Jen: Been there done that. Tried soy, supplements, health food stuff / herbs, changing diet... fuggedadboudit. Nothing worked. I tried for years.

Like you, they wanted me to go on BC pills, but I too get serious migraines from them (I have not been able to take them since my 20's).

Anyhow, it's important to get BIO-IDENTICAL hormones for your HRT. I am on the Vivelle Dot patch and have a local pharmacy compound a progesterone cream which I use the last 15 days of each cycle. I like the patches for the estrogen, and the flexibility of the creams (can adjust the amount I rub in depending on the symptoms).

Sue

Good info, thanks. My Dr. wants me back in 6 months and we can run bloodwork again.

I think I'm going to look into going to a Naturopath. We have a big college here, Bastyr, that has a women's clinic where they do a team approach. I don't normally go with non-traditional meds but this feels like a good approach for now. I'll give it 6 months and then get my numbers run again. We'll see what happens.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

Is there any actual reason to get HRT if the symptoms are mild and don't really bother you? Some examples would be, you might get fewer wrinkles, or be able to run faster, or not get cancer. That sort of thing. I never understood the HRT. My very traditional GYN has been pushing it at me for years, but my friend I ride with, who is a midwife ,says if you're feeling OK, it's not necessary.

I feel OK....I do have some peri symptoms but I manage them. Just wondered if there is an overall health reason to do HRT. I just balk at the idea of taking hormones.

Thanks for opinions. Sorry, Jen, I don't know any natural remedies but I did hear that it is really important to get the bioidentical HRT. Good luck.

Control of symptoms is the primary reason for HRTs from my understanding. That's why I'm trying to avoid them. I was on the pill for 21 years and don't care to go back on, thus my looking into the Naturopathic route. My symptoms aren't bad but I also uncomfortable with having my hormones this out of whack. My testosterone is 0! My cholesterol is really high. This can be tied back to low estrogen so I'd like to get things back in balance. I'll give it the six months then do a follow-up with my regular Dr.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

Jen, I hate to post things on the internet without researching them first. But I have a vague memory of reading an artcile, oh, abotu 6 months ago ro so, about the importance of testosterone for women. If yours is zero, I *believe* we can make the assumption that you will go much, much faster and recover better if you can increase it somehow.

Can it be done naturopathically? I have no idea if you can bring a level from zero to acceptable level without chemicals. But if you haven't seen the writings about testosterone and recovery/sports, definitely do a search.

best of luck and please keep us posted. The whole hormone thing confuses me. When I think of taking hormones I think of feeling puffy , sore and PMS-y.

Ask about a pituitary tumor. Just on the off chance that this is what is plagueing you. My dad had the same thing, every hormone was low testosterone, thyroid hormone, and some other one.

Turned out he had a tumor pushing on his pituitary gland which is the bus driver of hormonal control. The pituitary wasn't telling the other ones to get to work.

I think it took three years of taking every hormone under the sun and lots of problems before someone ran a ct scan on his head and there it was, pituitary tumor. Took it out and he got much better quickly.

Coolest thing, they got to the tumor through his nose. Cut a hole in the back of his sinus.

Thanks. I had a full blood panel that measured pretty much everything and all if it came back normal except what I mentioned. Thyroid, etc all looked good.

This is just part of the aging process I'm afraid.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

I gotta tell you ladies, I have been using natural Bio-identical Hormones for a couple of months now and it has been great! I'm in peri-menopause and for the past couple of years have had a lot of trouble with night sweats, and not sleeping very well. Luckily my cousin told me about a nurse practitioner who specialized in Natural Hrt. Best of all, the whole thing has been covered by insurance.

There is a very complicated route that many women try which involves saliva testing every 14 days for 3 months and adjusting doses, etc. But I just had a complete hormone panel done once and my CNP prescribed me natural hormones which I took to a compounding pharmacy to fill. I have 3 separate transdermal creams, one for estrogen, one for progesterone, and YES, one for testosterone. I haven't really used the testosterone as I wanted to concentrate on the other hormones. I rub the creams in twice a day (everyday for estrogen and 14 days on, 14 days off for the progesterone). It has TRULY been a godsend. I don't think it's really necessary for women who feel fine, but if you think it may be hormones that has you abit "off", I highly recommend looking into it.

Some people say the absorption rate for these "natural" hormones is not as effective as synthetic, but it's working for me (and I've even LOST weight that has been hangin' on for years!) and I prefer to avoid the synthetic version due to all the health and cancer issues.

Because this has been such a hot topic lately, I suggest you just call your regular doctor's office and see if there is somebody they can refer for bio-identical hrt. Who knows, there may be somebody in the office practicing it!

I hope this helps somebody. I remember how frustrated I was when I first started researching this several years ago!

X2 for the bioidentical hormones. We're not in your area, but our doc might know someone in your region. PM me if you want contact info.