Hello all,

I am a 42 year old diagnosed with premature ovarian failure. For the last year I have used 1.25 mg topical Bi-Est, and it sure has stabilized my moods. (Didn't have many flashes, the bane of my exsistance was night sweats.) Have had some spotting and my gyn suggested I try the Vivelle Dot .05 mg patch, to keep my E levels stable. I put on my first patch tonight, and have a question for all you knowledgeable folks:

I exercise 5x per week; will I possibly need to change my patch more often? I do 40 mins. of cardio, work with fairly heavy weights and end with 20 mins. of stretching 3 of those days; the other two are straight cardio. How are all of you balancing your E needs with your exercise needs?

A little about me:I feel best when my E is around 100-110 pg/mL. Also, I have an adrenal condition which causes me to have a naturally high testosterone level (my highest was 298), and the E dampens down the T effects. I also have a sleep disorder and the imbalance between the E and the T could possibly be related to this. On days 12-24 I use 40 mg vaginal bioidentical progesterone--I don't tolerate P very well,  either my body's natural stuff or topically, and I don't want to think about how I'd feel on Prometrium!  This dosage of vaginal P seems to help prevent the spotting.

Would appreciate any comments you ladies have.

Carriblue

Carriblue,I wish I could answer your question, but I have only limited experience with the Viville dot.  I am not sure it will help your spotting problem. I was on the .0375 patch for about 2 months and I still had spotting. I'm not using any hormones at the moment, but I feel terrible so I am going to try a new doctor.   I was wondering where you got your vaginal progesterone. If I do decide to supplement with estrogen, I want to take my progesterone by this route, since I don't tolerate it very well either.  Thanks, Cindy.

Hi Cindy,

I use  a P cream  made for me at a compounding pharmacy in my area.  I was doing 20 mg dosing, but apparantly it was not enough to keep the uterine lining in place.  So far, so good.   In the past I have considered trying Prometrium because of the sedating effect--I have a severe non-apnea sleep disorder--but am really concerned about the water retention, sore boobs, etc I have gotten from both topical and endogenous P.

Collage Pharmacy has info on compounded Progesterone if you are interested.

Carri

(Edited by Carriblue at 6:50 pm on June 8, 2003)

Carri,You may also be interested to know that Crinone a vaginal progesterone gel is back with a new name, Prochieve. When used with estrogen it is used every other day for 12 days.  If you do a seach you will find more info.  I may give this a try, since I do terrible on systemic progesterone as well.

Thanks for your info,

Cindy

Cindy,

I was actually prescribed Crinone 4% in March by my doctor... to make a VERY long story short, I contacted a rep from the company that markets Crinone/Prochieve and she informed me that they were not going to offer either product in a 4% formulation again--only 8%. I was steamed at this--if you are not going to market a product, why have prescribing info on your website?

If you have heard something else about Prochieve, please let me know. I'd love to use the gel versus the cream I am currently using.

Carri