I’ve been on 1 pump Estrogel and 100mg progesterone since April and will be seeing my doc again soon. For the last six weeks I’ve been having more mood swings and just started a full on period after six months. What adjustments should I make for the mood swings, periods, pms symptoms, sore boobs, evening out my moods, swinging energy levels? My hot flashes have all but disappeared and I’m still sleeping through the night, for the most part. But I just don’t feel as good as the first couple of months.
My doc first wanted to start at 200 prog. But I wanted to start slow. I don’t know the safety ratio of progesterone to estrogen. And I’m not really clear on which hormones affect which problem (ie PMS, mood swings, energy).
I know that progesterone on its own can be used half way through the menstrual cycle to help with PMS symptoms. And I know my MD insists on using it with estrogen to offset the possible negative effects of estrogen (cancer), or so she told me.
At one pump, you’re on a lower dosage of estrogen. But because your own hormones are still wildly fluctuating, you’re likely getting symptoms when those hormones are swinging one way or another. Generally the dosage is “right” when hot flashes are gone entirely, but for your other symptoms, it’s due to the fluctuations…and periods will continue and be unpredictable on MHT/HRT, unless you switch to a cyclical progesterone method.
My doctor told me not to increase the progesterone without increasing the estrogen, for what it’s worth. I was at 200 progesterone, and I was supposed to do two pumps of estrogen, but only did one because I couldn’t tolerate two. So now I am on 100 progesterone. It’s working okay, but there was a period of adjustment where I had more night sweats/brain fog before it leveled out.