Hi ladies,

I am new and learning, please bear with me.  I am 48 yrs old, had a hysterectomy with ovaries removed at age 33.  For the past 15 yrs I have been taking 2mg Estrace and just added 200mg Prometrium in Feb/00.

My current symptoms are:  fatigue, depression, anxiety, irritable, nervous, mood swings, foggy thinking, memory lapses, tearful, sleep disturbed, elevated triglicerides, weight gain-waist/hips, sluggish metabolism, decreased libido, allergies, water retention, and loss scalp hair.  The past 6 months I cannot lose weight, no matter what I do.  In the 4 months prior, I lost 30lbs, but it was very difficult.    

The results of the saliva test from ZRT Laboratory:                                                                   RangeEstradiol                  20.6 pg/ml         1.5-10.0 (on ERT)

Progesterone         77 pg/ml             100-1000                                                              (oral Prometrium)    

Ratio of Pg/E2           4                    200-1000

Testosterone, Dhea, Cortisol & Thyroid are normal

Some comments from the lab were:  “Estradiol is higher than expected for ERT, suggesting excessive dosing for this individual and/or slow metabolic clearance (likely sluggish liver).”

Is this why I can’t lose weight, the imbalance is affecting the thyroid or liver?

I cut the Estrace to 1 mg a few weeks ago.  I feel less drugged.  

How do I get this estrogen level down?  Will it decrease gradually as I take less oral estrogen?  I am 50 lbs overweight so I know it is also stored in my fat cells also.  

The pharmacist recommends 100mg natural compounded progesterone cream once a day or ½ am and ½ pm.  He also suggests I use Milk Thistle extract to help my liver function.  Does this make sense?  Will this help the excess estrogen?

Any ideas or suggestions are most welcome.

Shelley        

Cutting the Estrace should help--but you need to followup with your Dr.  Personnally, I would want to have my liver function checked--especially if cutting the dose doesn't help.

Zelma

Zelma,

Thank you.  Good suggestion about the liver.I will see my doc this week.

Shelley

I have just found out that I was taking 5 times more Estradiol in natural form that I was taking synthetic and been having really bad anxiety.I am wondering if getting too much of Estrogen can cause panic/anxiety/nervousness.

I would really appreciate a reply, thank you

Moozie

Moozie,<br> &nbsp; &nbsp; The whole hormone issue confuses me!!!<br>I've been weaning off the 0.1 estrogen patch.<br>I'm almost down to a quarter of a patch, and<br>certainly don't feel any worse emotionally. &nbsp;I<br>started black cohosh a few weeks ago. &nbsp;Why<br>were you given such a large dose of estradiol?<br>Sorry I can't help more. I've had horrendous <br>anxiety the past &nbsp;couple years, and it seems to be<br>getting better. &nbsp;Hang in there!!!<br>

thanks Chris for the reply...well I dont' know why I was given so much, i went from synthetic estrogen ( ogen .325mg) to natural estrogen ( estradiol  2.5g ) and my body just went nuts. The worse being the heart racing and all the anxiety is wicked. So have stopped taking it and hope that it will come out of my body soon. I cant' take this any longer. When I called Pete he said maybe I shocked my body with all that estrogen, but it was prescribed by my GYN , wonder why she didn't realise that I was taking such a low dose of the synthetics.  I hope this is all that is going on. In my crazy mind I think OH NO !! NOW WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME !!! my anxiety had really calmed down while I was on the synthetic hormones.  One week into the natural regimen and Bang !! the anxiety full tilt. I hope is only and excess problem and I can start with square one again.  Can't wait to get off this ferris wheel ride.  Yuk !!!!

Moozie

Moozie,<br> &nbsp; &nbsp; Sounds like the doctor wasn't paying attention.<br>It could very well be the dose is much too high.<br>You could try a much lower dose of estradiol, or<br>switch back to the Ogen. &nbsp;I hope you feel better<br>soon!! &nbsp;