Does anyone use this? It’s supposed to help with all kinds of stuff even collagen production and turning back the clock - sort of like an HRT? Anyone? It’s supposed to kick in after about 6 months

If you had unlimited money to spend on your menopause management... what would you do?

I think I'd be trying all the millions of supplements; oral hyaluronic acid, collagen, magnesium threonate, magnesium complex, nutropics, amido acids, 5HTP. All the mood supplements. Omega 3 , creatine.

All the blood tests; DHEA, parathyroid, and get it interpreted by a endocrimologist menopause specicialist.

Annual ultrasound, maybe?

Fly to New York and consult Dr Fleish Gersh (I mean, how does she have such incredible skin at her age?!)

Dexa scan.

Personal trainer.

I have access to basic health care...

I was in a supplement store yesterday.. I became so overwhelmed I walked out without buying anything..

I am a diabetic and do daily insulin injections into my abdomen, I have been prescribed estradiol patches, I am wondering what will be the best way for me to approach this as both things are meant to go in the same area. I tend to do my injections below the navel so I’m thinking I could maybe go above navel with the patches? Anyone else here in a similar situation or have advice?

Hello everyone! Has anyone (post menopausal) used Planned Parenthood for their checkups or to get HRT? My medical group no longer offers yearly exams for post menopausal women, but I am not comfortable not having a yearly exam.

Good morning ladies, has anyone here tried alternating between utrogestan 100mg and 200mg on alternate nights? 100 is a bit too little for me and 200 makes me really bloated and tiered, I thought maybe alternating would be a good option. FYI I use both dosages vaginally, and I’m also in estradiol patches. Would love to hear if anyone has tried this.

Well, I just got rejected on the very last day to enroll in cover California. Because I’m a government contracted Caregiver my income is a lot lower than regular caregivers make so I’m able to be on Medi-Cal. The problem is that doctors treat you like some kind of charity welfare pond scum. So I was willing to take a little chunk out of my paycheck to simply buy insurance to be treated properly. I just got a text that because I have Medi-cal they’re going to deny me totally from buying insurance. This insurance was a silver plan that midi online accepted. I’m not very happy with alloy. They provide almost no solutions except very minimal options. I hear that Midi will even try to help you with holistic solutions if you don’t wanna do straight up HRT. But I don’t understand is that I can buy dental insurance without any issues whatsoever and still keep my Medi-cal. Now I’m blocked out until November when enrollment starts up again. The hot flashes at night and the squeezing sensation from vaginal atrophy is about to kill me now I’m gonna have to pay 250 bucks to get treatment from Meet and they’re gonna want me to do all kinds of lab tests and all kinds of insanely expensive crap. And if Meet finds out that you have Medi-Cal, they won’t treat you at all because of midi or if the doctors there want to send you for any kind of lab work you can’t use your Medi-Cal. I was gonna take out of my emergency savings to buy this insurance and hopefully once I felt better transition to an actual normal caregiving employment status rather than being on a VA government stipend will they treat you again like a charity case. Just not sure what to do at this point I feel like giving up.

TL,DR: My doctor can't say what supplements should not be taken while on HRT...?

I've only been on HRT two weeks, but as soon as I got my script, I emailed my doctor the list of supplements I take, and asked if I should stop taking any. This was the non-answer response:

"It's not possible to say that other herbal remedies and supplements are safe to take with HRT. They're not tested in the same way as pharmacy or prescription medicines. They're generally not tested for the effect they can have on other medicines. It's actually extremely difficult to perform any high quality tests on supplements; as they are not regulated the way other drugs are, a single bottle of a certain supplement may contain pills with different doses of the same active ingredient.

That being said, I can't imagine a mechanism by which a multivitamin, iron, selenium, or melatonin would cause a problem. For the others, I am not sure."

Anyone get a more useful response from their health care provider on this topic? I've found info online but it's not consistent from website to website.

I now have osteoporosis, zero libido, thankfully just an occasional brief warm flash. My doctor has put me on a patch because all my hormones are low. Any one else? I'm nervous about it. (I'm also on a low dose thyroid med)

Any advice or experience would be helpful.

She said im so slow now. I cried. She apologized and said that im not dumb just my processing is slow and shes 100% accurate. Is this what brain fog is? I feel like i lost 40 iq points.

How screwed am I? On a twice weekly .05 estradiol patch and just took a 15 min ultra hot bath after getting chilled playing in the snow. I'm supposed to change it out tomorrow at 9am - should I change early or just ride it out tonight?

Has anyone had any success with using Wellbutrin for Libido? I am not using HRT for a few different reasons and risk factors. I don’t have night sweats or hot flashes (yet) but am perimenopause. Curious if anyone has had any success with Wellbutrin for this. My insurance doesn’t cover Addyi or Vylessi.

Hey everyone! I switched from oral estradiol to patch and it helped tremendously. But I still have mild brown spotting once a week and have difficulty staying asleep with the night time wake ups. My doctor suggested adding a quarter of patch to my 0.1 patch and said I may need more estrogen as I have premature menopause ( I am 42) Have you experienced something like this and do you think spotting and sleep issues are low estrogen issues? I am also on 200 mg progesterone.

