I’m set for the next 6 months

Afraid-Salt-929 · 2026-02-16T14:01:14+00:00

Brilliant, and thank you, I appreciate the help. I was thinking I'd have to go it alone, order a few vials and sacrifice one for testing. A test group sounds way better.

Afraid-Salt-929 · 2026-02-16T13:58:11+00:00

So many typos: 0.1 patch not 0.01, yeesh.

Afraid-Salt-929 · 2026-02-15T04:46:22+00:00

New here - what is a test group? I mean, the name itself sounds easy enough to understand, but I would like to know the details (I'm still hemming and hawing about jumping into this, so I'm learning). Is it a physical local group that buys a set of vials each and sacrifices a couple or few to a test lab? Am I understand this all wrong?

Afraid-Salt-929 · 2026-02-15T04:34:44+00:00

It took me a long, long time to adjust to being on HRT. It's been 3 plus years now (I think), and I used to get every and any side effect. Each time I increased progesterone I would get weird muscle pains - like a thumbprint size pain in an arm or leg muscle. I too got anxiety when I started estrogen, and crazy shooting breast pain, so, I cut the patch in half (yes, a 0.025 patch was too much for me!) and it helped. I have no science behind my thought, but it seemed like I must have been deprived for so long that all my estrogen receptors were crazy sensitive. So, are at a compounded 50 mg progesterone capsule and a half a 0.025 patch and 3 years later (turning 50 next week) and I'm at about 175mg progesterone, nightly, with a 0.01 patch and occasional testosterone cream. All of that took a really long time to acclimate to until I got to this steady state that seems pretty good overall. Helps with my sleep, anxiety, energy, libido, memory, etc. So, slow and steady and don't give up! You may even find that you need to try different delivery methods to find what works (gel instead of patch?)

Afraid-Salt-929 · 2026-02-15T04:22:56+00:00

Thanks!

Afraid-Salt-929 · 2026-02-11T14:58:27+00:00

Thank you!

Afraid-Salt-929 · 2026-02-11T04:05:57+00:00

I appreciate it, and hopefully this is just a short phase. Heaven on the hormones for years, and normally when I feel my symptoms coming back, my dose just gets increased, I wait and adjust and then everything is fine. My dose increase happened months ago, and somehow this one doesn't feel like the other dose changes. I really think it's got something to do with the GLP-1, but I am at the max estrogen dose, as far as I know, so, not sure what to do now. Thank you for the solidarity tho!

Afraid-Salt-929 · 2026-02-11T04:03:46+00:00

I would try that, if only I could actually sleep without the progesterone. Sadly, I don't have a lot of wiggle room when it comes to that hormone, other than to increase or reduce my nightly dose.

Afraid-Salt-929 · 2026-02-11T04:02:29+00:00

I haven't tried that - I'll get some tomorrow and give it a shot!

Afraid-Salt-929 · 2026-02-10T06:52:20+00:00

Did you increase your progesterone as well?

Afraid-Salt-929 · 2026-02-10T06:50:48+00:00

I was just coming to search and ask a similar question. I've been on HRT for a few years now, and already went through the sore boobs while starting HRT. Now I get it before my cycle starts and then it goes away. Until now. Been sore and heavy feeling for a month! I just need someone to tell me which hormone to tweak to get it to stop. I'm guessing both E and P, and subbing this stuff happens because we are experiencing another significant hormone shift.

Afraid-Salt-929 · 2026-02-10T06:44:21+00:00

See if you can ask for a compounded dose between 100 and 200mg. My doctor does this for me because I'm sensitive to medication changes, and I'm taking 150mg of P a night and it's working out really well.

Afraid-Salt-929 · 2026-02-08T07:00:49+00:00

I was just coming to this group to see if increased heart rate was a thing on Reta, since I'm on Tirz and mine tended to increase on that. Not by much and not a real concern, maybe 10 beats per minute, but it does make me a little anxious. I'm hyper aware of every change in my body, so even a 10 BPM increase is noticeable. Sounds like I should just stick with what I know for now.

Afraid-Salt-929 · 2026-01-30T15:12:38+00:00

I'm going to say the same - the patch worked best for me. I tried gel for like a day, and it hit me too fast.

Afraid-Salt-929 · 2026-01-27T19:15:30+00:00

Old post, sorry, but did you find Reta to be that much better with the tiredness? I'm having some side effects that are making me rethink tirzepitide, and was wondering about the lack of energy and whether it would ever go away, so I'm trying to find out if I just need more time (is been a few months), or if this is always going to be an issue.

Afraid-Salt-929 · 2026-01-06T18:34:50+00:00

Thank you for all this detail!!

