Wine with your meal.....

Does anyone here comsume wine for health benefits and if so, how does it effect hormones that are taken. Just read a study that says that a six ounce glass of wine each day can help in the reducing chances of heat attack and or stroke.

HI cardlady

Here is an article that talks about the consumtion of alcohol while using estrogen. Estrogen/wine

I do have a glass of wine with dinner on occasion and if I keep it to the minimum one glass recommendation I do not notice any problems.

I think the problem comes when a women might over indulge in alcohol. The estrogen levels will rise almost immediately, so therefore the next day there will be a drop in the estrogen levels which would result in low estrogen symptoms (hot flashes etc: )

TTabby, I just had an experience where my estradiol levels decreased from the 50's to the 30's even though my vdot patch was raised from .075 to .01 mg. My doctor was really puzzled. After reading your post, I realized that I had been out to dinner the night before and had 2 glasses of wine (normally have 1 if we go out which is maybe once every 1.5 weeks) and then had my blood drawn the next morning (which was also the tail end of my 3.5 day cycle of patch application.) I read the alcohol article but couldn't find anything about the level dropping the next day. If I go by symptoms, I would say I wasn't having any signs of estrogen depletion, just a kind of "low" feeling- no energy) (my testosterone is also low- could it be that?) Anyway, my doc put me on the Biest troche 1.25 mg with progesterone 150 mg to be split in half and taken twice a day. It is really foul and am ready to beg my doc to go back on patch and change it every 3 days.
Any thoughts?

HI Rainey

I don't know if I can explain this or if I even understand the connection with the two, but here is my understanding on drinking alcohol and HRT.

When you have a drink of alcohol it raises your estrogen levels almost immediately. The sudden changes in your levels can cause symptoms such as hot flashes or even swelling due to the big fluctuations in levels. I think the swelling may be from the abundance of estrogen when the levels get high.

When you consume alcohol it increases your estrogen absorbtion and your estrogen will be used up much quicker. That could explain why your levels were low the day after you had a couple glasses of wine.

I had problems in the beginning getting my levels balanced. I do occasionally enjoy drinking wine and I never put the two together until I read the article. I would start out doing just fine and then have horrendous breakthrough hot flashes. I would call the doctor and tell him I was having signs of low estrogen (hot flashes) so we would raise the dose and start all over again. I had a very hard time finding a dose that would work for me because I thought I was not getting enough...when actually I was having sudden changes in my estrogen levels.

Once I put the two together...I avoided all alcohol to find a dose I felt good on. Now if I decide to have a drink or two, I know what to expect. I will have a big fluctuations in my estrogen levels and it can take a couple of days to get things back on tract.

I have heard that they make flavored troches. Have you asked your pharmacist if he can make them up in a yummy flavor for you. I believe I read they come in kahlua flavor.

I hope some of this makes sense and if not maybe someone with some more advice can add to it.

TTabby, thanks for your reply. I will follow up with my doctor. RaineyL

Just to let know, the patch does not give a consistant dosage of estrogen each day. If you were to have an estradiol blood test 3 days in a row you find that the first day you will have a higher reading, lower the second and definately low the third. Mine came in at 54 day one, 36 day two and a mere 20 on day three. The literature in most patches corresponds to this info as well and each delivery method of patch has a different absorption rate.

when you consume alcohol, your liver is asked to metabolize the alcohol that you'd consumed. that means it's taking away some of its ability to metabolize the hormone (i.e. estradiol). as long as you consume alcohol in moderation and is consistent with how much you consume on an average daily basis, then you/your doctor should be able to pair your body with the correct amount of hormone supplementation. the scientists have found that there are antioxidants in the red wine that serves cardio-protective funtion, therefore the lowered incidence of heart disease in those studies.