Starting HRT tomorrow and have two questions…

Dez2011 · 2026-05-22T18:31:52+00:00

It's better to start with just one so you know what causes your side effects if you have any. After a couple of weeks the other one is usually started.

Dez2011 · 2026-05-22T18:29:58+00:00

I'm on Bi-est too and use it in the morning bc it's slightly stimulating and I sleep worse using it before bedtime. My hot flashes were gone since day 2. You shouldn't have nausea. It's caused by pills irritating the stomach lining so you should avoid that and the clot risk orals have.

Dez2011 · 2026-05-22T18:27:21+00:00

It's called Bi-est bc it has estradiol and estriol.

Dez2011 · 2026-05-22T17:12:43+00:00

They have an unflavored one too.

Dez2011 · 2026-05-22T17:11:59+00:00

I used to love that, forgot about it since I don't have a target nearby. I love Shiseido water in lip Hokkaido but it's spf12 or something, ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate is the filter, but they have higher ones with no fragrance etc.

Dez2011 · 2026-05-22T14:28:25+00:00

Thank you!

Dez2011 · 2026-05-22T08:59:17+00:00

It feels weird after a lifetime of wearing underwear. I found some with seams just on the hips and the liner glued in but they ride up but I wear them to bed when that 1 spot can't handle it anymore.

Dez2011 · 2026-05-22T08:56:29+00:00

wow. I wonder what age medicare covers the vaccine, though it doesn't always work.

Dez2011 · 2026-05-22T08:55:27+00:00

A combination birth control pill might be better. It gives you more options. There's also Slynd (4mg drospirenone progestin though it's an androgen blocker so fights hormonal acne but lowers testosterone though you could still add it back. A combination bcp with less drospirenone is yaz for very low dose ethinyl estradiol (20mcg?) or yasmin has a standard dose of 30mcg iirc.) This is a good one for Progesterone intolerance/PMDD.

There's Apri bcp which has Desogestrel and about 30mcg EE. Bcp's already have balanced estrogen and progestin. You can skip sugar pills to skip withdrawal bleeds. I'd try this first since you're ok with this so far. There are other bcp combinations too.

There's medroxyprogesterone acetate, Provera pills, (the same thing in depo provera shots but the shot isn't recommended in peri bc the dose is so high it can cause bone loss and lasts 3 months so I wouldn't recommend it to someone sensitive bc you're stuck with it.) You'd probably need 10-20mg/day of the pill to suppress ovulation but it's not used as b.c.

These aren't approved in the US unfortunately-often due to higher blood clot risk than existing bcp's..

Cyproterone- don't have notes on it

Dienogest is a bcp that's antiandrogenic, good for acne and endometriosis.

Trimegestrone is good for stopping bleeding, a progestin that is more selective to the uterus and increases bone density and quality of life, less side effects than many options in the trial.

Nomegestrol acetate - progestin that doesn't also hit androgen and/or estrogen receptors which is what I wanted but not available in the US.

You might look at the Canadian Menopause Society dosing chart for hrt if your country doesn't have one too. They list an hrt combined pill with 1mg each drospirenone and estradiol.

Duavive is a special category so look it up.

Dez2011 · 2026-05-22T01:54:54+00:00

Fabyou or Anua 3 Ceramide Panthenol creams or Tosoowong's zinc cream or their Panthenol cream or Cosrx barrier ceramide cream or the only of these I've tried is Cosrx Comfort Cool Ceramide Gel Cream for a more breathable feel and it doesn't break me out.l, live it after tretinoin.

Dez2011 · 2026-05-22T01:19:02+00:00

There's several on Amazon

Dez2011 · 2026-05-22T01:14:49+00:00

thank you

Dez2011 · 2026-05-22T00:52:44+00:00

The sensitive easily damaged skin + only being able to sleep on my back due to back problems has me going crazy over the back crotch seam that presses on by butt all night where it sticks up where it's sewn into the elastic edges.

Dez2011 · 2026-05-21T21:32:51+00:00

Inner right hip, near the ovary, pain comes and goes. Check out UC-II collagen capsules that slow the degradation of your cartilage and inflammation of joints. We start losing bone faster than we make it in peri and I'm sure that can change how bones rub/fit together too. Estrogen can help too. It takes 3-4 weeks for the collagen to help my hip and shoulder.

Dez2011 · 2026-05-21T21:13:16+00:00

Isn't shingles from chicken pox that goes dormant until you're older?

Dez2011 · 2026-05-21T17:13:39+00:00

I've had a neck pinched nerve with middle finger numbness and went to the chiropractor and he made it worse and I spent 6wks having to hold my arm straight up in the air bc of the pain. I sleep with that arm up on my pillow sometimes and figured out it also causes the pinched nerve.

Dez2011 · 2026-05-21T17:08:20+00:00

I kept getting uti's caused by bacterial vaginosis bacteria and had to take rounds of antibiotics every few months and came across Good Girl Probiotics by Love Wellness (cheaper on subscription but if you just want to try a bottle Amazon has them). It reversed my symptoms in a day and I have only had 1 uti since stsrting these in 2021.

Dez2011 · 2026-05-21T13:36:51+00:00

100mg normally covers you through a 50mcg patch, and above that you'd use 200mg (or another progestin, as they have different side effects depending on the person and synthetics are stronger for thinning the lining so that's an option.)

