Could This Be Estrogen Sensitivity/Allergy to Estrogen?

Once again, I am confused about what is happening to me. Just to update everyone first, I was put on Estratest HS right after my LAVH/BSO (for endometriosis) August 15th. For the first 4 weeks all I had were mild hotflashes, fatigue, and some moodiness. By week 5 I was a wreck with extreme fatigue, hot flashes, mood swings, achiness, joint pain, insomnia, and dull headaches (I believe this is when natural estrogen left in my body was used up). About week 7 my dose was increased to FS. For the next few weeks I felt like I had more energy and moods were stable, but the headaches worsened in jaws, temples, ears, and upper cheekbones and achiness/painful joints remained. I also began to notice some crampy pain in my lower abdomen and just above and to the sides of pubic bone. I feared the endo might be acting up (doctor didn't remove it from my bladder, appendix, or bowels, said it would die off without ovaries and with only low dose of estrogen). By week 10 all the other symptoms were back as well. Then we tried switching to Climara at .1mg to see if headaches would disappear. The first few days I felt ok, but by the 4th day the insomnia, chest pain, achiness all over, fatigue, and headaches were unbearable. I noticed a strange sinus like pain in my nose, teeth, around eyes as well as cheekbones, jaws, ears, and forehead. I also developed a sore throat. I took the patch off (against the advise of dr. who didn't think Climara was culprit) and felt better. I also had the sinus pain and sore throat checked out around this time and my sinuses were clear and throat ok. But after one week off any hormones I was feeling more joint pain, hot flashes, mood swings, and fatigue as well as sweating but lessening headaches, sore throat, and achiness. I tried the Climara again but only 1/2 of the patch. The next day again the achiness came back with a vengeance as well as chest pain, insomnia, fatigue, headaches, sore throat, and worse moods. Again I took it off and felt better. The following week I went to a holistic practitioner that prescribes bioidentical hormones. She was great, really listened to me, and decided to put me on Triest (sublingual drops) at a very low dose of 1mg (80 percent Estriol, 10 percent Estradiol, and 10 percent Estrone) per day to be taken at night. She also started me on 50mg of progesterone (troche) to balance the estrogen and help with the endo. I took this for seven days and noticed I was sleeping much better (probably due to progesterone), but the hot flashes became more intense and the achiness became a little worse but not unbearable. The headaches seemed to remain slightly in my jaws, temples, and sinuses, but increased in my forehead and ears somewhat. I felt a little bloated but at the same time noticed the pain in my lower abdomen lessened a lot. Then I had a phone consultation with this new doctor and she thought my estrogen might still be too low due to hot flashes and achiness, so she wanted me to take 2 drops of Triest per day (to equal 2mg total instead of one) (one in morning and one at night) and continue with progesterone at 50mg as usual. I was a little hesitant since I had such horrible symptoms on Climara at a high dose but agreed to try. This was Wednesday. By yesterday again the hotflashes increased in intensity, the achiness worsened, the fatigue worsened, the irritability and crying started, and the headaches with the sinuses and jaw pain worsened as well as sore throat. I felt so sick and awful yesterday I could barely make it through work and cried all day. My appetite was gone, nausea set in, and the head pain was unbearable. And the abdominal pain returned so bad that I was doubled over by evening, much like pre hyst days. I decided not to take my evening dose of Triest yesterday but continued with the progesterone and decided to go back to original dose of 1mg for now starting tonight. Already the headaches and sore throat have lessoned, the achiness is better, the abdominal pain is much better. I plan to tell my new doctor all this at our appointment on Wednesday.

