New here - question about Livial (Tibolone)

I just found the Hyster Sisters site today. What a blessing. I was searching for info on Livial (Tibolone). I am almost age 49 and have been on Estratest for almost 5 years. My doc put me on estratest because I was having night sweats, insomnia and my interest in sex was nil. I also had to go to the bathroom several times a night. These things were such a change in my life, I was close to depression. Even though my mother and grandmother died of breast cancer I went on the Estratest, because I would rather live a shorter life of wonderful, then a longer life of feeling dead anyway. Estratest gave me a new life and made me feel "normal" again. It was great. But in the last six months my symptoms have all returned. Not as severe as without the estratest, but gradually getting worse. I am not sleeping well and have turned to taking one Benedryl for that about once a week just to get one good nights sleep. I am not sweating yet, just wake up numerous times to throw off the covers, then wake up cold to put them back on. These symptoms had not returned yet when I last saw my doctor (August 2004), but he had suggested I stop the Estratest and try Livial. He said it is not available in the U.S., so would have to find it on my own. My concern is that I wonder "why" is it not available here? Is it safe? Does it work? What are the advantages and disadvantages. Any help or info would be greatly appreciated.
Bless you all.

Hi rollanda and welcome to Hystersisters! I'm glad you found us. I've moved your post over here to our Hormone Jungle forum, where you'll find more ladies with knowledge and experience with Estratest as well as with Livial (Tibolone).

Tibolone has been used in Europe for menopausal symptom treatment for years now. It's in the process of gaining FDA approval and finding channels for distribution in the US, but isn't available here yet. We have members who are getting it through overseas mail order pharmacies and are very happy with it.

Have you had a hysterectomy? If so, I hope you'll take a few minutes to complete the member survey and put your surgery date in your profile. If not, we'd appreciate it if you could please make a note of that fact in your signature - it helps other members to respond to your posts.

Since this is a hysterectomy support site, our experiences may be different than for someone in natural menopause who still has a uterus and ovaries. For one thing, unopposed estrogen can cause endometrial proliferation, so ladies who still have a uterus must use some form of progestin (or natural progesterone) to oppose the estrogen, while those of us without a uterus generally don't have to (there are exceptions of course). Also, the symptoms of surgical menopause are much more severe than those in natural menopause, and they aren't cyclic when there are no ovaries present, so our HRT needs may be constant rather than cyclical and in general greater than those of a woman in natural menopause.

There are some links in our Resources directory to information on Tibolone. To get there, click on Resources at the top of the page, and then scroll down to the Hormone Jungle section. You could also do a search on this site for posts containing the word "Tibolone" or "Livial" (they are the same thing), to read about others' experiences with it. We have a number of members in the UK, for example, who have used or are using Tibolone and are very happy with it.

I hope this helps. Good luck!
s,
-Linda