Hi, I am currently taking an oral form of progesterone and now my Dr. wants to start me on a troche formula of estrogen and testosterone. I am also low on DHEA. My question is are these troche methods used the best way to take the hormones? I thought I had read creams or gels are safer and more asorbable and they don't make the hormones flucuate as much. Can anybody help me before I start taking these troche things?

I used troches for a year and a half. They were not effective and now I don't know why I wasted so much time taking them when they weren't working. They just weren't an effective delivery system for me. I just started on sublingual drops, biest, and am starting to find that it goes in and out of my body too quickly which I don't think is a good thing to have these estrogen spikes.

I was happy with the results on oral biest capsules. I may go back to them or see about cream or gel.

Currently I am using an estrogen patch for my delivery system but I have used troches in the past. I was prescribed biest 80/20, twice daily along with some testosterone cream. I never did that well on the biest troche but it was partially due to the fact that their was way too much estriol in them and not enough estradiol. I like the patch delivery system much more because it seems to be an easier, steady delivery & gives me estradiol, which I need to feel well.

I would just caution about adding testosterone to your troche. I would not have done well with taking my T daily-just no way. I now use it just 2-3 days weekly. When my dr. first told me he was prescribing troches, I asked if he would switch my prescription to cream for if I needed him to. He agreed & I tried both forms

I believe it is in Dr. Vliet's book that she mentions not caring for sublingual forms of delivery because they raise SHBG, which is what you get with oral forms of delivery. SHBG binds up some of the hormone making it unavailable for the body to use.

I also had no luck with the troches. I used them for 2 months, they didn't raise my estradiol at all and I felt terrible on them.

Ditto everyone else. Like gevalia, I need my estradiol and I need it in a patch because my body just doesn't seem to hold on to it delivered via gel. A nice spike, then back to square one. I don't like using the patch, but it's the only way. Howoever, many many women here do great with estradiol gel.

Also, I sure wouldn't want to take estrogen & testosterone together in the same formulation because, for one, I wouldn't know which one was making me feel better/worse, and two, I know I'd want more or less of either at certain times.
Good luck.
GK

I tried BHRT is troche formula, did not like it, they spiked fast and dropped even faster, I was on even bigger rollercoster, and eventually has to stop it.
HTH

Thanks for your replys ladies, I called my bio Dr. and told her I don't want the troches but a cream would be okay. I told her I want the estrogen and DHEA in one cream and the testosterone in a seperate cream. She agreed so hopefully this will give me more control over what I am taking. Now I do have another question the bio lady said she just puts the estradiol alone without any other estrogens in the cream, is this what most of you are taking is just this one estrogen? Also do you take the hormones continueously or to you rotate them in and out?

Dear Bixa525:

The troches are like a piece of X-Mas candy, they dissolve in 10 to 15 minutes and create a lot of extra saliva to swallow, to it is essentially no better than a capsule. All goes through your liver on the first pass through the system. Now, we can help you with that, we make the only "True sublingual tablet" in the nation. It dissolves in 1 to 2 minutes under the tongue and gives about 19 to 20% absorption, and via this route- called going through the lymphatic system- the drug also bypasses the liver on the first pass through the system, and therefore is safe to use. A cream or gel only gets about 10 to 12 % absorption and also bypasses the liver on the first pass through the system. Our Pharmacy can work with any patient and any doctor in the U.S.A.; if you want the correct effect for you and also what the doctor is trying to accomplish. We also do accept hundreds of insurance plans and ship all over the U.S.A. Hope this helps give you a clarification of true sublingual use.
Thank you,
Pete Hueseman, R.Ph., P.D.

Hi:
I just started on the progesterone cream 40mg which I take in the evening, I have probably been on it for just over a week, I was told it would take at least 3-4 weeks to feel the effects. My estrogen is high at 5.2 and my progesterone is 17, after taking the saliva test. My dhea is 2.5 and my cortisol is high at 11.1 At a later stage would it be advisable to introduce something else. I have the Wilson book and already see improvement on my fatigue.
Jpie

I took Progesterone in Troche for 3 mos, biest and testo in cream
I just had to change to progesterone cream because the Troche caused me MAJOR acid reflux
no more troche for me