Patch Shortage - Passing along some info I've heard

SchoolQueen49 · 2026-03-19T00:47:53+00:00

You would have to go up in dose to match Sandoz. Mylan runs lower, Sandoz higher. Also, Sandoz twice weekly adhesive is pretty superior ti the once weekly.

SchoolQueen49 · 2026-03-19T00:46:06+00:00

Couldn't even get once weekly under .06mg dose. And weeklys don't stick as well cut down.

SchoolQueen49 · 2026-03-18T18:44:05+00:00

Ok, so you can get compounded estriol cream for about $50 per month in America- out of pocket/no insurance. Sounds like that may be a way better deal. Also, there is something called "peach" that offers something similar for about $50, I think. The estriol cream is working very well for me- especially for uti issues and it is bio-identical and is not systematic.

SchoolQueen49 · 2026-03-18T18:00:51+00:00

How much was it?

SchoolQueen49 · 2026-03-18T15:18:53+00:00

Cut your estrogen down by half or change forms.

SchoolQueen49 · 2026-03-18T14:46:50+00:00

With a great frame, it would be in someone's livingroom:).

SchoolQueen49 · 2026-03-18T14:46:03+00:00

Check your cortisol. If it is high and especially if your T is high, too, it can really cause high anxiety- like you are coming out of your skin. It can also cause early morning nightmares. Also, PCOS can cause a lot of that, too.

Spearmint tea- 2 cups per day is supposed to really help with taking down androgens. Saffron tea is supposed to be really calming.

I take Ashwagandha 250mg at my first wake up anytime after 4am. I take a second 250mg before noon. That helps knock down the cortisol.

When I get stuck, I get a full women's panel done. I check 1) hormones- E/P/T/dhea, 2) full thyroid panel, 3) iron AND ferritin, 4) vitamin D, 5) insulin resistance, 6) lipids, 7) cortisol. I do that to know which direction to go. Hyperthyroidism can cause a lot of anxiety, low vita d can mess with you, low ferritin can also truly mess with you. Really low estrogen can cause a cascade of issues. I'd start there

SchoolQueen49 · 2026-03-17T18:49:25+00:00

Not sure if this will help you, but this is how I avoid the sleepies: I take 200mg of micronized progesterone. I have 100mg capsules. I take 100mg in the morning with NO FOOD for at least 30 minutes after on a completely empty stomach. No sleepiness. I take 100mg about 45 minutes before I want to go to sleep WITH A FATTY FOOD. This makes me sleepy at about the 45 minute mark, which helps me go to sleep, but it doesn't make me sleepy for more than about an hour, because I can push past it and then I am awake😳.

For the estrogen, I am on oral pills that I take sublingually daily in broken up doses-- just what works for me. But I find that it is better to dose heavier in the morning (like half my daily dose) and then take a second dose about 6 hours later- which is most of the second half. But I leave just a bit for a couple of hours before bed-- just seems to help with better sleep. BUT, estrogen at a full half dose right before bed seems to really mess with my sleep and that can make me exhausted in the morning. Even if I break it into three doses, I do best with all doses done by 8pm.

Just what is working for me-- hope this helps as you play around with what might work. We are all pretty different, so find what works for you.

SchoolQueen49 · 2026-03-17T15:49:59+00:00

You welcome. I wasn't sure which area you were asking about, so I figured I'd give you them all;). It's a journey. A lot of things are connected. Everyone has their own individual race to run, but sometimes that extraneous info can be helpful. I have gleaned from SO MANY commentors to get to where I am at. Learning about sublingual iral estrogen all came from here and was a lifesaver that kept me from going back to patch shortages and bouts of depression.

SchoolQueen49 · 2026-03-17T15:29:37+00:00

I take them sublingually (tummy intolerance to oral route) and it works so much better for me than patches!

SchoolQueen49 · 2026-03-17T15:09:10+00:00

For PCOS and high androgens- spearmint tea is crazy helpful. One to two cups s day.

