'Very Low' Estradiol at 25 - Should I worry?

[BethLus]

Hello all!

First time poster so please bear with if I'm asking the wrong things in the wrong place!

I was hoping for a bit of a hive mind and advice from any lovely ladies who may have been through the same thing.

I'm a 25 year old female living in London, and approx. 6 months ago I started getting crazy night sweats. I left it a while to see if it would die down but nope, no luck. Went to the GP who sent me for some hormonal blood tests.

This week I've got the results that I have quote 'very low' Estradiol.

My doctor was very chirpy and said I don't need to worry but I can't shake the feeling that somethings not right. The rest of my results for things like LH and FSH were apparently normal and I'm going for another blood test in a few weeks to check the levels at a different point in my cycle and to check the progesterone, so I've not been completely dismissed.

I have other symptoms such as very low libido and very painful sex (fun in your 20s!) and always think I'm far more tired than I should be for my age and have a history of depression. Of course, Dr Google links these all to premature menopause or the like, but I know these could all be coincidences.

I really want children in my future (as does my lovely partner of 7 years) and I would hate to miss the opportunity because 'I'm too young to be worried'. I have a history of being a bit of a medical oddity and accidentally hiding illness - I've ended up with a proper scarred bladder from a 2 year UTI that doctors kept telling me I was making up, but that's a whole other story...

TLDR: I've been told I have quote 'very low' estradiol but the rest of the blood tests were normal. Should I be pushing the doctor for more investigations?

[EpiphanySoul1]

I would ask for an AMH test which will give you an indication of your egg reserve and maybe indicate whether you are going into early menopause. However I would also be asking for a full blood count and other vitamin levels checked as this may not just be a hormonal thing. Night sweats and fatigue can be symptoms of an illness.

[AttilaTheMeerkat]

Very painful sex should have been flagged up here as it can be linked to endometriosis.

What cycle day was used to test both your LH and FSH levels?. These should be done on day 2 and compared with each other. Progesterone is usually measured on day 21.

Your thyroid function ought to be tested further if you've had night sweats, depression and fatigue.

[BethLus]

Thanks so much for the replies :)

That's interesting about the AMH - I hadn't heard about that one before so will be asking for that next time I think. I have private health insurance with work (not that I'm sure how much they cover in terms of fertility) so wondering whether I should be going down that route to get everything checked, but don't want to add even more claims to my list (as said above, I like to be a medical pain!)

I think they did a full blood count as part of the testing, including thyroid, and all was normal - I'm forever surprised my thyroid is normal as so many issues I have would be explained by that!

I was told to go on day one of my period for the LH/FSH and a week before my next period for the progesterone, plus the doctor wanted to see the estradiol at another point in my cycle.

I had a laparoscopy about 3 years ago which didn't show any sign on endometriosis and I've had regular bleeds and cramps (although I've been on the pill for the last 7 years so not real periods) so it seems unlikely, and I've ended up with the classic diagnosis of painful sex as being 'in my head'.

From looking it up, I'm really struggling to find examples where estradiol is so off, but everything else is normal. It just doesn't seem to add up!

[physicskate]

Are you currently on the pill? Which one? Combined or pop?

[BethLus]

I stopped the pill about 5 weeks before the blood test to get an accurate hormone reading and I've not started it again while the tests are ongoing. But it was combined (microgynon) so I've been having a boost of oestrogen as well historically!

[physicskate]

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/4645131/

I'd suggest getting the exact number from your gp (and equally important: the units this is measured in!).

[BethLus]

After a bit of a battle with the surgery I've finally got hold of a copy of my results.

My oestradiol was

[Snirala]

@BethLus please update us🙏 did you recovered? As for I researched you have hypothalamic ammenohrea . In this condition LH and FSH are low or normal (low end)

[Faithb123]

Hi - I’m wondering if you got your estrodol results explained? My day 3 results were fine on LH AND AMH, but estrodol - although in normal range were very low side of normal