Savliva testing anyone?

Okay, it's been over 5 months now and I'm still waiting to get to the point where I feel like a new woman, as I was told I would. I'm really happy to not have the periods, but now I'm having hot flashes galore again. My doc is cutting my vivelle in half, down to 0.05 because he says too much estrogen can cause the same symptoms and also I was placed on some testosterone cream so maybe that's making the estrogen not needed so much. I'm not giving up hope though, one of the nurses I work with told me it took her 1 1/2 years to get her hormones levels right and now she feels like jumping through hoops. Boy, I can't wait for that day. I'm going to have saliva testing done this week and wondered if anyone else had had it done and if the results were correct enough for the supplements to get your hormones level again.

Rose

Yes, it can take some time to find balance. The testing can be a helpful tool in finding that balance with hormones sometimes. My dr has done testing to use as guideline, but does not strictly use tests for me. We have done well with paying much attention to my symptoms and how the the hrt affects them more than what the numbers say from the tests.

I have been taking vivelle dot .05 and have been pleased with it.

I hope you find some relief from symptoms soon and start feeling better.

s

Rose,
I did the saliva test early on in my recovery and felt it was a waste of time. At the time, I think my levels were still fluctuating somewhat, and I did better adjusting based on my symptoms. One thing I did find very helpful was keeping a journal of my symptoms. While I still had hot flashes I could see by looking thru my journal that they were coming less frequently so I knew that I was on the right track. And for me, the hot flashes were the last of my symptoms to go.

That's not to say that testing is not useful, just that it wasn't useful for me at the time. I do have my levels checked periodically thru bloodwork just to be sure that things are okay. One thing to keep in mind is that test ranges are usually very broad and we all won't feel the same at a given level. Testing should be used as a tool along with the symptoms you're experiencing.