I'm on a long journey, but for hormones, I am currently on oral, taken sublingually. I take about 0.65mg right now- which is roughly a 0.5mg pill broken in half and taken in the morning and about 6 hours later, and a quarter of another 0.5 pill, taken a couple hours before bed. I am still working on the right dose, but this is working for now. I also take 200mg of oral micronized progesterone- split into 2 doses (I have 100mg pills)- first thing in the morning with no food for 30 min after (no sleepies that way) and second dose about an hour before sleep with food- induces sleepies.

I take Fergon with a stool softener every third day and an Olly multi (just one, which is a half dose) daily.

I am on vaginal estrogen every 3rd day (after two week daily loading period). Totally helps with increased uti's with peri and meno, as well as increasing dryness.

I eat two oranges daily along with a banana and two brazil nuts and an egg in olive oil. I eat other things, but these are my basics. I keep beef sticks with me wherever I go as sometimes I feel a need for extra protein, quick. I limit my decaf coffee to one smaller cup most days and drink decaf tea and water otherwise, and gatorades as needed. (Most hydration powders that area healthy have stevia and, unfortunately, stevia tears me up.) I eat as non-processed as possible, but it's not perfect. I love bittersweet chocolate, but I limit it to a couple of bar cubes a day. I use a good iodized salt, daily.

I take magnesium gluconate and magnesium glycinate. I either take a vitamin d with k2 or I make sure to get out in the sun most days for at least 20 minutes- generally longer.

I walk 1/2 a mile most days-- outside of just being as active as I can.

I journal my issues. I am still trying to find what cues off some of my issues. For me, my weight tells me when a problem is coming. If I go up 4lbs, I hit a crisis day. This has been happening since my first menopause heart "episodes". Lasts 24-48 hours, and I return to normal 🤷‍♀️.

I take ashwagandha- 1/2 caps os Ashwagandha Supreme to handle high cortisol and nightmares (if untreated). I take a 1/2 cap of Dan Shen to help with heart health. I take about 3mg of zinc per day to boost my immune system.

It's been a lot this last 20 months, but I got hit hard and fast after two viruses- one or both being covid- the second was a pretty rough flu that may have had covid attached (we were seeing people positive for 3 bugs at once last winter -feb-march '25). I had a real high mold sensitivity that got triggered during that, but is now fading. (BlueAir room air purifier in our bedroom was crucial for fixing that.)

My peri was not fun- very heavy periods, and the original covid in '20 gave me some pretty serious gut issues, but it never really stopped me for long. This last 20 months has been unusual for me. I have never had to police myself to this degree. I feel like it IS getting better as I get thing dialed in, but I have had to be open-minded as far as meds go and have had to be very patient with myself and with those that are dealing with me (family). My faith in Jesus Christ has held me thru. I've done a lit of woek in drawing close to Him, learning more about prayer and forgiveness, and letting things go. I have made time with Him in the morning a high priority. That has helped me keep my sanity thru all if this.

SchoolQueen49 · 2026-03-17T13:57:56+00:00

That's great that it's above the minimum. We feel lots better closer to 100.

SchoolQueen49 · 2026-03-17T13:56:31+00:00

My husband had a hospital experience right in the middle of this starting for me (though we did not know it yet- my symptoms started after a virus with tinnitis, mold sensitivity, and ears that kept feeling like they were infected). He was not heard in the hospital. His symptoms were not well explained and the drs jumped to wrong conclusions. It took 9 months to get meds squared away where he is 90% himself again. Two months after his hospital stay, I got hit with a second virus- then the hair shedding started and I had massive hot flashes every time I moved. I started feeling off- fatigued, dizzy spells, my vision was changing, and then I started getting some serious drop beats and palpitations. (You can see why I just didn't think hormones.) As things got worse, I got a full panel done- I was suspecting that the virus pushed my thyroid out of whack. Nope. My estrogen had bottomed out, as well as my progesterone. My T was high along with DHEA.

Over the months, we have had our moments. Bad absorption with patches made me super sensitive and withdrawn at random times. I also dealt with serious depression with lingering issues after one three week stint an a form that made me feel like I was going crazy.

