Ladies thanks in advance to whatever sweet soul answers and sorry for the long post! ; }. I'm having the worst day but that shouldn't surprise me as I get very stressed when I have to go to the doctor. I am crying and panic-y and feel so overwhelmed right now. I think I need some perspective.

Ok. Start at the beginning.
I had hysterectomy - they left one ovary. I went into complete menopause. I tried to handle it naturally. I went from being merry-sunshine and full of energy to I suffer from continual anxiety,very painful achiness all the time, weight gain, low level depression, complete loss of libido, vag. dryness, severe hot flashes ( that made insomnia much worse) , and an inability to think through anything. I can't make decisions. I simply cannot think logically enough to make it from point a to d. I find myself doing very illogical things- or my husband or children point out that I'm doing something that just doesn't make sense. In short I can't function- I feel like I'm going crazy and we just don't have time for that do we ladies?!
I decided ( ; } Finally) that I needed help.
I went on Premarin 6 weeks ago. After three weeks the only things bothering me were the illogical foggy thinking, and still somewhat anxious if under stress and still no libido. Having energy again is just heaven!
NOW-I've been reading on this site and I'm worried about the saftey of Premarin. Some are telling me its just as safe as anything else. OK- May be but now I'm in my anxious mode. So I kept reading and I went to see my doctor this am.
Poor woman. I was so embarassed- I just got so anxious that I couldn't make a decision at all. She was very patient. She kept reassuring me that she would take Premarin based on the evidence that was available- but that if I wanted to take something else she would prescribe anything I wanted. Well I came to pieces! I could not make a decision. I told her I just couldn't decide. I was aftraid to start having all the horrile symptoms again- but I'm aftraid to stay on the Premarin too. What if it is dangerous. I don't want to be irresponsible with my health. I have a family to take care of - sweet family that have been sooooo patient already with all of the junk I've been going through. I really haven't been myself for years.. I owe it to them too to get myself together if I can. I have kids that have only known their mommy like this. I want my sanity back.
She told me to decide which one I wanted to do and left me with a prescription for an increased dose of the Premarin ( she thinks upping it wmight help). She said if I decide I want to take anything else to call her and tell her and she'll call in a prescription. My doctor says she really doesn't think it makes any difference which one I take. She thinks they're all as safe as another and Premarin might be the safest because so much research has been done on it. She said IF I want to try something else that THIS was the time to try it. She suggested Estrace or Ojen ( I think thats the spelling).
I don't know what to do. (Talk about poor meno-brain! I can't make a decision when I'm like this.)
Stay with what works and ignore my fears and see if a higher does helps with the anxiety and other issues?
Or go to the Estrace now and hang on through that shift and see if it works?
I'd love to know if Estrace has worked for some of you.If someone has tried Estrace after Premarin or something synthetic I'd love to hear your experience. Any suggestions?
How do you decide to try something else not knowing what its going to do to you?
Thanks for listening to my fears and whinning ; }.
I think I need a breath of fresh air ( going for a brisk walk!) and some encouragement. Thanks!
Blessings You wonderful Ladies!!
Bib

You said you went into complete menopause after your hysterectomy ? how do you know this ? has your FSH been tested ? just removing your uterus and one ovary won't throw you into menopause. I have 2 lady friends that are fighting peri now ,, like all of us, that had hysterectomies years ago,, you will still ovulate and release and egg,, it just wont go anywhere.

As for your choices .. research and read on the web about premerin as much as you can .. dont look the the web sites that are trying to sell you something. Look at the medical evidence (ie. sound statistics and reports) and base your decision on that. You have to be comfortable with your choice. Everyone here decides something different for themselves depending on comfort level, family or personal disease history, or ability/inability to cope with symptoms.

There are things to take if you go off of the premarin to help with symptoms that are not hormone related,, ie. xanex for the body aches and anxiety, (and believe me I feel like he!! all the time achy beyond belief), if you want an herbal replacement there is l-theanine,, also for depression you can try sarafem or another seratonin reuptake ,, the natural replacement being 5-HTP .. research ,research , research ,, and you will figure out what it is you want .. we are all our own science experiemnts right now ,, hang in there !!!

I think what I would do is take the new script for the Premarin and do some reading in the meantime.
There's no rush to make a decision. If after doing some research, you decide to switch then you can do that then.
When I've been faced with this sort of situation at the doctor's office, I've left with the agreement that I would sleep on it and call in what ever I've decided to do. Then the script gets forwarded to the pharmacy.
I've used Estrace with excellent results.
There are options for you but you don't have to decide on anything this second.....:-)


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