

I’ve tried T via pellets and gel, and both times had issues with losing my ability to orgasm. That’s a deal breaker for me so I’ve decided to stop T completely. (Was using it for symptoms that looking back, may have been associated to low B12 at the time).

Anyone just on estrogen and micronized progesterone and feeling fab? 😄 How’s your energy?

I increased my E patch to .01 2 weeks ago. I’m already taking 200 mg progesterone. 1st week I was fine. This week I’m noticing my resting heart rate is a little higher than normal (like I can feel my heart beating too) and I have a headache (not too bad) along with this whooshing sensation in my head at times and worsened tinnitus.
If anyone’s experienced this & it was temporary please let me know! Or is this an indication I need to dial down my dose? I didn’t experience an adjustment period when I initially started on 0.5 and when I upped to 0.75 I felt no improvement in symptoms which is why I’m on 0.1 now. Thank you!

I’ve been reading a lot of the subs regarding estradiol patch brand switches & it seems like, no matter what brand, if someone switches to another brand they get negative symptoms or feel as if it’s not working. What I’m deducing from this is that perhaps it’s not a brand issue but that once we’re acclimated to a specific brand, switching throws us off. Has ANYONE been on one patch brand & switched & felt BETTER?

Action on Estradiol Patches

I am fed up with hunting around to find my Estradiol patches, so I called the manufacturer and the distributor today. Maybe if more people call, they will have the motivation to fix the issue.

Manufacturer: Kindeva, 11200 Hudson Rd, Woodbury MN, 55139. 800-643-8086

When I called them, they transferred me to the Distributor, because apparently that is who should lodge and report the complaint. However, it may not hurt to call both, to show them how bad the shortage is.

Distributor: Sandoz, 100 College Rd West, Princeton, NJ 08540. 800-525-8747 (option 1)

The distributor reported two reasons that there is a shortage of the Estradiol patches. First, the warning that these products may cause cancer was removed, so more women are willing to try it. Second, they are supposedly running out of the raw materials to manufacture them.

They have to report complaints to the federal department that oversees them, so complaining will also alert the government that something is not going well. The more calls they get, the more likely that we'll see this problem get fixed. Help a sister out, call today!

Can anyone with MCAS share their experience with E in peri?

I’m on 200mg P (daily) & Testosterone cyp injections (11mg/wk split into 2 doses & I worked up to this dose over a year 1/2). I also use vaginal estrogen (but feel like the dose is very low) and P cream at night (vaginally). Pregnenolone cream 4 times per week.

These have been life changing for me, but I feel like my libido is not where I want it, I can’t get my P up and My cycles recently got so short with long bleeding and spotting (why I switched to daily P instead of cyclical).

I’m 40, super active and healthy but have MCAS. It is under control but I’m sensitive to E. I have to do the vaginal cream in the AM bc it will keep me up at night. I’ve felt super irritable and unlike myself so am wondering if E would help. My dr currently has me trying to get the P regulated and frequent bleeding stopped before we add E.

Does anyone have similar experience or insight here?

cross posted

Hello! I could use some input on treatments I’m looking into. Quick history: diagnosed with Hashi’s and PCOS 13 years ago and more recently diagnosed with PMDD and perimenopause.

My most frustrating symptoms lately are complete exhaustion, weight gain (lost 70 pounds through diet & lifestyle changes but gained back 20# this past year and it won’t stop creeping up), low libido, and joint and body pain/hashis flares. The weight gain is so frustrating because I enjoy working out and eating well, but if I’m not careful, over exercising triggers flares and then I “fall off the wagon” repeatedly. But, if I don’t work out 1+ hours a day and have a 1,500 calorie diet, the weight piles on.

I tried a telehealth consult with a practitioner on Midi today to explore either HRT or GLP1 but I need to decide which route I want to go first as they are different appointments. 😕

I would love feedback on whether HRT or GLP treatment sounds like it would be the best fit for me and if anyone has experience with both and which worked best for them.

For context: I’m 54, last period was 7 years ago. E and T were both single digits when I had labs done in 2023.

Early 2024 started HRT (E&P) via pellets (lowest dosages) and oral P 200 mg. Had almost instant relief. Slept through the night for the first time in years, energy levels came back, libido returned. I felt 100% better.

Had some very minor bleeding, provider bumped P to 300 mg. Still had bleeding. Had an US and biopsy summer 2024. Both clear. Bumped P to 400, bleeding stopped.

Spent 1 year on pellets. Decided in early 2025 to change to E patches .05 + .0375 and T injections. This decision was based on cost and the troughs I was experiencing at the end of the pellet cycle.

This new protocol was working good! I was sleeping, had energy, libido was good (almost great!), my brain was functioning, I felt good.

The only time I had issues was if I had patch failures or disruptions. When those instances happened I would bleed, go into what I can only describe as depression (I’ve never had any MH issues), sleep disruptions, joint pains in arms and hips. Felt horrible for 2-3 days until the new patch caught up. This happened once in Feb and again in April.