Ladies, you are always a wealth of info. I got a cold 4 weeks ago, started with plugged ears and then terrible soar throat and never went up to my nose as it would normally do with cold. I feel recovered from it except for my ears, it’s ringing 24/7 and still feel kind of plugged and not normal sensitivity. Went to ENT doctors twice, 2 different ones, nothing, no medication, no treatment just hope it will resolve on its own. I tried steam room twice, no relieve. Anyone else had to deal with tinnitus and found a way out?

Can anyone tell me when I can start to feel the effects of testosterone therapy? I just got the script today, so I didn't get the prescription yet. I'm very excited bc i didn't think anyone would prescribe this to me.

I’ve been dealing with menopause for about three years now. I dealt with the first year with nothing and had horrible hot flashes. The last couple years I’ve been on Estradiol. It worked for hot flashes, but not much else. The last several months I have been on HRT cream, and it’s done absolutely nothing for me. I have decided to go ahead and get the pellets and I’m curious about several things from women who have had it.

First of all, how bad does it hurt? Second of all how long did it last for you? Third of all, did it actually work? The biggest thing I’m looking for is to improve my libido. I’m scared of getting the wrong dosage, but I’m willing to try anything at this point.

I know it’s expensive, but if it works I’ll fork out the money every 3 months. I’m anxious to hear from others who have experience with it.

Hi, I've just been prescribed Gepretix 100mg tablets and Evorel 25 (Estradiol patch) for peri-menopause, I'm nearly 43. The tablets said to take 2 daily starting on day 15 of your cycle which, according to the app I use, was Wednesday just gone, so I started taking them that evening.

I'm a bit confused (as title suggests) about when to apply the evorel patch though? Can anyone help me? I still get periods, they can sometimes be late by a week, or early by a week but I haven't missed a month yet (unless you count the time after I had surgery 2 years ago, they stopped for a month or so then but I've been told it's normal with surgical procedures. But I digress).

It says on the package to apply a patch at any time if:

. You have not used HRT before your menopause and no longer have periods

. Your menstrual cycles are not regular and you are not pregnant

Or:

Put an Evorel patch on within 5 days of the start of bleeding if:

. You are not currently using HRT and still having regular periods.

So now I'm unsure if I should wait for my bleed or not, as my periods aren't regular (as in the same time apart every month) but I am bleeding every month. And should I be taking the tablets without the patches? As my period won't be due until the middle of February? So now I'm obviously worrying that my womb lining is going to explode or something... Does anyone have any experience with this type of HRT?

So, after several months of successful HRT (micronized progesterone and estradiol patch) I have learned that I have cytolytic vaginosis.

Basically, what I thought were recurrent/treatment resistant yeast infections has actually been an overgrowth of the “good” bacteria in my vagina producing lactic acid and causing unholy BURNING!

There is a link to estrogen helping proliferate these (usually good!) lactobacillus. The lactobacillus should be our friends but might have gone too far.

Has anyone else experienced this? I’m worried it means I should give up my estrogen patch which I have found helpful in so many ways.

What are you ladies sleeping in!?!? I have a pair of Jockey moisture wicking cooling Bermuda sleep shorts and they are worn out. I like the Bermuda shorts because my thighs don’t stick together. But they aren’t available anymore.Any suggestions??

Edit:clarification

I’m taking both estrogen patch and progesterone due to basically making menopausal levels of both of these hormones despite being young (and still have a uterus with periods etc). I noticed the progesterone is making me breakout bad, despite being on spiranolactone. I know you need progesterone to prevent cervical cancer. How can I take less to avoid breakouts? I’ve switched to taking every other day (100 mg), but not sure if I could even take it further to every 2 days? I’m on the lowest estrogen patch .025. Also, I don’t want the progesterone IUD bc I already have a copper one.

Just want to thank this group for being the nicest sub on Reddit. The minute I post or comment in any other sub I immediately delete my comment as people are so mean. I even asked a question in the orchid sub once and got ridiculed lol. I mean who would have thought a bunch of flower enthusiasts would be so rude. Anyway Have a great weekend everyone!

I had an appointment with my GP this afternoon. It was supposed to be in person but the office called this morning and said she was ill and had my choice of rescheduling for two weeks' time or a phone appointment at the scheduled time. I took the phone appointment.

After describing my symptoms (hip/buttock pain. constantly feeling hot with episodes of "skin on fire", not sleeping, brain fog and a low drive to do anything), she prescribed me Estradiol (gel) and Progesterone (pill) for daily (not cyclical use). She also gave me the option of synthetic v natural.

Wish me luck and HRT happy days ahead!

I am an MSc Health Psychology student at the University of Derby, conducting a study on breast screening in England. My aim is to identify factors influencing breast screening uptake in women aged 50-70 in England who are eligible for the NHS England Breast Screening Programme.  I hope to directly inform strategies to improve participation rates and contribute to improving health outcomes and breast cancer survival in England and would be so grateful if you would consider taking part in my survey as I would really value the opinions of this community.

