Hi,
Went to see a menopause specialist today. She feels I am in transitional perimenopause (no kidding). Came in with very bad anxiety, panic attacks, bad hot flashess and night sweats and a lot of other fun stuff. She gave me many options and the one I took was a low dose of Divigel. Does anyone out there have any comments or knowledge on this estrogen. Thanks.

Hi,
Divigel is the American equivalent of the European Estrogel. Both are bioidentical. Studies have shown that the gel form absorbs better than creams transdermally. And using that method rather than an oral pill lessens some of the risks.

I use Estrogel and love how I can easily change the dose depending on symptoms. I like to start on the lowest possible dose (I even use half of the lowest recommended dose), give it a couple of weeks and adjust up from there if necessary.

Thanks for the fast response. May I ask what symptoms you were having and if it helped. What dose do you take? Thanks so much.

I never had hot flashes, but I would much rather have had them than the horrible heart palps I had that sent me to the ER a few times. Those have pretty much gone since starting on it. I also sleep better and my moods are more even. Others here that are on it have gotten great relief from hot flashes and night sweats, and also moods, fatigue, achiness.

Let us know how you do on it.

Dear Sariah
Kind of felt over the edge today and called my doc hysterical with anxiety. I tried the Divigel once and the next morning, I was in a panic and felt the worst I ever did so I was scared to try again. My doc wants me back on today and to give it a chance. SO can I ask you what you meant by adjusting doses to symptoms? When do you us it? I have the 0.25 mg dose. Do you split it up? Do you use progesterone at all? Sorry, so many questions. I am at rock bottom. I also will say I did start a period and have been bleeding for 9 days but she wants me to start it anyway today. Thanks

Hi,
The .25mg/day dose is pretty low, the lowest recommended dose for Estrogel is 1.25mg in order to relieve symptoms. So you are on a tiny dose that most likely is not high enough to relieve your symptoms. I do think you should try to use at least double that dose to start until your levels are up. I know that is scary advice when you think the first dose caused problems, but I wonder if it was just coincidental and you would have had that problem anyway? This was on the Divigel website:

# Divigel® is available in three dosing options

* 0.25 gram per day (0.25 mg estradiol)
* 0.5 gram per day (0.5 mg estradiol)
* 1 gram per day (1 mg estradiol)

So you see you are using the very lowest dose, and with all your symptoms, I really don't think that dose will come close to relieving symptoms.

I meant to give those doses in grams.

Did you have any side effects when you first started taking it?
How about other ladies out there. What doses are you on? Any side effects or how did you feel when you first started taking it?

I also use Estrogel, basically the same bioidentical estradiol as Divigel but it comes in only one strength - 0.75mg per metered dose (in 1.25gm) of gel. My prescription is for 3mg (4 metered doses) a day but I never use that much, I generally use one dose every 8 hours and sometimes only do a partial dose for the middle one so I am using around 2mg to 2.25mg a day of Estrogel. I had been on estradiol 2mg in pill form for 6 months prior to switching to Estrogel but it would wear off within a few hours and did not keep my blood level up in a good range. I was over 1 year postmeno when I started on BHRT.

The only side effect I remember is feeling very good, but sleepy for the few week or so. Insomnia was one of my worst peri-meno symptoms and I think my body was so relieved to have some estrogen again that I finally had a chance to catch up a bit on lost sleep time. It relieved my anxiety (except when I am under extreme stress), foggy brain & memory issues, aches & pains, urinary frequency & urgency, and all but a rare hot flash here and there. I still have difficulty falling asleep without a small dose of Xanax but I sleep rock solid once I'm asleep. My hair and skin look better, my energy is better...but not back up where I would like it to be. All and all it has made life much more livable again, I have no intention of ever going off of it!

I use the Estrogel in the tube that you have to squeeze out, and the lowest dose is .75 (1.50g of gel) which is what I meant to say.

Well today is the first time again to try it. I split my dose and this sounds crazy.....but one minute I feel exhausted and sleepy and foggy headed, then alittle anxious then I have a few moments of feeling good then I yell at the kid in the grocery store for not knowing where the peanuts are to sitting in my car crying cause I am on a roller coaster and just yelled at some poor kid. PHEW!!!!!!!!!! I can only pray that it is my body adjusting to the esrtogen and this will get better.