Migraine

[Strumpetpumpet]

Hi everyone

I’ve just started on Estrodot patches (100) on advice from newson health because I didn’t seem to be absorbing 4 pumps of estrogel. Since starting on Thursday, I’ve woken with a migraine every day. Could be coincidence but has anyone else experienced this? I’m wondering if it could be that the patch is working whereas the gel didn’t, so the dose is too high?

i’m 56, post menopausal and been on the gel for just over 2 years, initially on 2 pumps but then increased to 4 last October with no effect.

any advice would be appreciated

Sorry meant to add, a bit of light spotting yesterday but no other symptoms

Super vitamin B complex. High dose of all vit B will help reduce hormonal headaches/migraines. Advice from my GP.

I buy Linden's from eBay. Not expensive

Thank you, I’ll look into that x

It's one a day. They smell a bit yeasty & turn your pee yellow for a few hours!

But should take affect in less than a week (did for me).

Different doctors have different opinions. My consultant (highly regarded by Dr Newson and a consultant not a GP) says tests for estrogen are meaningless unless done over 24 hours. I've never had mine tested on HRT for that reason.
I'd question TBH if you are short of estrogen.
And the migraines might be caused by too much.

When you say 2 pumps had no effect, what does that mean?

That’s interesting Jingling, the newson health doctor told me blood tests are only helpful if your levels are very low or very high - my estradiol was 168 which is apparently very low? This was on 4 pumps of estrogel.
What I meant by no effect, was The doctor increased my dose from 2 pumps to 4 pumps because my main symptoms (anxiety and insomnia) hadn’t improved, the increase to 4 pumps made no difference.

This is from a clinic online (no connection with my consultant.)

If I am using a gel or patch preparation how reliable are blood tests for oestradiol?When a gel or a patch is applied to the skin the oestradiol in it will move across the skin layers into small capillary blood vessels. There are however many factors that can affect this process including:

• Variations in skin thickness.
• Variations in how closely packed the cells are in your skin.
• Skin temperature. Blood levels of oestradiol seem to be higher in the evenings and lower in the mornings. This is thought to be due to circadian variations in blood flow[1].
• The number of blood vessels present in the area of your skin that your HRT is applied to.
• Surface area of application.
• Pressure applied.

Oestradiol levels will also vary considerably from the time of application of oestrogel.

Because of these variabilities blood tests can be prone to a lot of error and variation. Even in the same person, results can vary a lot from day to day.

Have you tried all the lifestyle stuff that may help- diet, exercise -daily, yoga, mindfulness and maybe meditation?

Hi yes you name it, I’ve tried it 😂 yoga, mindfulness, cbt, meditation, exercise (though I do struggle with this as am always shattered), magnesium, ashwaghanda, vitamin d, amytriptiline, I’ve also paid to see a nutritionist to get help with my diet so cut out most alcohol and caffeine. I need to win the lottery, retire, and escape to an isolated (but with all mod cons) cottage with dh and permit the kids to visit occasionally but until that happens, I’m stuck messing with HRT doses 😢

What are you using along with the gel (assume it's Utrogestan)? Are you using 100mgs daily?

Have they suggested swapping the Utrogestan for something else?

The criticism about NH is that they seem to work on the basis of increasing the estrogen, regardless, and not suggesting much else (well, this is what I've read, so it's not my personal opinion.)

Yes utrogestan, and she upped my dose to 200mg when I went up to 4 pumps

I didn't get on with taking Utrogestan daily for the same reason (but at the usual 100mgs dose.) I had a migraine every day. Stayed with sequential.