Is anxiety from to much estrogen or to little?

I had a hysterectomy March 24 2006. Since then I have been on a lot of different hormones. I am on vivelle patch 0.1mg and compounded progesterone cream. I feel like I am going crazy.
My blood work shows my estrodiol levels at 40mg one week and 168mg three months later. I am always nauseous. I get hot flashes at night and can't sleep. I have anxiety every day. I have tried antideppressants and anti anxiety medication nothing seems to work.
Do I need more progesterone or estrogen?
Please help
coyote

This could be tricky trying to figure out. The fact that you are nauseous could mean one of your hormones is too high or too high in relation to the other. While I haven't had the nausea, I do have anxiety if my estrogen level is too low or too high. Have you tried cutting your patch dose to see if using a smaller dose helps with this. This is what I had to do while I was cycling progesterone cream. Progesterone in cream form can build up in the fat layers of the skin. Did they check your progesterone level also?

They did check my progesterone levels. They said the levels could go a little higher (it was at 3.3 ng/dL) but for now just to leave them alone. What should your estrogen and progesterone levels be at? I was only put on the vivel patch two weeks ago but I have used it before.

coyote27 - I hear you! I had surgery in Nov., was fine for 5 wks., now I feel like I'm going crazy. Am on Vivelle Dot .1 mg. I'm on antidepressants too, but still depressed. Drs. say they aren't sure if its the estrogen or not. Verrry frustrating.
chloelynn - what type of patch were you on? How much were you taking at first, then how low did you go til you got good results?

I was on vivelle dot .025 .037 and .05 for about 8 months. I trimmed the .05 patch a little less each time until I could tolerate that dose. When I first started on .05 I was very dizzy. It was definitely too high a dose for me. I have since switched to the Climara patch, which I tolerate much better. If you decide to switch to Climara you might want to put a tegederm or some micropore tape over it just to make sure it doesn't come off. It has to stay on all week.

Oh my goodness! I am so sorry to hear this....I had my hysterectomy 11/19/2007 and I am a zombie....I am not eating, not sleeeping.....this has been the worst 5 weeks of my life I had no idea.....I do have thyroid trouble (always underactive)...but now my Free T4 is at 2.1.....I'm sorry if I'm not much help.....but i feel like I'm losing my mind!

chloelynn - Glad to hear that Climara is working for you - is it an estrogen & testosterone combo? I think I'd prefer changing a patch 1x per wk vs. 2x per wk.

fkmp - Sorry to hear about your results so far. What does your Dr say about the interaction of your thyroid w/ your hyster? I know that your thyroid can affect everything else. You're not alone in losing your mind!

I also have the anxiety VERY bad, to the point of having panick attacks. They perscribed me Lexapro, but afraid to take it. What antidepressants did you try? I hear they make the anxiety worse, is that true? I would do anything to get rid of this awful anxiety!!

Elizabeth - Sorry to hear that you have anxiety, too. I'm on Lexapro & it really has helped me. If your Dr. prescribed it, you should take it. Lexapro reduces anxiety. It is great stuff! Why not give it a chance & see how you feel?
I've also switched to estrogen/testosterone combo & feel much btr.

Flameglow, lexapro is good for anxiety, you should try it. It could possibly increase your anxiety a little bit the first couple of weeks or maybe not. You can ask your Doc for something for your nerves if this happens and just take it short term until the side effects wear off.

coyote27, your estrogen sounds kind of high for being on hrt. That may be causing your anxiety. Progesterone, from what I've read counteracts estrogen and actually calms people down and helps them sleep, although it's not everybody.

chloelynn, do you mind if I ask how old you are? v-dot .5 is too strong for you? I would say that might be normal if you were already pre-menopausal or menopausal. Normally the younger you are the more estrogen you need.

pmser, switching to est/test made your anxiety better? That's great. I've heard of it making people antsy. Is that the climara patch?