Hormone dosage

Thank You so much for this website. I had a LAVHBSO with cervix removed 3 weeks ago. I am doing very well, but am having some difficulties adjusting HRT. I tried the estrodial patch, but I am so active outside, they kept peeling off. I am now trying premarin. Premarin .625 mg made me feel great (like superwoman), but I had extreme nausea, headaches and insomnia. Premaring .3 mg (half dose) took those symptoms away, but then I feel fatigued and get mild hot flashes. I need a dose in between the two, but I was told not to cut the premarin, because they are enteric coated. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thank You, Cybercat

Hi Cybercat
Trying 3 different hormones in 3 weeks is bound to put you in a spin! It will only upset your body trying to find a balance and get used to the hormones. But as the patch wouldn't stick then it is logical to try oral. Obviously .625mg was too strong for you right now. Premarin .3 sounds like given time it would have worked. It can take 2-3 months before all hot flashes/night sweats go but as long as you are seeing improvement during that time and have no bad side effects things will even out. It might be worth sticking with that.
Try not and do too much at 3 weeks post op, you are still early in your recovery and physical/emotional stress on your body will make the hormone adjustment harder to achieve/increase hot flashes etc. You are still a fairly new princess and should still be pampering yourself Try and give it time, things will improve.

I couldn't handle the patches for two reasons.......they made me feel lousy and they didn't stick! I live in Florida, I go to the gym a lot........a so-called 7-day patch was falling off after 4 days! I've read that the generic patches don't stick as well as the non-generic. Mine were the generic type..........I never tried the others because I didn't feel well on the ones I did try.
When I first started on premarin I was slightly nauseous and had headaches and insomnia. In my case the nausea went away in a few days. The headaches took a little longer but they disappeared with in a week or two. The insomnia was around a lot longer. My gyn prescibed something called Bellamine-S tablets to help me sleep --- she said the insomnia was caused by hot flashes but I never felt hot, never woke up with night sweats, just didn't sleep well or had trouble falling asleep. I took it for a while until my sleep patterns seemed to get pretty much back to normal, then quit taking it, and no more insomnia.
I'm wondering if you could talk to your doc about taking two .3 doses per day.........one in the a.m. and one in the p.m.? Spreading it out like that might help. And no, sorry, but you can't cut the premarin in half!

Good luck to you!
Ann

My Dr. started me on Premarin .625 right after surgery. I was still experiencing "warm" flashes lol and especially night sweats so at my 6 week check up, he told me I needed a larger dose. I have ethical problems with the use of Premarin, so I asked him to prescribe something else. He gave me Estrace 2mg. He explained that I would need a higher dose because it does not work as well as Premarin.

Well he was right. I have hot flashes every night starting around 7 or 8. I take my pill in the morning. I don't have many night sweats, but then so far I'm sleeping with my window wide open and a fan blowing all night because we are in the middle of our short summer. I think the pill wears off during the day. If it is not that then my computer is giving me hot flashes. It starts about an hour after I sit down here. And I am NOT giving up my computer! LOL

I would like to try taking half a dose (1mg) in the morning and half a dose in the evening. Unfortunately, I have 100 pills that are all 2mg, and I doubt that the pharmacy will take them back. I can't afford to just throw them out. (And my prescription is for 200 more).

So, my question is, can I cut a pill in half and take it in the morning and evening? Does anyone know whether the pharmacy will give me the rest of my prescription in 1mg pills? (Yes, I know, call them. But has anyone done it?)

Sorry Cybercat. I saw your post after I put mine up. I think our questions are basically the same, just different hormones. I want to cut my dose in half too and take half in the morning and half at night. Seems like that would work better than suffering half the day.

Is there a line on your estrace? I take the generic 2mg & it is a scored tablet - very easy to split, which I do. Also, in a previous post there was a discussion about letting the estrace dissolve between the cheek and gum for better results. You might want to check it out!