How long does oestrogen stay in your system after stopping HRT?

[Sleepy21]

I started HRT on 17 June but stopped after about 2 weeks as I started to get awful anxiety and very intense hot flashes which were not symptoms I had before - I do have thyroid problems and decided I should try and get that under better control before going further with HRT - could anyone let me know how long it take for the oestrogen to leave you system? Feeling a bit imbalanced and appreciate I stopped quite abruptly. Thank you!

It is highly unlikely that the hot flushes are a reaction to HRT. It is far more likely that they are a natural progression of your peri symptoms, that would have happened regardless of starting HRT.

HRT is not an instant fix. It takes a few months to show an effect. As you would normally be started on a low dose, you may need to increase the dose after 6w to feel the effect.

It just seemed strange that I only got them after starting HRT - I had other peri symptoms but that was not one of them, and the hot flashes and anxiety I experienced were really intense! Yes, I think I may have been naive in thinking it would instantly make me feel better, and I have to say I felt worse in the 2 weeks I took it

Definitely possible to have an adverse reaction to synthetic hormones, people absorb different things at different rates dependent on multiple factors. You don't say if you were on oral or transdermal. Usually they'd try some reduction and re-checking thyroid rather than sudden stopping.

www.btf-thyroid.org/thyroid-and-menopause-article "Women with pre-existing hypothyroidism may require an increase in their thyroxine dose after starting oral combined HRT because oral oestrogen changes the amount of thyroxine bound to proteins in your blood and can result in less free thyroid hormone that is available to do its job. Therefore it is helpful for thyroid function tests to be re-checked after starting tablet-combined HRT".

I think after about 2-3 weeks it would have all left your body.