Increasing Oestrogel has pushed me to a bad place

[NoKids2]

I started Oestrogel 3 months ago (already had Mirena) and had a pretty much immediate positive response (I know how lucky I am). Anxiety pretty much disappeared, my body warmed up for the first time in months, saw an improvement in energy and motivation from day 1. Not perfect but such a great improvement.

I had my follow up appointment last weekend and the doctor recommended trying 1.5 pumps just to see if that would boost me that final 20% so I did. Anxiety increased, bloating, aches, huge appetite (which always used to happen as part of PMS).

After 3 days I realised what was happening and reduced it back down to one pump. I can see from other posts that other people have experienced similar reactions. I was wondering how long it took for things to calm back down?

I'd be wary of jumping to the conclusion that it's the increase in gel. The difference between 1 pump and 1.5 pumps is really tiny - one pump is 0.75mcgs estrogen, so half a pump is around 0.35mcgs - together, you're on around 1mgs which is the lowest amount available in tablet form (that's a by the way!)

Using more for 3 days is again, unlikely to make that much difference.
(I've used it for 14 years and varied the dose as I've got older.)

It's more likely that it's your own hormones that are a bit erratic OR that you actually need 2 pumps to control your symptoms.

2 pumps is usually the starting dose, although sometimes it's best to try less for a few weeks to see how that feels.

TBH if it's made that much difference in just 3 days, then it will only take that time to go back to how you were. BUT I suspect that you need more and the extra amount is not related.

Thank you for your thoughts. Maybe it is timing with my hormones rather than anything else. It makes sense to me that 3 days would make a difference because when I first started it I felt a huge difference within hours. I feel so lucky to have had such a positive response to it without months of messing around with doses.

I'm going to stick to one pump and look at improving lifestyle factors to support the good progress. I'm getting very mild endo pains again just on one pump so between that and the last few days, I'm not going to mess around with doses again unless things get a lot worse.

I hate to say this but it's highly unlikely that it made you feel better in hours- that's the placebo effect! It takes a while to have any effect and the quickest is a few days but medical advice is give it 3 months before changing the dose.

Depending on your age you may well need more than 1 pump.
If you are still in your 40s and were having periods, younger women often need more estrogen.

See how you go.

This board is filled with "everyone's journey is different. You have to listen to your body and work out what is right for you". All I have done is post about my personal experience.

With Oestrogel the advice is to give adverse side effects 3 months to settle before you give up on it, and a minimum of 4 weeks before increasing the dose if you are not feeling a sufficiently positive response.