End of August I had to change patch brands due to shortages. I also had to start cutting patches in half to get the same dosages. I started feeling a *little* off early Sept so I added an extra .0375 (.075 cut in half) patch.

As the month progressed, I was feeling worse and worse. The last 2 weeks have been horrible. I can barely work, have to nap every day (I’m not a napper), just generally hate all things.

I knew my E was low, my brain and body were both telling me. Last week I did a self pay lab draw and sure enough my E had dropped almost 30% from the prior level.

Saw my provider yesterday and she said I should try the gel and reduce my P to 300.

I just want to feel good again. I want my E back to where it was a few months ago.

I’m currently on the hunt for a provider who will prescribe E cypionate and it’s proving difficult.

Has anyone moved from the patches to the gel with success? What was your experience like?

Curious how common this is. Mine started with anxiety and waking up at 3am, no hot flashes at all. Normal labs too. What was your first sign, and did you have to push to get treated?

Hi everyone, sorry in advance for this long post. I hope somebody takes the time to look at it. I am very new to this topic and a little desperate.

I’ve always been an active, adventurous, social person who liked sports, partying and traveling. Now I’m 38 years old, and I feel like my life has been non-existent for three years and I feel like a 70-year-old. Many doctors told me that everything is perfectly fine with my body, except for a slight B12 and vitamin D deficiency (I’m vegan). I fixed that, but nothing changed. I had my blood tested, my urine, my vital signs. My thyroid seems to be fine, and so do my colon and my kidneys. I even had a brain scan... I’ve been to more doctors and specialists than I can count, and I was always dismissed with a smile and the feeling that I’m just a hysterical woman and there are more pressing issues. Or I was sold incredibly expensive products that didn’t help.

I have endometriosis. Four years ago, I had several surgeries because of it (after a sepsis), and afterwards I started taking the Zafrilla pill (similar to a gestagen) to reduce the growth. I still have endometriosis in my colon, but I refuse to have another surgery, as it feels like the surgeries messed up my life.

The first symptom I noticed was that I couldn’t get rid of nasty bladder infections, with the worst bacteria and blood, every single time I had sex and sometimes even without it. I suffered from that for two years until I got injections, and now that’s fine. I blamed it on my body being exhausted after the surgery.

I also had insane fatigue. First I thought it was due to the sepsis and would go away after 1–2 years, but it hasn’t vanished in three years. I feel tired every single day and rarely go out anymore. I cancel almost every date with friends because I’m “too tired”. There are some days when I can’t even leave the couch and just vegetate. I also have brain fog, which some days makes it very hard to work (because of my ADHD, I already have to work harder), trouble focusing, anxiety and fears I never had before, and weird skin problems (like these white fungus-like dots on my back from the sun).

I have trouble breathing; my breath feels kind of “flat”. When I do sports (I used to be very sporty), my pulse goes up to dangerous levels very quickly and my heart starts hurting.

About 5 months ago, I realized that I weigh 7 kilos more than I usually do. I always fluctuated between 59 and 62 kilos, but weighing 69 had never happened before, and I was in shock. I’ve always been blessed with never having trouble losing weight quickly, and suddenly these kilos wouldn’t go away no matter what I did. I worked out every single day and ate only raw (vegan) food, nothing processed, and almost nothing happened. At the same time, the joints in my ankles and arms started hurting, and my muscles were always tense.

I found out about perimenopause and finally felt like I had an answer to all of this. But getting my hormones checked feels like another Fort Knox that I can’t crack. Please bear in mind that I am ALWAYS tired, and handling work already takes all of my capacity. In the city where I live, you can’t just call doctors anymore, because the line is never open. Online, it seems like you only get appointments after a year at minimum. I asked my gynecologist, and she flat out refused. She said my pill is to blame and that we will now try “Dienovel”, a pill with estrogen.

Guys, I don’t know. I stopped taking my Zafrilla a month ago because I was so desperate and fed up, and now she wants me to put another one of these pills into my body instead of waiting two more months and doing a hormone test. I mean, at least it has estrogen, but I’m so scared that my body will get messed up even more.

Please help. I feel so alone in this, I’m so tired and exhausted, and life isn’t fun anymore.

So I increased my patch to 0.1 and I’m already taking 200 mg progesterone. My mood has been so much better and I have more energy. BUT… normally I can sleep 9 hours easily and the first week of my increase I was fine. This 2nd week I’ve noticed I’m waking up earlier & not able to go back to sleep, I’m getting around 6-7 hours now & I know that’s not terrible but I do need more sleep. Did this happen to anyone else? I don’t feel like I ever had an “adjustment period” in my past dose increases so I’m not sure if this is something that will resolve or maybe I should bump my progesterone up to 300 mg. Help!