Taking part involves completing an online survey consisting of demographic questions, questions about breast cancer awareness and a questionnaire to measure beliefs and behaviour concerning breast screening, which will take no longer than 10-15 minutes. Participation is confidential, anonymous, and completely voluntary, and there is no obligation to participate. Only the researcher will have access to the data and personal information that is collected will be kept only for as long as necessary and then permanently deleted.  All information will be anonymised, and so participants will not be identifiable in any way. Thank you for taking the time to read this! If you would like to participate, please click on the link. https://derby.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0fcPHvfL2AOkwRw

I'm 51 and had a hysterectomy in March 2023, keeping my ovaries. So I'm not exactly sure if I'm in menopause because the lack of a period was medical. I started HRT in November 2023, just estradiol .05 mg. I increased it to .1 mg & added Prometrium 100 mg in December, which I've increased to 200 mg at bedtime.

I seemed to be sailing through perimenopause mostly unscathed until I was hit with insomnia in October. This triggered acute anxiety which made it difficult for me to eat, some days I would only have Boost protein drinks. Then the depression set in.

My 50th year was easily one of the best years of my life. This time last year I was living my best life, absolutely blissful. Fast forward to this past fall & I'm sleep-deprived, anxious & depressed. Things I once loved (music & roller skating) have lost their appeal. My once robust libido is non-existent, which is far less concerning than other symptoms. Being single/living alone doesn't help. I used to love my solitude, but it's turned to loneliness. Some days it's truly unbearable & I wonder if I'll make it.

Work was brutal last year & I think the burnout finally caught up with me. Between hormone shifts & work stress, it's been a rough few months. I've watched my best friend battle peri symptoms for about 9 years, I guess I'm a late bloomer. Maybe I'm getting a shorter, more intense version?

As someone who *hates* taking medication, it's a cruel irony that I'm now taking Buspar 3 times a day for anxiety plus gabapentin 300mg & mirtazipine (Remeron) 7.5 mg at night to try & get some rest. I'm on HRT as well, which doesn't bother me, unlike the other meds. I tried Zoloft briefly but it spiked my anxiety way too much! I'm trying to be patient to see if the mirtazipine will help me with rest & to boost my mood. I have slept better 2 out of the last 3 nights, hoping that trend continues. I believe improving my rest will alleviate the depression. *fingers crossed* If anyone has had positive experiences with this med, I'd love to hear them. I need all the hope I can get!

I know I'm far from alone in not recognizing who I am anymore, but WTF?! It all happened so fast!

Sending tons of love & support to others going through it. Thank god for this community!

I noticed I had night sweats coming back so I asked my dr for an increase in currently on .0375 patch she asked if I had any extra patches and told me to cut them in half and see if that helped. I have extra .025 patches so I tried that. It’s only been a few days but still having hot flashes when I sleep. Just wondering how long to keep trying with the 1/2 patch before trying to up it again?

I just had a lukewarm cup of tea (not that hot, I swear!), and I'm sweating buckets. I started .75 estradiol gel a month and a half ago, and in the last week I seem to be feeling hot and sweaty more often.

Can someone tell me if this type of sweating from drinking a warm drink is normal? Is it time to recalibrate my dosage? I need a sanity check-in... thank you!

Title says it all. I'm wondering if I would have better luck on a combipatch (where the progesterone is integrated into the patch) as opposed to separate oral progesterone with estrogen patch? I'm especially interested in whether the combipatch would be more likely to help with mood symptoms (rage/depression). I'm 52, 10 months since last period, currently on .375 Estrogen patch, 10 weeks on HRT and in hell.

Looking for a glimmer of hope before I attempt to navigate this with my employer / insurance provider next week.

I’m 2 years into surgical menopause and am experiencing major burnout, planning to take a 2 month break. PCP is supportive and their office will help with paperwork.

I tend to get some itchiness and skin irritation with my patch. I use the Mylan generic brand. Does anyone else have this problem and have you found a fix? I do not want to go off this patch as it has been life changing for me so I’m wondering if this is something I’ll just have to put up with or if there’s something I can do.

This is a very funny tiktok about menopause:

https://www.tiktok.com/@hyc850/video/7465569325911428398?_t=ZP-8tX1ZHIYIyV&_r=1

Hi, I'm really hoping I can hear what others are taking or if you guys know more than I do, because I clearly don't know. I have been taking 40 mg testosterone cream, the bottle reads: 23 Gm - CMPD - E3/TEST 4/40MG/GM. It was going great and my libido was back, then about month five, I started breaking out, horribly. I asked to go down to 20 mg, and it was still breaking out. For the last 3 months, I've been on 20 mg, but I figured out that Salicylic Acid toner helps the breakouts, so I planned to ask my new clinic, due to a move and seeing a new doctor to increase again.

When I emailed her the dose I was taking she told me 20 mg is too high and 40 was. She said that I shouldn't be breaking out. However, breakouts are good now, and I don't have a sex drive. OH, and the blood work I did shows I have low T! So I definitely want to increase it.

Does anyone know the dosing of Testosterone cream, placed on labia my previous PA had me doing? I am about to see my doctor and would like any help. I can't imagine that and don't feel that my previous clinic was negligent. They were very knowledgeable and helped me a lot. Thank you!