I seem to need less of my Climara estrogen patch now. It is odd. About a year after my total hysterectomy.

I was doing well with .05 and now I need only about 1/4 of the patch! I THINK and hope that my severe dizziness I was asking about in other threads was because I needed less all of the sudden.

Before, this amount would cause horrible migraines because it isn't very much.

Has anyone else had this happen? It is fine with me but seems strange.

The body is constantly readjusting its level of homeostatis. Older, fully menopausal women, I know told me that even when you get your hrt dosage at a comfortable level there will continue to be readjusments from time to time. I had migranes and dizziness but found I needed more estradiol inorder to alleviate them. Not sure what dizziness you are referring to. Are you getting then now that you've reduced your dosage?

The dizziness is better, but not gone.

I wanted to update and see if anyone else had needed less or no hormones. It is crazy! I never thought I could live without the Climara patch and I have been without on for about five days now.

Dizziness is very much better, almost gone. Lightheadedness so much better. I used to get crazy migraines if the level got a bit low. I have had a migraine, but no worse than with the patch.

I am just wishing I could get more information. We are moving to the Houston area now so I know I will be able to find a great doctor with knowledge about hormones. I can't believe no one here has had the same thing happen. So strange. Well, as long as I am improving, I am happy.

Just another reason why you might be needing less. I finally switched from my patch (vivelle) to a bio oral (estrace) estradiol because of not absorbing the patch. I finally feel great! (felt good before but could have been better) Anyway, maybe you weren't absorbing the patch too well and your body was just "doing its own thing" all along? Just a thought. Good luck to you. JZZ

The vivelle dot used to give me dizzyness. This happened when I took my dose from .0375 mcg. to .05 mcg. In addition to the lightheaded, dizzy feeling, I noticed some brain fog. I use to trim the .05 mcg. patch a little & it would get somewhat better. Does your b.p. run low? Mine can and I wondered if the estradiol was lowering it too much, therefore causing the dizzyness.

Thanks for the response. I really think I absorbed the patch really well. I would be able to feel when I needed another patch, 5-6th day. When I put a new one on, I was back to normal.

The wonderful thing about patches is that you can change your mind! Take it off, add a bit, take more off, etc. That is the beauty of the patches.

No, my bp is acually high. I stopped salt and that helped, but then it went back up. Now I am on a TEENY and I mean TEENY piece of a bp pill. It is working even with that amount. I am VERY, VERY sensitive to medications.

Yes, the lightheadness etc, DID feel like bp being low, but it wasn't. I have a good monitor and I take it often.

I sure appreciate the feedback to get more ideas. I just hope to keep improving!

I know of some people who will get dizzy feeling when their BP is high! Maybe that had something to do with it as well? I don't know, our bodies are so wacky with the hormones, who even knows anymore!!

I have raised my E, when I tried to lower it I ended up with horrible hot flashes again. If my P level gets too high, I get migraines. Go figure!!

Yes, BP could be part of it for sure. I am certainly hoping to feel good soon. My bp med is working and I am praying all will be good soon.

TrudysMom,

As of April, I no longer take bioidentical hormones and I am better but I've been in peri for almost 5 years and I think things are settling down...though I have blood sugar issues.

Plumeria

I started the vivelle dot .1 mcg a couple weeks ago and have been having terrible brain fog and dizziness the last week or so. Prior to that I was taking 1 mg estradiol orally and was doing fine on that, but wanted to try the dermal route. Is my body just readjusting? Should I wait it out or throw in the towel and go back to estradiol?

After trying the vivelle for almost 2 years FINALLY switched to oral. Wish I'd been able to do it sooner. Feel GREAT in comparison to the patch. I say listen to you body, make an informed decision and go from there. Sometimes we get the brain fog/dizziness for a variety of reasons. We are all so very different. As my doc would say....."why reinvent the wheel." ..... If it were me, I would go back to what was working for you..... Best Regards, JZZ And just because the transdermal route is the newest, maybe newer isn't always better???

LA Parent,

Have you tried trimming the patch in half to see if you do better on a lower dose? I did okay on .025 & .0375 but ran into problems when I went up to .05mcg
I can now use .1mcg. and sometimes I even double up on patches when I am starting progesterone. Without the progesterone I would not be able to tolerate using anything above .0375 mcg. For me, it seemed to be a problem of too much estrogen in relation to progesterone.

I wish the pills didn't have to go through the liver, but I wouldn't be able to take the pills anyway. It is true, we all have to keep trying to find what works. Wish I could be like my mom. She has done perfectly with the estrogen she takes. I thought I was going to sail through too! Guess not, after a year, things changed.

Dear Trudy's Mom:

Yes, that can happen with time and as your get older, Less is needed. Adjust downwards and see how you do, you can always go back up if need be in time.
Sincerely,
Pete Hueseman, R.Ph., P.D.

I am going to try doing that and see if it helps. Does anyone know what the delay time of symptoms is? For instance, if I start taking a lower dose, how long should I wait to see if my symptoms change? Is there a build-up effect of estrogen in the body? I don't know how long to give each dose before I start trying to tweak it.

I think it might depend on each person. I am SLOW to get rid of medications when I take them so I am sure it is the same with estrogen for me. You might be faster.

From my personal experience it takes about three weeks. On the occassions when I changed dosage or stopped hormones, it took that long before the estrogen cleared my system and I started getting symptoms. For the first 2-3 weeks after stopping hormones I would think I was sailing along quite well, but after that time the low estrogen symptoms would kick in, so in my case it seems to take that long before it's cleared from my system.

Remy