What is the difference between estardiol, premarin and prempro? My doctor put me on estardiol for thirty days and then 7 days of progesterone to help shed the lining of the uterus.

Now I'm reading I'll gain weight, bloat and basically look like hell. Why oh why oh why?

So now what is premarin and prempro and what makes one better then the other? I have no prescription coverage and have waiting as long as I could to go on anything but I'm to the point that all I do is cry and have such bad moodswings even my dogs won't come near me.

Help!!!!

So I guess it's safe to say I'm hopeless, doomed to a life of fat and bloat and genera misery? I might as well just chain myself to the nearest tree?

Thanks for all the feedback and support!

Morning Lawdy - I just got up in the UK!! Sorry you are having a tough time....

I dont take hormones but looked into them a bit for you

Isnt Premarin just oestrogen for those who have had hysterectomy or take it with a progestin as well - and Prempro is a combined pill? They are made from conjugated oestrogens sourced from pregnant mares urine - PREgnant MARes urINe - I decided not to take non-bioid HRT cos firstly after 3 months I felt worse on it and secondly I didnt want to put anything artifical into my body which I reckoned would naturally find a balance if I gave it the right time and tools to work with.

Oestradiol is the normal oestrogen found in premenopausal women - you would need the progesterone to shed uterine lining and decrease risk of uterine problems

There is risk of side effects with any durgs - - you sound pretty rotten and unhappy as you are? I put on tons of weight on the BCP......

Have you tried good diet and exercise and relaxation? I have found that although my symtpoms dont go away - and that is how I would expect it - I am now far better able to cope with them on my diet and with herbs I take

What other ways of managing this have you tried?

Mele

quit smoking, started exercising, changed my diet and still can barely function. This is horrible. So estradiol is like a birth control pill and then the progesterone is to help me shed the build up of the lining of my uterus? Is that right? '

How long does it take for the estradiol to work symptom wise and how quickly can I plan on bloating and gaining weight. I am a size eight now which isn't exactly exciting because all my weight has somehow ended up in my mid section. I look like I got a pin head, skinny legs and a bloated midsection....real attractive

I lost fifteen pounds to prepare for quitting smoking and I am now concerned I will gain it and probably a million more pounds back.

This stinks! I can't stand it.

Oh Lord help me please...someone...

Hi Lawdy

Where is everyone else to answer your queries???????

Kind of right

Oestradiol in the dose given to peri women is NOT BIRTH CONTROL - it is about symptom control and the prog is to shed the uterine lining yes - cos of the risk of uetrine cancer if no progesterone

They reckon you need to give HRT about 3 months to see if it is working for you - I know seems like eternity

As to the weight - it may not happen to you - there are girls on the site who are bloated and have put on weight (cos that is what happens to many of us post meno as our bodies readjust our fat to produce estrone the post meno eostrogen) and are not on any hormones atall - so???

Are you on estrogen and smoking? Do you think you should do the smoking first?? Dont take on too much - there is a lot going on for you - and you are angry and impatient I can tell - and scared - we all are at times with peri - it s***ks

The way you describe your shape sounds so funny - you do have a gerat sense of humour - let it out abit and laugh at yourself - and so typical again of peri - the bloated mid section - yes - we do seem to change shape at this time.....

Why dont you quit smoking and get fitter and see how you are??? Get over that hurdle first - the estrogen is not a live or die thing - you can wait a few months cant you? Or are symtpoms so bad you are oging nuts?

PM me if you want - but dont forget I am in Uk so 7 hours ahead of US!!!! So you may not get an immediate answer cos I may be in bed pretending to sleep!!!!

Hugs and hope I can help you thorugh this a bit

Mele

Hi Lawdy-

Don' believe everything you read. I use Biest (two estrogens) our bodies have three. I also use progesterone daily. I have not bloated or gained weight as a result of the hormones. I do have more trouble losing weight but that comes with being in my forties. I also hadn't exercised in years. I just strated exercising and eating better.

I use bioidentical hormones, premerin and prempro are synthetics and our bodies do not accept those as readily as the bioidenticals.

Sandy

Sandy, I'm preparing to take bioidenticals. Would you please tell me:
How long have you been taking them?
Which symptoms did it alleviate?
Which symptoms remain?

Thank you sooooo much for saying that I will not necessarily gain weight or bloat. IBS/bloat, etc is a problem for me now. I was am hoping bios will help resolve that...not make it worse!

