The last time I posted (July) about why I couldn't get my estrogen level to go above 50. Well..after having a period in July (last period in April, Jan before that) I have been having a period about every 14 days, and the last two have been 10 days apart....ahhhh. After talking with my Dr. I had my E & P level checked. E was 225!!!!!!! and P was .6. I had been using 2 pumps of Estrogel per day but at my Dr. suggestion went to 1 pump per day, as my SBHG was high on my last labs (early July). Also changed the application location to my inner arms, spreading with my wrists as suggested by one of the PS ladies. I have been using various BHRT for 2 years and have never had an Estrogen level above 52. Any ideas why my estrogen has skyrocketed??? Needless to say the periods/spotting is no fun. Plus the bloating, and tender breasts are just delightful!! Anyway I am scheduled for a pelvic ultrasound tomorrow. Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this "estrogen rage" out of the blue.

Sorry I didn't realize I posted in the wrong forum..AND spelled estrogen wrong!! Too much Estrogen I guess

I too am alarmed at my estradiol level - two years ago before any bio's, it was 52 and progesterone at 1.22. Hence, I was prescribed .5 E and 100 mg P daily. In the past 6 months, the depression worsened, my cycles were too short (21 days), etc. so I upped the E to .75 mg a day. My NP said to also up the P to 200 mg a day. After 2 months of that, I really started feeling strange - incoherent, anxiety, depressed, sluggish, sore breasts, bloating, etc. I did a blood test and my E showed 441!!! I was so alarmed! The P showed 1.22. The NP just instructed me to take .25 mg E and 150 mg P. I shared my concern about the high E level but she said she has seen high E in the 700-800 range and also that my estrogen metabolism test results were good (not sure what this is but is related to breast cancer risk).

Stewcake, the reference range on my Estradiol test is 27-246 pg/ml so 441 for me is high. Did you check your reference range? Are you getting a pelvic ultrasound because of your E results? Just wondering if I should ask for that too.

Sorry, I'm not knowledgeable enough about the test results so hopefully someone will chime in soon. I just wanted to let you know that I'm going through something similar.

Wow! that is high!! I just go by the Vliet theory that 90-100 pg/ml is where you should feel your best. My number is total estrogen not just Estradiol. I posted this under "am i starting peri" by accident and also misspelled estrogen But if you check that post there are several great responses. What type of E do you use? I Had the ultrasound yesterday but do not have the results yet. My periods (?) have been about every 14 days for the last 3. Had been missing several months at a time. I know you should check the lining about one a year when using bhrt and my last one was in 07. So there are two reasons for the ultrasound. Also just wondering how you take your P? If I took 200mg. of my prometrium EVERY day I would be a MESS!!!! I use 100mg. vag. 2-3 times per week and works great for me. Tried orally but too many issues.

I think it has to do with when you rubbed the cream on and when blood was drawn. if the blood was drawn at the time kevels peak you would get high numbers.

Hi stewcake,
I use estrogen by sublingual troche placed under the tongue (it's like a gummy bear) and progesterone the same way. Initially, I took 100 mg of P and .5 mg of E. The P I cycled for 3 weeks. The problem I had then was that my cycle lengthened to about 6-8 weeks. After several months of this, my cycle shortened to 18-21 days and remained that way for a while. By the way, I am 50 yo and having periods regularly. Because of my shortened cycles, my P dose was increased to 200mg. Because I don't tolerate P very well, I increased the E slightly to .75 mg a day. Although my cycles did lengthen to 27 days, after 2 months of the higher P and probably too high E (although I didn't know it at that time), I really started feeling awful. And this is when we did the blood test and discovered my estradiol at 441!!! and P at 1.22!

My new dose at this time is 150 mg of P for 21 days and .25 mg of E daily. I have been feeling better - breast soreness gone, anxiety minimal, depression slightly, etc. - but still feel bloated likely due to the P this time.

I've never had a transvaginal unltrasound and my NP has never mentioned it. Are there certain indicators they look for when having that type of ultrasound or is it a routine check?

You mentioned SHBG - can you tell me more about that? My test says 84 but I don't know what that means.

I'm getting frustrated and quite discouraged with it all, not to mention worrying about the too high E which doesn't seem to concern the NP. I am seriously thinking about keeping at this minimal dose for a while and eventually weaning myself off to see what happens.


If anyone has suggestions, theories, etc., I'd welcome and really appreciate your thoughts.

Thank you for listening.

