Estrogen levels before and after hyst

I had a TAH in January 2004 and I am currently wearing 1 1/2 Vivelle dot patches - 0.1mg. I went to a new Endocrinologist and she took blood tests. She said that my LH was 26.4 and my FSH was 30.6 which are borderline high and that I might not be getting enough estrogen. The plan is to wait two months and take the tests again. Do any of you have any idea how much estrogen we had before the hyst? Like - this patch - is it only a fraction of what our ovaries were making? I am 37 yrs old and I have heard that in your mid thirties, the ovaries produce up to 20 times more estrogen than a 0.1 mg patch delivers. My dr had no answer for this question. She said that she would need to see lab results before the surgery in order to know this - which makes sense. Just wondering if any of you sisters have asked this question and received an answer from your dr - or possibly have the blood tests before and after the surgery to get a more accurate answer???? Thanks and God bless!!

Hi Anna

How are you feeling on the HRT dose you are using? That's a better indicator of how well your HRT is working for you than any test results. Have you looked at the list of symptoms for too much/too little of estrogen? Are you keeping a journal of any symptoms you are having? It can be a great source of information for your doctor to help determine what sort of tweaking may need to be done.

We each do well on different doses. It seems to work well to find the lowest dose we can that controls symptoms. I have no idea what my hormone levels were before surgery. I do know that I wouldn't want them now! Even with the imbalance I have myself right now this is preferable to what I had before my surgery.

s

Hi Anna!

My doctor (family physician) whom I hold in very high esteem, explained to me that he does not "believe" in testing hormone levels. He said it's because hormone levels vary not only from person to person, but they also vary at different times in our life. So, what may be viewed as a "low" level for Person A, may be "regular" for Person B and "high" for Person C. Or, the amount of estrogen it took for me to "feel good" at age 25 isn't necessarily the amount of estrogen it takes for me to "feel good" at age 35, or age 50. Therefore, at my appointments, he does not draw blood from me and obtain "levels" from a laboratory. Instead, he asks me to describe to him how I feel, and he treats me based on symptoms I tell him about.

It sounds like your doctor has different thoughts on the matter, and finds lab results from blood tests to be valuable in treating you. She probably feels as strongly about her beliefs as my doctor does about his. Sometimes it seems like our doctors are wandering about in this Hormone Jungle, too!

I hope that your doctor comes up with the solution for you! After all, you deserve to be the best "you" that you can be!