2 questions for you ladies

Hello Ladies, Okay here is the 1st question: I am currently on Vivelle Dot 0.1mg 2 times a week. My insurance stop covering it back in February this year. I have been paying out of pocket cost, which is very high. I don't want to change my patch to something else because the Vivelle Dot works great for me. I am very sensitive to a lot of different things. I tried the generic years ago and it didn't work for me so I am scared to try something else right now. Times have been very stressful for me lately with losing my Mom and taking care of my 99 year old father in law. I will pay the high price to get the patch that works great for me. Now since June of this year I have been having a hard time getting the Vivelle Dot 0.1mg from the pharmacies around my area. I was told from the company that the 0.1mg is on back order but not the other strengths. They do not know when it will come back into stock. So far I have been able to find my strength from a couple different pharmacies outside my area for the past couple months. Has anybody else experience having problems getting the Vivelle Dot from the pharmacy too? Now for the 2nd question, do any of you know which herbs can make the estrogen patch to stop working? I would like to take a natural herbal patch for stress/anxiety and it has a lot of herbs in it to help with anxiety. I am having a hard time finding which herbs can stop the estrogen patch to stop working and really need your help with this. Thank you so much!!

I wanted to try answering your second question. Are you asking which herbs won't mess with your patch as in make it not work? Try calling a compounding pharmacy. Explain to them what you're looking for. See what they say. They're usually helpful in finding natural type things and they also deal with hormones so they might know.

I agree with Polka Dot Mocha-- consult with your pharmacist and/or dr as to what you can safely take with your patch......As a side note, Generally I have read that St. John's Wort is not advised to take with hormones/ Hormone replacement..

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Originally Posted by amar I agree with Polka Dot Mocha-- consult with your pharmacist and/or dr as to what you can safely take with your patch......As a side note, Generally I have read that St. John's Wort is not advised to take with hormones/ Hormone replacement..

Thank you for that info about St John's Wort. I did contact a compound pharmacy and asked them about the herbs used with a hormone patch. They were very helpful.

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Originally Posted by dmyates Thank you for that info about St John's Wort. I did contact a compound pharmacy and asked them about the herbs used with a hormone patch. They were very helpful.

What did the pharmacist tell you ..if you don't mind me asking?

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Originally Posted by sweet peas What did the pharmacist tell you ..if you don't mind me asking?

Hello sweetpeas, the pharmacist said that zinc, grapefruit, pomegranate, ginkgo, licorice can stop the patch from working. But any estrogenic herbs like hops & black cohosh doesn't take away from the patch but can add estrogen too your body on top of your patch to be careful that you don't want too much estrogen. They said if you try something and it makes you feel worse stop right away but if it helps then it is ok. I tried something with ginkgo and I can for sure feel my patch was not working as well. But everybody is different and have different reactions. I am really sensitive to everything and have to be very careful with what I take internally and use externally. Take care

I use the Dotti patch which I believe is the generic form of Vivelle Dot. It works great for me.

Isoflavone-containing herbs like red clover, and plant estrogens from soy and flaxseeds can also result in your getting too much estrogen, or they can bind with estrogen receptors in your body, blocking absorption of the HRT.