Urcyn

urcyn, ive been using progesterone cream for about 4 years and it hasnt caused me to gain weight and bloat. I am a little over-weight but im 44 and ive had 7 kids!! I have read that it affects some women like that but i wonder if its really from the cream or if its just from age. The symptoms it has helped for me are anxiety , depression and panic attacks. it also helps with sleep. Before i started using the cream , i was having 24/7 anxiety and daily , multiple panic attacks. It started helping within a few days and within a couple of weeks the panic attacks went away and i was able to concentrate on doing relaxation techniques and learned how to manage my anxiety and bring it down to a tolerable lvl. But i would say about 3 months to get your body adjusted pretty well and it should only get better. But you should start to feel better noticably right away and better each day. Im not back to my ld self by any means but at least i can function and deal with it all allot better.

Lawdy, dont take the synthetics, poison for you. definately recommend bio's. get a prescription strenth natural progesterone cream, it will help with the crying and moodswings alot. also anxiety and sleep.

Lawdy,
I take estradiol sublingual tablets. One in am and one in pm. They began working almost immediately. Better than the Climera patch for me. The patch took 8 wks to feel any effects and then it wasn't enough. The symptoms that my bios took care of was insomnia, sobbing uncontrollably, feeling like I wanted to crawl out of my skin, foggy thinking, feelings of totally losing my mind, frequency to urinate, gave me my sex life back, very bad panic attacks/anxiety spells and the every popular hot flashes.

I can now function like a human being again and I wouldn't give them up for anything. I also do not smoke and have now started dieting. I also walk and now take time for myself. I've gained a little weight but that's because I was so thrilled to actually feel alive again that I really enjoyed my eating everything! For several months there I truly felt like I was going to die. I have been on bios for 8 months now.

After all the research I have done I would not do anything differently. It will be trial and error for you but I too believe that the synthetics are not good for us. The drs will try you on something small first and just know that if still does not take away the more severe symptoms than ask for more. I tweek my dosage once in a while. If I exercise alot then I take alittle more. I had a partial hysterectomy so I didn't know at first when I cycled but I do now because around the 20th of every month when I take my estradiol I'll get really shaky and that tells me I have too much. So now on the 20th I take none for 2 days. I don't take progesterone because I do not have a uterus. I thought I needed it at first to balance out but when I tried it I became so depressed. I guess I'm one of those people extra sensive to progesterone.

Sudio, thanks ever so much for your detailed response! I'm so hopeful after reading your response and Kathy42's response. I wonder, Sudio, what problems remain that you are having to deal with? Or you back to "normal?"

You ladies give me so much hope.

Urcyn

thank you so much for responding everyone. I sat here most of the day a sniveling mess, walking and popping xanax at the appropriate times.

This is what the doctor has me on. 1 0.5 Estradiol a day and then every three months go off the estradiol and take the medroxyprac/progesterone once a day for seven days to shed the uterine lining.

I know y'all understand I really do and I'm not trying to suggest I'm unique or anything but the doom, gloom, failure, used up, ugly, see through, unimportant, depression, anxiety of people, places, things, driving and basically breathing has me a mess.

I feel like I am nothing...NOTHING....a big fat zero. The doctor has me on the wellbutrin to stop smoking (32 days today) prozac to help with the anxiety (started today), the estradiol (day ) and the the progesterone every three months.

I walk at least two miles a day, I tan, I go to church and then I hide in my house like some freak. I'm afraid I'm going to be one of those old ladies that starts yelling at the kids her walk on the sidewalk by her house on their way home from school. Hell, I don't even have a side walk in front of my house or a school within walking distances.

I know I'm not a nut, I know this is menopause...okay so I am a nut but I'm not just a nut, nut, I'm a hormonal nut.

I don't want to be a skinny legged, pin headed, fat mid section nut!!!!! HELP HELP HELP!!!!

Yes, I will be screaming from my window at the kids soon too "get off my lawn!!!!!"

I am debating the HRT and BCP right now. Natural compounded progesterone cream from holistic doc sent me into worse symptom land...but I think he had me on too much...1 gram a day! Now my regular Gyn is trying to calculate what may be good dose of BCP for me.....I don't know if it will help.

Now I am batteling excessive sleepiness...feel like I may just drop dead in the afternoon I feel so sleepy...afraid to drive! This has me worried about some sleep disorder or brain tumor or something....may end up being peri! And brain fog...hey who am I? Where am I? You kids get off my lawn! Joan

