Frustrated, Angry and afraid...

Had a TVH at age 23 for excessive bleeding. kept one ovary, did not take hormones since ovary was functional. Now, many years later at 53 i am being driven insane by hot flashes, night sweats, moodieness, depression, total loss of libido yada yada yada. Finally worked up the nerve to go see my doctor. Made appointment for a "complete physical" thinking that would give us some time to discuss my options. What an insensitive lout my doctor turned out to be! Basically told me that he would write me a script (no testing done) for HRT for 3 month supply but then I would have to go through an additional 2 years of hot flashes etc because it would be like starting through minopause all over again! Not only did he make me cry, not only did he express no empathy.....I basically told him that he is not the one trying to live in my body and how dare he be judgemental of my desire to use HRT to get a break from serious symptoms that are controlling my life! then I fired him and made an appointment with a woman doctor in the same building. My physician choices are limited as the nearest town to me only has 9000 people and not too many doctors. I am sick to death of medical folk telling me that every single ache or pain I bring up is related to my "hormones"! I am basically at my wits end with this issue. I have NO sex drive, serious vaginal dryness, skin changes, depression, sleep problems, weight gain, hot flashes and night sweats along with osteoarthritis all of a sudden. What does a gal have to do to get some relief in this country! Please forgive my rant, and thanks for listening.

Hi, sisterpine! to Hyster Sisters and the Hormone Jungle!

You have had a tough go of things, haven't you? It's bad enough to have the symptoms without having the understanding of a doctor to help you in your quest to feel better.

Hormone deficiency often is the cause of many symptoms which may seem unrelated. There's a very long list of symptoms in this link to the Menopause Checkpoint and in this link to common symptoms of too much/too little estrogen, progesterone and testosterone.

I wouldn't be alarmed that your doctor didn't do any hormone testing. Not all doctors do. My own opinion of hormone testing is that it isn't all that useful unless someone is hopelessly lost in the Jungle after trying many different types/doses of hormone therapy. I do believe it is important to have free and total testosterone levels checked before adding that hormone.

Generally starting with estrogen only is the way to go. Get as many symptoms under control as you can with the estrogen and then add progesterone and/or testosterone, one hormone at a time as indicated by symptoms. Make changes gradually because each change takes time to register with the body.

As you work to balance it's good to refer to that too much/too little list as a guide, and it is also helpful to keep a journal of your symptoms on a daily basis. Then you have a written record to share with your doctor which will show how you're doing over time. Hopefully you will see improvement!

With vaginal dryness as part of your problem, I would suggest you discuss adding a vaginal estrogen along with a systemic estrogen. I've been using vaginal estrogen since about seven months post-op. No matter what systemic estrogen I use it's not enough to keep my vaginal tissues healthy. I'm currently using Vagifem which is a tiny estrogen tablet inserted with its own disposable applicator. It really does work! In the past I've also used a compounded vaginal estrogen cream with good results. There is a lot of good information about vaginal dryness and the treatment options which you can read when you click this link.

For libido lots of us here in the Hormone Jungle use 1% compounded testosterone cream. You have to have a prescription for it and it has to be filled by a compounding pharmacist. To learn more about compounding pharmacies and to locate one near you if you end up needing one, you can use this link: www.iacprx.org.

It's understandable that you are frustrated. I hope your new doctor will be more understanding and that you can work with her to feel better. The path through the Jungle can be tangled, but we are here to help you cut through the vines. We can definitely relate to how you feel and you aren't alone!

I'm sending s!!