I think it is more about symptoms than numbers....If you are feeling some of the E dominant symptoms (tender, swollen breasts, headache, bloating and water retention etc.) then you're likely out of balance; not enough P to balance the amount of E you are taking.
I had my levels tested in April and my E came back 789, my P was 27. I was alarmed at the E number but my doctor said it was fine and fell within normal ranges (which it does...here in Canada it can be anywhere from 163 (post menopausal) to 2095 pmol/L top end mid cycle). At the time I was using one pump of Estrogel in the AM and another in the late afternoon. There is also something to be said about timing....I had my blood drawn about 2 hours after putting the gel on so that probably elevated the level.
I was feeling pretty E dominant at that time and since have lower my dose of E to only one pump per day and that's working just fine for me.
I also use compounded P and find that putting them on at the same time is best for me. Using the P by itself (at night and not with E) created all kinds of problems for me.
Hope this helps.

Thanks for replying and sharing your experience. I feel better hearing about another elevated E test that wasn't cause for concern except to adjust the dose. At the time, I didn't realize I was having E dominant symptoms and thought it was the high dose of P. Like you mentioned, my NP said the tests give us an idea but the symptoms are important too The problem too is that sometimes the symptoms can be either E or P. I guess it's really about finding that balance despite the roller coaster ride we're all on every month!

Can I ask you what happened when you started using only the P at night? I tried that for the first time last night without a side effect but as I've learned with bios (at least for me), the effects usually take a while to manifest. Also, do you get the ultrasound too? Just wondering if/when that is needed since my NP never mentioned or offered it.

Thanks again for responding!

My estradiol levels are bizarre too. One time it was 600 something, (that was a week before I got a period after 3 months) the week before that level I had it checked and it was 221. I was using 1.25mg of bi-est then. I also don't know if I put it on prior to the test. Then at later tests I did use estrogel before a draw and one test came back 75, another came back 90 and then another 25 and then the last time 12, all on the same dose of estrogel prior to the draw. I can't figure it out.

My husband said maybe the high number was because the gel was in the arm where they put the needle an hour or so later and some of the gel might be very high then and some of the gel gets into the blood directly??? Possible.

Hey there,

I find that for me using both E and P at the same time gives me a more "balanced" feeling. Using E by itself made me feel great, sometimes almost euphoric (not necessarily a bad thing.....;-), but by the time I would apply the P at bedtime, I knew there was very little E in my system. So, I again, had no balance. I felt like I was using P only. So, I felt all the negative effects of the P without the positive effects of the E. Next day, it would start all over again.

I went off P for a week or so and became so E dominant that I blew up like a balloon and felt awful. I have since reintroduced some P but I use it at the same time in the morning with the E. I seems counterintuitive to me because progesterone makes me VERY lethargic which I use it alone, but together with the E it works. I feel mellow, but not out of it like I used to.

So far, it's working. I just know that I need some P in my system if I'm going to continue using HT and I'm still working on it but it's much better than it was a couple of weeks ago....

My doc has just called in a script for vag P which my pharmacist has recommended I try along with even less compounded P cream (which gives me the negative side effects) and we'll see how that works.

Trying to figure this all out sometimes makes me feel like it's my full time job!

Hope I explained myself so you understand. I'm not understanding too much of anything today....;-)

oh, transvag ultra sound....yes, I've had one done. I had it done before I started HT to get a baseline measurement of my lining. It was pretty much nonexistent at that time (I'm newly post) and I'll probably have another one done next year.


c

Hi,

You raised a good point about taking the E & P together. My E dose was split in two - AM & PM - so I did take the P with the PM dose of E. Now that my E is too high, my dose was cut in half to .25 daily which I would split in two. I did that for a few days but thought why not take only half of .25 mg for now since my E is too high anyway. I've been doing this for the past week and so far it's been okay even with taking 150 mg of P. And since I can't leave well enough alone, I'm trying the P at night and the E in the morning - so far so good. I'm actually surprised the P isn't (not yet) giving me more problems like it used to but I guess it's because I'm E dominant for now.

I feel like I should be on top of all this E, P, etc. but it all makes me so frustrated. I have to remind myself that I'm actually a smart woman who at the moment, cannot retain anything I read or make sense of very much; otherwise, I just make myself feel worse. Trying to wade through my hormone books is overwhelming and then when you can't remember what it is you read or make sense of it in the first place, I just want to scream!

I think I'll give my NP a call and ask about the transvaginal ultrasound. Many on this forum talk about it and I gather it's used to monitor your lining especially because we're taking bios.

Thank you for hanging in there with me, I do feel better after posting here.