Hormone questions?

[WindingRoad]

So I'm getting myself more confused as I read things on the internet about Hormone Replacement Therapy.

To give a little background, I had a full abdominal hysterectomy on 9/11/15, I still have both ovaries and I'm going to be 40 in July. Since my surgery I have been having an awful time losing weight. I have been doing personal training since November of last year and religiously going to the gym. I keep paring back my diet and it's so frustrating b/c I don't lose anything. I won't say I haven't become more toned b/c I have. I just had a physical and my blood work was amazing, excellent cholesterol (cardioprotective HDL levels), A1c 5.0 and blood pressure is and has always been low. This was more of a health screening with my company so they didn't check thyroid or hormone levels. I feel I'm very healthy but I need to lose about 30 pounds to be in a healthy weight range.

I have have started to wonder about my hormones since surgery so I was reading more about it on the internet and confused myself even more. I know you girls are on this stuff and I'm hoping one of you will educate me a bit :) I'll give you my theory of what I think is going on with my body. I 'think' I maybe experiencing Estrogen Dominance since my uterus was removed b/c I don't have enough Progesterone to counter the Estrogen any longer. My cousin has battled breast cancer 3 times now and I remember her saying that breast cancer can be stimulated by Estrogen and that scares me. Maybe I'm freaking myself out for no reason. But anyways, others mentioned Oestrogen and I'm assuming that's maybe an Estrogen precursor?

Other women (using Hystersisters website) have mentioned the extreme difficulty they have losing weight, back pain, joint pain, depression and skin dryness very similar to what I have and they were treated with various combinations of estrogen and progesterone. Some say the treatment is either one hormone or the other then there are those of the school that is has to be a combination of the two to work? That's where I'm hung up I guess. It doesn't make sense to me to supplement both if you have Estrogen Dominance? Please help me understand this :confused:

[Catrin]

I can't help you on this directly but am wondering something. By my choice I've never had ANY hormone replacement even though I've nothing left of my reproductive system (all was removed at age 49). Balancing out hormones can be tricky - and also it isn't an intuitive process. For example, when certain parts of my thyroid hormones get too low - they actually lower my replacement rather than increasing the dose (I don't have a thyroid either). It's counter-intuitive and I'm sure it isn't the only hormone that is that way. What does your doctor say?

[ny biker]

I have no experience or knowledge here so I can't help, but I hope you're able to find a solution. If there's no consensus among women who have been through it, it might be a trial and error kind of thing.

[rocknrollgirl]

I had a partial at 42, ovaries still in. My symptoms of early menopause came on quietly, and I just excused them away. Oh, I am tired, or, I am stressed. And then I started to get foggy and could not sleep. I teach, high school. I knew I could not do my job if I continued with those symptoms. So after a few years i went on replacement. I use bioidenticals. They are very low does and have done wonders for me. I did not need much tweaking in meds or dosing, so it was not a hard transition. I felt better in a matter of days.

I know people have very strong feelings on both side of the fence, but for me it has changed my quality of life. I get regular blood tests and regular check ups and everything is fine.

Hope that helps.

[zoom-zoom]

At 43 I have had a ton of signs of estrogen dominance (ie inadequate progesterone in my system to balance the estrogen) for a long time...probably closing-in on a decade. I've had endometriosis all my reproductive life, so at 30 had tubal and thermal ablation. Accordingly, I don't really know what my flow would naturally be like, but my cycles have become really short...like 21-25 days, typically. Until this past one -- 41 days. I've never before had cycles differ more than 2-5 days, from month to month. I don't just get hot flashes, I also have become more intolerant of cold...which sucks living in MI!

2.5 years ago I had my right ovary removed, along with a kiwi-sized teratoma cyst. My bowels have been annoying ever since. I don't know if it's a side-effect of surgery -- stuff got shifted around -- or perimenopause. But I've been stupidly gassy/crampy and have had urge to go, even when there's no BM. Apparently perimenopause can wreak havoc on all sorts of things not directly involved with reproductive organs, from things I'm reading.

I'm overdue for my pap, but am hoping to give prometrium progesterone supplements a try, again. A few years ago I was on them for about half of my cycle, to help lengthen them, but the 200mg dose didn't do a thing after several months of taking them.