What is going on with me? Why do I get so sick when I take a higher dose of estrogen but still have symptoms of low estrogen when on small dose of estrogen or no hormones? I can't seem to tolerate estrogen very well and even at a low dose have some problems. Is it possible my dose is being increased too much at once? I realize that any change in hormones or dosagases can cause temporary hormonal imbalance, but for me it seems to be unbearable. Should I just wait for maybe another month before trying to up my dosage a small amount to give my body a chance to get used to things? Or is it possible I will still have unbearable symptoms even then? Whay are doctors so quick to increase the dose if it is so important to let your body get used to new hormones? Also, what about the possibility of just taking the progesterone? It really seems to help me sleep and does help the abdominal pain unless I increase the estrogen. Before the introduction of the progesterone I could not sleep at all, no matter what estrogen replacement I was on so I hate to stop taking it. Would progesterone alone help guard against osteoporosis or is estrogen absolutely neccessary for this? I realize that estrogen is needed for the absorption of calcium but would progesterone help this way also?

Sorry for all the questions but I really need some input from my hystersisters who have been there, especially if you are taking Triest or Biest and progesterone. Can anyone relate to the sinus like pain, jaw pain, and sore throat with more estrogen? I really hoped the progesterone would help with the headaches but with increased estrogen they still get worse. I never had these problems before the hysterectomy, except for a sinus infection back in July which was treated with antibiotics and cleared up. I even tried antibiotics again in September just to be sure the sinus infection wasn't back and it made no difference. The sore throat thing is really strange as well. I was tested for strep but the test came back clear. It only seems to flare up with increased estrogen. Is this a sign I am allergic to the estrogen I am being given? I wonder if I was even allergic to my own estrogen before the hysterectomy and hence the endometriosis. Though I didn't have headaches and sinus pain then, I always felt worse during and after my period until just after ovulation started when progesterone then increased. I would get achiness all over and feel warm and flushed and fatigued. I find this correlation interesting but don't know if it means anything.

Sorry for the long post. I know I am early in recovery (just over 3 months) and have made a lot of changes, but I just feel so awful all the time I have to try something. I can barely function like this. I wish I could be more patient but this is so hard to do when you feel like crap and were expecting some relief from the hysterectomy. Thanks for listening and for any insight. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

I haven't had to deal with much in the way of aches and joint pains, but I did suffer thru headaches, insomnia, hot flashes, mood swings, etc. IMHO it seems that you may be looking for a quick fix. If something is working initially, I wouldn't rush to make an adjustment or change at the first sign of a symptom. Hormones are a delicate balance and sometimes there isn't a thing called instant balance. There can be some ups and downs on the way to finding balance. You really aren't that far along post op and have done ALOT of changing of your hrt. I think you need to give it more time before jumping to conclusions and making adjustments.

Hi Naturebound,
I have no answers for you but I noticed we are similar in age. I am 5 days post op TVH-BSO and I have just started on oral estrogen and I am terrified that I will have as many problems as you. Did your probs start straight away? Maybe you need to see a different doctor,sometimes doctors have differing ideas. I wish you well and I'm sure it will get better. Hang in there. Keep searching until you find what you find what works. One thing you said about progesterone and bone disorders. that is the main reason my doctor said that i needed the estrogen-ostioperosis(did I spell it right?)Without estrogen it is guarenteed that at 32 I will get it. So I think taking the estrogen is really important and there must be a balance for you.
Good luck
Cassandra

I can relate to your difficulty with the estrogen as I have had a hard time getting it balanced for me as well. I had actually at one point convinced myself that I would only take progesterone in a very small dose and that was that. I am almost 1 year postop and I think my levels have started to decline drastically in the past few months and I have been so miserable. I started using Biest a month ago and have had nothing but trouble with it. I will go along for a while and not feel like I'm getting any estrogen, then all of a sudden I have breast tenderness and massive mood swings and symptoms of too much estrogen. Yesterday, I decided to go back on the patch I had been on before so fortunately had refills on my Vivelle Dot .05. It's the only way I can seem to keep a steady dose of estrogen in my system without the drastic fluctuations I have with the Biest. It causes a lot of finger and toe swelling for me but I'll just have to live with that I guess. I feel quite horrible today, sort of like I have the flu, and I'm not sure what it is. I'm just going to try to stick it out and stay with the patch and quit making changes. I can't take it anymore. My body needs stability and the stress I have been putting on myself has taken a toll.