Went to ER this morming.... again. ive had pain in my right side for about 5 days now and of course my mind has been spinning out of control with what ifs! They did a ct scan and blood tests and urine tests and all was normal (of course) except a little bacteria in my urine so it looks like i may have a kidney infection. but now im afraid to take my antibiotic cuz i went and read the side effects paper!! i hate myself for being such a chicken baby!! but it said rare but serious side effects could be fatal and i almost fainted!! does anyone know of a natural and SAFE treatment? i know i cant let this go , but i CANT bring myself to take these pills. i just want to cry.
Urcyn , obviously the bio's havent been able to cure me of my medicine phobias and the anxiety that comes at times like this but i can tell you that im just happy to be able to get out of bed and function again! I was a mess when this all started and i didnt know what was going on and all the docs wanted to do was put me on AD'S. I thought i was dying. I have come a long way since then thanks to my life-saving progesterone cream. I rely on it every day to keep me calm and feeling as good as i can during this roller coaster ride.I can pretty much FEEL when i need to use more cream day by day and im not afraid to use it since 200mg a day is what i used to use and now im down to 50. I can tell you from my own personal experience that it works like magic when i feel like crying my eyes out and feel down or dizzy or headaches or just not quite good enough. I just rub on another 25mg every couple of hours till i feel better and it usually works within a couple of hours! so im really still under what i could use so i dont worry. so needless to say im far from being my old normal self because i still have bad days , but i hate to think of where i would be if it werent for my cream.

Hello Urcyn-

I have been using oral or sublingual progesterone alone (not cycled now) for most of the 3 years I have been experiencing the symptoms of peri. For the last month I have added Biest to the progesterone. All are combined in a cream I use twice a day.

The cream doesn't work as well as the sublinguals and so I am going to try and change this. A month on the cream has significantly reduced the anxiety, moodiness, mood swings, depression, and doom and gloom.

I find the cream hard to adjust myself. I don't find that it lasts and or is evenly effective thru out the day. I still have anxiety (much more manageable) and doom and gloom or sadness but mostly in the AM. I think this is related to the cream and how my body is absorbing it.

With the cream it took at least two weeks to notice any improvement in the anxiety or moods and over two weeks to get back to sleeping thru the night. Sleeping was also a problem.

I found sublinguals to work best for me and I can feel their effects almost immediately.

I would say that I am 80% better and hoping that some tweeking will get me to 100%.

Sandy

Slowbear and 40something,

Thank you for your detailed responses! You're wonderful to take so much time to explain which symptoms remain despite being on bioidenticals. Now forgive my stupidity, but let me ask you these questions:

Slowbear - If you feel bad at 50mg and have to keep increasing the dosage to feel better, why not just increase the dosage at a higher level and keep it there?

40something - Is there any reason why you can't go back to sublinguals, and kick the cream to the curb?
I've read that many feel more subs are generally better than cream. Why bother with the cream at all?

I've got my consultation set with Bellevue tomorrow morning. My Dr.s office confirmed today that she DOES, indeed prescribe bioidenticals!! And my appointment with her is on June 28th. So soon, I'll be fine tuning and tweaking my beloved Body and hopefully giving her some relief!

Take care,
Urcyn

Urcryn-

The reason I got stuck with the cream this time around is that my Gyn thought that sublingual estrogen would possibly increase the risk of blood clots. I have confirmed wtih 2 pharmacys that it does not.

When she perscribed the initial hormones she did not talk to me about this and just went ahead and put all hormones into one cream. This makes it difficult to adjust dosages.

Bellevue had recommended sublinguals for me but my Gyn wanted to work with a pharmancy that she was familiar with so I got stuck with the cream.

At that point, I really needed to get started on something so I agreed to try the cream for a month. I had no prior experience with creams and discovered that they do not work as well as sublinguals.

I have an appointment tomorrow to switch to sublinguals. This shouldn't be a problem but you know how things go (nothing is easy).

I hope the sublinguals get rid of everthing completely for me. I hope the bioidenticals work great for you. Keep me posted.

Sandy

Sandy, reading your post makes me want to switch to subs and give it another try! i was wondering if i needed to start on some bio-estrogen of some kind because i have been getting worse migraines the past couple of months and periods are getting a little more erratic and the headaches are coming at odd times during the month instead of right before my period lke they used to. but my doc and my naturalpath both are wanting to put it off for some reason. i just had a blood hormone test done about 2 weeks ago and all was "normal" ranges so i dont know. i think it might be because my older sister and older brother and dad all had strokes? isnt bio estrogen safe for that? my dr. wants me to start taking estoven but im afraid of the black cohosh in it. heard bad things about it. anyone any advice?
i want to feel better as far as energy , sex life mood stuff... and someone on here said that as soon as she added estogen she felt soo much better.

Hi,

I'm new to this forum. I would like to quit smoking and always thought if I reduced my weight considerably, then gaining after I quit wouldn't be too bad. How did that work for you? I noticed in your post you had said you had lost 15 lbs. to prepare to quit smoking.

Thanks in advance.