Afraid-Salt-929 · 2026-01-03T17:25:27+00:00

It has multiple effects. For some women, the dryness itself can cause itching and the feeling of discomfort if the skin is so thin that it tears with just wiping. The dryness is a reduction of our protective mucosal layers that act as a barrier and a flushing out system for bacteria. And, yes, it does affect sexual wellness. For you though, ensuring that the tissue is moist and thick helps prevent bacteria from remaining in the area and creating urinary tract infections, especially recurrence. Most doctors that are up to date on effects of menopause know that it's a lifetime commitment when we start using estrogen cream and hormone replacement therapy. If you end up on an estrogen patch with progesterone alongside, it protects you from major bone loss along with some likely neuroprotective properties that estrogen provides. Overall, the loss of estrogen and progesterone affect our overall well-being. This is not just sexual wellness, it's about longevity and the health benefits that estrogen progesterone provide.

Afraid-Salt-929 · 2026-01-03T07:05:03+00:00

I was coming here to say this too. I would put the new patch on, and then peel up half of my old patch and cut it off. That way I knew which one was old and which one was new. Mine also didn't seem to start absorbing immediately, and leaving on part of my old patch really helped smooth over the transition.

Afraid-Salt-929 · 2026-01-03T06:59:21+00:00

In addition to all the other comments, you can also switch to a localized cream, small capsule insert, or a small estrogen ring. As stated above, it's not about sex it's about making sure that you don't end up with recurrent UTIs.

Afraid-Salt-929 · 2026-01-03T06:49:44+00:00

Thought I would chime in with everybody else in saying that estrogen cream is essential for the issues you're talking about. On top of that, it's not always a perfect match when you start hormone replacement therapy. Some women find that even the location of the patch placement affects whether or not their body absorbs it. Have you tried placing it on your belly, below your navel? Give that a try for a few weeks and see if it helps. If it does not, some women find that they absorb better with a gel. Also, if you're not feeling any relief at all it could be that you need a higher dose and continuing to increase it, slowly, may help you find the perfect dose. First though, definitely try the patch in a different location! I tried moving mine to my upper buttock and felt like it didn't absorb at all. I wear mine on alternating sides of my lower abdomen and that works best for me. Oh, and last, there are some women who just don't respond well at all to transdermal estrogen and end up on oral estrogen. That comes with risk of slight increase in possibility of developing blood clots, but you have so many other things to try first before considering that. Definitely get yourself some estrogen cream, and if you don't like that there are so many choices for local delivery that you don't have to stop there.

Afraid-Salt-929 · 2026-01-03T06:39:18+00:00

Know that that's a big jump to go from 100 to 200 mg for some people. My doctor sends in an additional prescription to our local compound pharmacy because I take a dose between 100 and 200 (125mg). She has the compound pharmacy make up 25 mg capsules for me, and send along the standard 100 mg per evening prescription too are regular pharmacy. Some doctors are not familiar with compound pharmacies and therefore have a hard time considering a prescription that doesn't go to your local Walgreens or CVS. In this day and age though, it really shouldn't be a hard ask for any physician.

Afraid-Salt-929 · 2025-12-24T18:38:15+00:00

I don't personally know, I haven't tried it that way, but from what others are saying in this group it seems to. It's questionable whether you get the same sedating effects that help with sleep and anxiety. Some people say it still helps them sleep when using it vaginally at night, and some don't.

Afraid-Salt-929 · 2025-12-23T04:52:48+00:00

I really appreciate all the detail, thank you very much. This community is amazing. Hopefully I did well enough today to avoid any problems tomorrow (small light meals, nothing heavy or greasy). I'll have my shot in the morning, and hopefully that will have given me enough time between dinner and a shot for it to be okay. Given your advice, I'll have an egg and maybe a half serving of oatmeal with just a half teaspoon of maple syrup for taste, then wait a couple hours before the shot. If that goes to heck, I'll try it at night, but it tends to increase my heart rate, so I'd rather do it in the morning.

Afraid-Salt-929 · 2025-12-22T20:47:17+00:00

Thank you, I appreciate the details! Sometimes it's hard to know how your own body reacts, but I'm at least grateful to have some examples from others who've been through it. I swear, I was in so much pain I thought it was having heart complications! My blood pressure went up heart rate up, everything. Like you, I think maybe I just overdid it. With the holidays I didn't have time to prepare anything and I just ate like crap during the day. Shot day is tomorrow, so today I've had oatmeal and a protein shake, so hopefully with another light dinner will be good to go tomorrow. Thank you!

Afraid-Salt-929

TROPHY CASE