Estrogen Level Question

How can someone have to much estrogen if they are on the patch? I've read that even if you are taking estrogen, its much less then what you would produce is you still had your ovaries, but I keep reading about women and the symptoms of estrogen excess. I'm just curious.

Hi tanodeez!

There's a lot of confusion about that. Yes, it's a lot less estrogen than our ovaries produced when we were still ovulating, but after our surgery we're certainly not doing that any more! Now it's a matter of getting enough estrogen to match what our post menopausal needs are, which is much less. And that amount is different for every woman. Some of our more "fluffy" sisters have more estrogen available from body fat, so they may not need as much hrt as someone who is very thin. If you exercise a lot, you may need more than someone who is a couch potato. Plus, to add to the fun, even women who seem identical in every way might still have very different estrogen needs.

Long story short, if you take more estrogen than you need, the extra hangs around and gets into mischief, like giving you sore breasts or water retention or sleep problems.

Isn't menopause fun?

Maddie

That explains a lot! Thanks for clearing that up. So, maybe I need to have my estrogen adjusted slightly. I exercise 5 days a week and eat fairly healthy, but I can't seem to budge on the scale. Even yesterday my husband said he felt bad for me because I work so hard at the gym and don't see the results (he didn't bring it up, I did). I'm not extremely over weight, but have gained about 10 pounds since having surgery 6 months ago and I do notice that my breasts (especially my left) are more sore. I wonder if I should cut my V-dot down by a 1/4 to see if that helps.

I heard on Dr.Oz's show that woman in menopause have slower metabolism's which in turn makes us gain easier and which makes it harder for us to lose the extra pounds.
He was very strong in the importance of incorporating fiber in our diets to help fill our stomachs up because it expands in the stomach and therefore we eat less food and get filled quicker.
As my memory recalls, I'll try to explain this the best I can...
In his demonstration, he used two,very tall, large clear vases, both empty at first. He had a woman come up from the audience and she stood at her vase, was told to put in as much cooked macaroni shells as could fit in the vase. Then in Dr. Oz's vase, he put in two wafer thin sponges, added water, and then put in some of his cooked macaroni and his vase visually showed he was only able to put in a much smaller portion of cooked macaroni than the woman's vase who was able to fill up the vase, which remember: the vase is supposed to be our stomachs.
so the stomach that had the fiber in it with water, wasn't able to put much food in it and was full quicker.
something to that effect anyway.
I get extremely frustrated by my failing mind and therefore try not to participate in conversations with people about subjects of things I've seen or read.
Dr. Oz also demonstrated with two autopsied cadavers Omentum's, which he demonstrated by lifting them up for the audience to see in comparison the difference from when one woman is in her younger years, compared to when we get older and reach menopause.
the younger one was smaller in dimension and much thinner and the menopausal omentum was bigger in dimension and thicker.
The Omentum is the blanket of internal abdominal fat that rests on top of the intestines. the only purpose of the omentum is that it catches and stores fat.
No wonder why when we reach menopause whether naturally or surgically, we seem to get that extra pouch of fat that we just can't seem to lose no matter how much we diet or exercise.
so the theory is that we consume lots of fiber on a daily basis with the recommended amount of water. I think it's 2 liters or more of water, right?

What I did to make it easier for me to drink the recommended amount of water was by putting it into a four cup glass measuring cup and while I was cooking or passing by the kitchen, I'd pour the water in a glass and before I knew it, I'd have to refill the cup, finish that, and before I knew it, I'd had my quota of water..
it's just a silly thing I did for myself only because I really had to force myself to drink plain water.
Dr. Oz also stated that by losing just ten pounds of excess weight on our bodies that it added YEARS to our life.
Also, I too experienced breast tenderness when I started my HRT patch therapy five years ago after my total hysterectomy. I still sometimes experience it as well, but not as much.
My Gyno had mentioned to me that he thinks my breasts got sore because of me being on the highest dosage of HRT patch. the 0.1 mg.

I hope this helped you some what? I found it to be very helpful and interesting when I saw it a few weeks ago.

Best wishes to you,

Hi

You might be retaining a little water, and could benefit from some progesterone. It can work with the estrogen and provide a balance that many of us need. Many of us use both estrogen and progesterone.

I wouldn't cut the V-dot down until you know that too much estrogen is actually your problem. If you do though, you need to know that you will not see the full benefits of that change for about 6 weeks. If you make another change any sooner than that, then symtoms can get very confusing.



Kay