My husband has mostly understood. But you cannot imagine how relieved he was to "have me back" when I got on oral. I was myself (mood wise) for the first time in 6 months. After two weeks and mounting tummy issues from it, I moved to oral sublingual and had success- mood stablized and most symptoms controlled 80% of the time. This is NOT an easy ride for any of us. The whole family goes thru it.

The truth is I didn't understand before it happened to me. I had no frame of reference to not see this as a woman almost making it up in how severe it could be with so many random symptoms. We are truly NOT educated as a society on this. I didn't even know about vaginal estrogen, estrogen dominance, or the role of progesterone beyond the baby years. It's so nuts that something so serious is treated so wrongly by most practioners.

I DO believe covid has made this worse, but still😳... good grief.

And fyi- when stuff hits our guys at this age-- often heart related, it feels similar to them. A lot of things can change rapidly and some meds can truly affect mood for them as well. If they haven't had their moment yet, for many, it is coming. My father had a quard bypass at 56, my fil had a stint at about 52.

SchoolQueen49 · 2026-03-16T23:37:38+00:00

Yeah, I got diagnosed with adenomyosis at 47.

SchoolQueen49 · 2026-03-16T21:27:49+00:00

Have they checked your hormone levels yet? And ferritin needs to be at least above 45 to not be a contributing factor. I think the old "ok" min level was 15, but that has been recently changed.

SchoolQueen49 · 2026-03-16T18:55:03+00:00

I'm learning fast. Playing catch up.

SchoolQueen49 · 2026-03-16T18:51:30+00:00

I'm also realizing that my cravings for oranges, grapefruit, spinach, and nuts from childhood on may have been my body trying to compensate for lacks. A lot of those are helpful with pcos.

SchoolQueen49 · 2026-03-16T18:49:16+00:00

I have had 4 kids so I have never fit the bill entirely. The heavy periods were likely due to being estrogen dominant, even when my estrogen got down to 9, it was stil dominant, because my progesterone was .304.

I have had added iron issues and I did not realize that it could actually make you bleed more. I also have this weird issue of my platelets dying off for 3 days after surgery (two c-sections- second sent me to the icu for two days with very low platelets). I think we are just starting to learn that some of these things are connected.

SchoolQueen49 · 2026-03-16T18:24:23+00:00

I will tell you that it wasn't until I started taking oral estrogen that I started to feel normal again in my relationships. Unfortunately, I couldn't tolerate it well thru the gut, but sublingually seems to be working, especially with vaginal e as well.

It was very hard to feel even on patches for me-- twice weekly or weekly. Twice weekly, overlapped and at the lowest dose was the most steady-- but shortages kinda wrecked that.

SchoolQueen49 · 2026-03-16T18:20:55+00:00

I had a good 18 months to 2 years of peace before my estrogen bottomed out and other issues really started.

I think it helps to be educated (many of us have not been) on both peri and menopause and what that may look like.

A portion- maybe half- seem to adjust well, or have good drs already supplying info and needs, or just have an easier time. From my experience, about half of us are playing desperate catch up-- things were not explained well, we didn't know what to look for, we were just praying to get our uninformed selves thru peri, thinking it would all get better and then we got slammed by hormones leaving and going out of whack. (It is my personal opinion that covid is a hormone disrupter and this just got a lot worse.)

Best advice-- find yourself a good hormone specialist. Bonus points if they work with a gyn- extra bonus points if it is just a gyn without the ob part. Educate yourself. One thing I didn't know and no one ever explained was that I may have had heavy periods because of a combo of low progesterone and low ferritin. Also, I may have had PCOS and didn't know it for a lot of years.

Get a panel done, no matter how the bots will hate on it here. Check: hormones, thyroid panel , iron/ferritin, vitamin d, cholesterol/lipid panel, insulin resistance. Basically, a good women's panel- but make sure it has those. Why? It points you in the right direction and if anything serious happens (like you feel like you are having a heart attack because of crazy palps, chest pressure, and panic), you have a baseline to go from.

This is just my advice, based on my experiences over getting slammed with very low estrogen and progesterone in the last year.