I know that patience is hard to have when you feel so bad. Hang in there and I will too. Hugs~

Thanks everyone for your support! I know it seems like I want a quick fix but I am really miserable here and barely able to work. I have absolutely no energy left over to do anything at home. Fun is out of the question. Preparing for Christmas seems daunting! How do you guys function enough to work full time with such awful hormonal imbalance? I would try to find a part time job instead but I need the insurance obviously to pay for all this medical stuff! Some days I can't see straight, the brain fog is affecting my work, my moods are affecting my relationship with my boyfriend, the headaches are unbearable at times, and the achiness is making it hard to be on my feet all day at work. It's not just one or two symptoms bothering me at any given time but a whole set. That's why I have been in panic mode. I know I am probably driving myself nuts trying to figure this all out so soon but it is consuming my life! The thought of dealing with this for the next 25 to 30 years is scary!

Carol, thanks for your understanding. Looks like you have been in the jungle for some time! I sincerely hope you find relief soon! Do you ever get the lower abdominal cramps and pain? I see that you also had your hyst due to endometriosis. I am really worried about what this hrt is doing to my leftover endo. Some days the cramps are so bad I can't stand up straight, but only if the estrogen is at a higher level. Does the progesterone have any positive qualities for you separate from the estrogen? Also, was the biest you took a cream, troche, or drops? Just curious.

Cassandra, I hope I didn't scare you too much! What kind of hrt are you taking? I know for me it took a good four weeks before the surgical menopause really hit home and for the oral estrogen I was taking to really build up in my system. This is also when I returned to work so the added stress and physical activity probably made it feel worse. Hopefully your recovery will go smoother and you will find balance right away. Some women don't have any trouble and many have only minor setbacks. I think though at our age (at the peak of hormone production) the shock is going to be a little more considerable. I also have hypothyroidism (take levothyroxine) so that may play in to this trouble for me as well. I made the mistake of going back to work after four weeks when I should have given it another week or so. I really wasn't ready, even though my doctor only gave me four weeks off. Please take all the time you need to recover! Make sure your doctor is well versed with hrt and really willing to work with you. That makes all the difference. My original doctor that did the surgery wouldn't listen to me when I told him the Estratest made my headaches worse, and didn't think the chest pain was from the Climara, even though it turned out to be. He wasn't willing to lower the dose so I had to find another doctor because I simply couldn't tolerate the side effects. I had to miss work because of it. This new doctor also started me on some vitamins (calcium citrate, magnesium, vitamin D, Fish Oil, and multivitamin with B complex) so hopefully that will help somewhat. It is too soon to see any difference yet. You might want to consider this also to help you along if you start having problems. The vitamins are hypoallergenic and do not contain any added chemicals so I am hoping that also makes a difference. I am also sensitive to many drugs like antidepressants, allergic to sulfa, codeine, and have to avoid dairy products and other foods. I break out in hives, rashes, and get nausea and vomiting with these. I never used to have these problems until the endometriosis came along. My body is just hypersensitive so that could also be contributing to my problems.

Thanks again for sharing and listening to my long ramblings. It helps to know I am not alone. I would be lost without you guys to help straighten me out!

Wow Naturebound, you mentioned some symptoms I hav that I never connected on my own. HYPER sensitive to EVERYTHING! Foods, cold air, hubbies wiskers ACK!

Also been feeling lots of pressure in lower ab, kind of like I did after the hyst, very strange.

Overall though I am feeling better. Up until last month I was only using progesterone. I added estrogen & thyroid med, then added testsosterone yesterday after NP decided to run that through the lab also. Seems I don't have anything in my body, my levels were almost non-existent of everything... except the progesterone.

I also hurt less than I did when I had cramps 28 days of every month, so I can't complain, I am just eager to start feeling as good as NP seems to think I can.

Isn't it great to have a place like this to come!