Rose

I am a 'mystery patient', since I am 28 and have basically no estrogen, prolactin, FSH, or LH yet I have had two kids... So while I wait for medicine to figure out what is wrong with me, I take Premarin and Provera to alleviate the H-E-Double hockeysticks I was going through.
Prempro has given me my sleep back, no more heart palps, hair loss is subsiding, brown spots are forming more slowly (which means I may eventually stay ahead of them with the Esoterica cream!), mood swings are better, and my poor hubby actually gets sex once in a while now - and the great part is that I actually have a libido now!

I have had a very positive experience with them so far. I haven't had a period for a little over 2 years now, and it was only bi-annual at best prior to that. I take a steady dose, since I really don't care to get periods anymore, which is reallllly nice. I haven't experienced any significant bloating or weight gain, either. I DID have a hot flash in the middle of the night last week, and it was my first in about two months, so I feel like I can deal with that.

Don't get too discouraged before you even try. You never know - what doesn't work for one person may work for you, and vice versa. We are all beautifully 'unique', so keep trying until you find what works for you and keep an open mind!!

That is another thing - I don't feel like I am a walking zombie anymore. I went hiking with my son, went out dancing with the hubby, and entertained a house guest all in one day: An impossibility before. If I don't get to bed on time, I still feel a bit heavy-lidded but nothing like it was before I started HRT.

Hi to all
I take the dreaded synthetic estrogen and progesterone and have been for about 9 years. I recently switched to bioidenticals and had a rough go so went back on the old routine for the next 3 months as my stress levels and obligations are through the roof right now. Later, I may be able to do the adjust thing.
I am a patient in a mature women's program (only 49) and they specialize in menopausal women only. Have two ob-gyns, 2 Pharmacists and 4 specialized nurses. The controversy regarding that nurses study was recently thrown out because of false readings. All the patients in the study were over 60 years old. Every one of them had a heart condition or suffered from a stroke. So naturally when they had another one they blamed prempro. They could have had one anyway without using anything. So we must all assess our own situation and use what works for us. I will eventually go on bio- identicals, but we must also quit bashing something that has been on the market for 60 years and has helped thousands of women. This info is strictly from the clinic.
Mickey48

Just thought I'd throw my 2 cents in here.

I started with a low dose HRT called Angeliq. 1 mg of estrogen, 2 mg's of progestin. After 6 months, I really did not have enough improvement. My old doc back home took a look at the Angeliq and said I needed something stronger.

He put me on Prempro. I'm not sure of the exact dosage, but he said I needed at least 2 mg of estrogen. Right away I started sleeping better.

It takes a long time to find out if a medication is working for you. Unfortunately, it's not like aspirin where you can (hopefully) get immediate results.

I also have Raging Depression (probably an oxymoron there ) and he changed my med from Proxac which wasn't working. to Cymbalta.

After 3 weeks I feel better and am crossing my fingers and praying "please, please, make me feel better."

I know the hell you are all going through. This is worse than just plain depression, harder than carrying a child, harder than childbirth, worse than going through a divorce. In fact this is the hardest thing I have ever had to endure and if it weren't for the hope of medication I might have ended my life.

i know that sounds dire, but it's true. Life was just that miserable for me.

Karla

I gained about 80 pounds in peri, but now that I'm three or four years post, I was able to lose the extra weight in the same way as when I was young. I'm 55. It wasn't harder to lose the weight, and it didn't take any longer to lose it. Nothing is different. I used to think that women in middle age gained weight and could not lose it for some mysterious and unknown reason, like their metabolisms slowing way down. After I got to post meno, I decided to just try eating better and exercising. I lost the 80 pounds in about ten months on a personalized version of Weight Watchers. The only exercise I get is walking about an hour per day, not really fast, just a nice, brisk, comfortable pace that I can maintain.

It's not how fast you walk; it's how long you can maintain the pace! Anyone can walk fast, but keep it up for an hour! That's the exercise part.

As for HRT, I took Activella only for about four months in peri, when my hot flashes and overall physical feelings were making it impossible to just get through the day. I felt better right away, but then I had a period after ten months without one! I think the Activella started everything up again, and I just didn't want to do that. If my body was getting rid of estrogen, then so be it. I did not want to replenish the estrogen and other hormones, only to be faced with taking these hormones the rest of my life or going through the inevitable menopause process if I stopped.

I started using Revival Soy after tapering off the Activella, and it has helped me with energy and depression. After getting to the first year without a period, I really do think our bodies calm down and adjust. It took another year after post to really feel better. But it does happen; it's just extremely slow.

I feel fine now, and try to keep my weight down. Keeping my weight down is no harder than it used to be. I can still enjoy food and go out to eat and have special treats like cake or ice cream or whatever, as long as it's in moderation, the same as before, when I was 20.