Hormones - a year later!

Hi, everyone, a lot of good memories come back when I return to these boards that helped me so much a year ago. Since my hyst. I have been taking Ortho-prefest, which cycles estrogen (1mg. estradiol) for three days, and then estrogen/progesterone (1mg. estradiol/0.09 mg. norgestimate) for three days, etc for each month. I had the hyst. mostly for severe endo., so the doc. advised me to take progesterone to keep the endo. away (so far, no symptoms of endo). Anyway, now, I'm having hot flashes, night sweats, brain fog, and my libido has disappeared. I didn't have much trouble with this until gradually this spring. My theory is that my own estrogen has gradually left my system? I usually don't talk about this , but my dh and I have only had sex a few times in the past year, and it wasn't very good! I did gain some weight after the hyst., but with lots of hard work, I just finished losing the 10 lbs. I've gained. My gp did a thyroid panel, and that all came out normal. I do have an appointment with my gyn. in 2 weeks. I haven't seen him since the surgery. I'm thinking I either need more estrogen, or maybe some testosterone (like estratest?). What does everyone else think, and should I ask him to run some blood tests? Thanks in advance.

govgirl,
by all means have him run some tests. I would ask for testosterone and estradiol. I bet that your losing weight has something to do with things shifting. The little extra body fat might have made your estrogen needs less because body fat makes it's own estrogen. It is a known fact that thin people need more estrogen to achieve the same blood levels as people of a heavier weight. It might be a transient thing or it might be that you just need some more estradiol. You also might need some testosterone, but I would check levels first. You can add some bio identical testosterone and this might help a lot with the libido and sexual function.
best wishes

Well, I went to the doc., he prescribed 2 mg. estrace daily, and the hot flashes have disappeared-even in the 95 degree heat we had!! He told me my estrogen levels were probably way too low, and his theory is, the younger you are (sometimes I wonder if 42 is young?), the more you probably need. I know it's too early to know if I'm going to have side-effects, but I am going back in two months and he told me he would gradually add back some progesterone. I feel so much better, it's unbelievable! Also, he told me he would order a thyroid antibody test at that time, and other blood work to check on estrogen levels - he's wonderful!! Hashimoto's and other thyroid problems run in my family, and I have psoriasis (now, if I could only lose the rest of the weight!!)

Your doctor sounds great. So glad things are looking up for you.

you might read through the current HJ article on libido for some perspective. It also sounds like fluctuating levels--so I wonder if the cycling is such a good idea? But yeah, we were just noticing that losing weight sets off symptoms. The longer we're at it the more the pieces are fitting together (ok maybe about 5 pieces).

For the psoriasis, you might try evening primrose oil (and fish oil and vitamin E) for awhile. There's an article on the HJ pulldown. I used it to help my hair and it cleared up the "itchy red bumps" I'd had for years on my right foot and ankle. Never diagnosed but my sister has them in a far far worse way (also oddly on her right foot) and it's terrible and fully diagnosed as psoriasis. I've just talked her into EPO so I don't know if it's worked on the worse case yet.

Anyway, seems to fit with the thyroid stuff too. worth a shot/