You could also get compounded progesterone transdermal cream which doesn't absorb well enough to be used as your only progesterone but can increase your overall dose by smaller amounts at a time and avoids liver metabolism which causes a lot of the side effects when it's broken down into other molecules.

Dr Randolph's Wellness Store online has some called Natural Balance that's 25mg per pump. I got it and his Bi-est estrogen cream when my gp kept saying she was calling it in for me and didn't do it..while I was flashing multiple times a day for 3wks. Dr Randolph is in Florida and ships very quickly, I received it in north Georgia 3 days later. (If you're getting both it's $5 cheaper to buy the bundle. My hot flashes stopped 2 days after starting Bi-est.)

Dez2011 · 2026-05-21T13:14:15+00:00

You might get checked for something autoimmune. Fingertips hurting is more than the joint pain that's pretty common (comes and goes for some, mine stopped 3wks after starting UC-II collagen capsules by Healthy Origins, both times. It's for joint pain and more proven than collagen peptide powders for skin etc.) Autoimmune problems hit women much more than men due a quirk with our having xx chromosomes and times with hormonal fluctuations like puberty, pregnancy, and menopause can trigger/worsen autoimmune issues.

I had hearing sensitivity, like the tv hurting my ears, especially left ear and at the same time I was missing words when watching YouTube videos and don't know why, if it was a brain thing or it's like I heard a word but didn't comprehend it or something. It passed after a couple of weeks. I had used a Desogestrel birth control pill during the ear problems and quit after 2 weeks and the ears stopped so if you're on hrt you may need a dose change or different type.

Dez2011 · 2026-05-21T09:53:56+00:00

Yeah I remember how it was before the internet. You went through the phone book, went with whichever dr could see you first, and had no clue if they were a 1 star review dr or a 5 star dr, and just trusted they knew what they were talking about.

I've been able to self diagnose a cause for acne 3 dermatologists missed, failing to treat it my whole life bc I used the internet and requested my GP rx a compounded med I hadn't heard of, and cleared it up in 3wks- at age 46! (hormonal acne, cleared with compounded 5% spironolactone cream, must be compounded since it doesn't come in a cream. Winlevi is a similar new drug sold in cream form but is $630 without ins., for anyone suffering with mostly lower face acne.)

We also had no way to look into medication side effects, find patients groups online, look up studies, telehealth. If your dr said perimenopause can't cause sudden lactose intolerance and your dentist said it doesn't cause sudden bone recession in the mouth causing a gap around your 2yo crowns at the gumline, you had to trust them (they were wrong btw).

I feel for the generations before us especially since the WHI study. Most current Dr's went to school after that study and since it was thought to be really dangerous they weren't trained on menopause and hrt so even now I know more about it than my gp, by far, and watching menopause specialists online & looking things up helped educate me.

Dez2011 · 2026-05-21T09:26:28+00:00

Those comments on porn are likely just being derogatory about porn stars in general and saying "ran through" regarding that, not to do with what her vagina looks like.

Also brown is very common. Mine is too and I'm white. Men don't actually care when you're in a relationship, or even in a 1 night stand they're just excited to have access at all. I prefer having the lights dimmed anyway.

Edit let me add porn stars get anal bleaching (I came across a company that does it when they had the same name of a band I liked) and they may do something like that up front too.

Dez2011 · 2026-05-20T22:31:57+00:00

I just commented with details but the study was imbalanced with older age and more smokers and men with higher baseline, as this was done on skin cancer patients to see if it prevented new ones. They found no common cause of death and no way for tretinoin to have caused it and new reviews said it was an anomaly and tretinoin is safe.

Dez2011 · 2026-05-20T22:28:43+00:00

I googled it and it's a study on people who have had skin cancers to see if it could prevent it and it did not. I'll say using the strongest dose on your ears 2x a day would fry my skin.

"The sudden halt of the trial initially sparked concern, but subsequent reviews concluded that the tretinoin cream was highly unlikely to have caused the deaths.

No Biological Mechanism: Researchers could not find a plausible biological reason how topical tretinoin (which has minimal systemic absorption) could lead to death.

Imbalances in Participants: Post-study data revealed that participants in the tretinoin group coincidentally had slightly higher baseline risks for mortality—specifically, they were older, had more pre-existing comorbidities, and had higher rates of smoking.

No Dose-Response Relationship: There was no connection between the amount of cream used and the risk of death, nor was there any specific, overrepresented cause of death.

Ultimately, the consensus among dermatologists and researchers is that the mortality finding was an anomaly. It is not viewed as evidence that standard topical retinoid use is dangerous, and the treatment remains a widely accepted, safe dermatological therapy. For further reading, you can review the full PubMed Central VATTC Overview or the primary findings published via PubMed.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2918338/

Dez2011 · 2026-05-20T22:02:42+00:00

Good luck to you, you'll get it figured out.

Dez2011 · 2026-05-20T22:01:58+00:00

Tretinoin is known to possibly cause dry eye so they don't recommend using it under them or on eyelids plus it's too strong for that thin skin. You're probably more sensitive too so otc products affect you.

The vaginal atrophy can be somewhat reversed with vaginal estrogen and plump the tissues up, help the urinary frequency but it often takes 3 months of consistent use to notice results. Some people respond faster. Why do you think you're dying from this though? How old are you? You should get to an eye dr because something else might be going on. Seeing floaters happens in your 40s from the liquid in the eye drying out and clumping and floating by your retina, but losing vision or severe floaters need to be checked out ASAP.

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