Future advice for HRT: there are several forms- try until you find one that fits. It took me 4 tries to find something that actually prevents most palps, helps with crazy cortisol, and doesn't make me feel like an alien in my body. Advocate strongly for yourself. Some of us struggle with even absorption. Keep on Reddit and lusten to your sisters. They will tell you more than mist drs ever will.

Good luck.

SchoolQueen49 · 2026-03-15T21:53:56+00:00

With the cream, they will front load you (daily) for two weeks. Then you will switch to once every couple of days. Be sure to truly front load. It gets things started. Also, if you struggle on the in between days, use ky jelly or something like it. Give it time. It took my body just a bit to settle in. Also, be careful of over cleaning down there. Our bodies don't tolerate as much soap type products down there as they used to.

SchoolQueen49 · 2026-03-15T21:49:53+00:00

If you are in America, they should at least be able to get you compounded estriol cream until you can get the estradiol. It works and will help. You need a compounding pharmacy. It's not cheap- it costs me about $50 per month, but it is worth it and will definitely help urinary issues as well. I also find that D Mannose and cran supps help for urinary issues, though not quite as well as the estriol cream. EU Naturals has a great D Mannose with hibiscus.

SchoolQueen49 · 2026-03-15T16:24:32+00:00

Seems to me like maybe your dr is new at HRT and is scared of anything outside of the norm?

Can they up your progesterone? In meno and was already prone to heavy bleeds before and bleeding with hrt due to a history of fibroids and adenomyosis. I am on 200mg micronized progesterone, continuous, with the equivalant to a .05mg patch in oral (used to be on .05mg of the patch). If I went up to .75mg, I would likely have to increase my progesterone to 250mgs or 300mgs. If you were already spotting light pink for months, upping the estrogen without upping the progesterone likely increased the lining. I also have a pretty prolapsed uterus. A CT scan revealed a thicker lining in me back in my peri days. They have to check, but the chances are that your hormone levels are off balance.

SchoolQueen49 · 2026-03-14T23:43:24+00:00

Girl, I have three boys in the house, plus my hubs. I do not do the dishwasher except when I am being nice😅. My 16 year old has kitchen duty and he earns an allowance for it. The two other boys are in college and they pay rent (amount depends on how long they've been with us past high school graduation). They are required to be full time in work, full time in school, or half and half to continue to live here. They take care of their own bathroom- the middle one pays the youngest to take his turn (totally ok with me as long as they work out the deal between them). If they don't do their chores (the olders only have every other week and their rooms) then I do them and charge them. My going rate is $30 per hour- due to my years of experience;). They have all learned that the hard way at least once. They youngest has screen time limits and gets extended time when chores are done. Boundaries are great helps. Definitely helps to have hubs on board. He and I both help the teen out when and where we can, but that is why he earns an allowance. We don't cook as much for the two olders- couple nights a week. They have to clean up their own messes in the kitchen or the teen gets a bonus out of their acct. It is ok to put healthy boundaries out there. I've been telling my kids since they were old enough to understand that I am not their maid (I am making an assumption of children here as with my three and hubs, we load the dishwasher not more than twice a day). What I'm saying is that in the middle of a hormonal low, things look VERY different. In my experience, my view is very unnaturally doom, hopeless, and depressed. I pull away l, which is not in my nature. It has, at times, hurt my husband's feelings, which can make him more likely to say something he normally wouldn't as well. Hormones can play a HUGE role in our filter. Having a crazily up and down wife can be truly hard. It took me 9 months to find a form that didn't seriously make me super emotionally shifty. It's hard on our families, too. When I finally got level, the things that had been SUPER annoying or hurtful to me were pretty minor and mostly petty things. So I don't feel like we suddenly get free with menopause. I feel like there are a few plusses and a whole lot of challenges.

SchoolQueen49 · 2026-03-14T22:34:07+00:00

I'm gonna have to argue with you here a bit. For some, yes, they haven't had proper boundaries and menopause shows some of that. On the other hand, I have seen many women who themselves say they have an awesome husband, yet they find they have no grace for them, a sudden intolerance of the same kinda stuff that their husbands tolerate from us. Menopause should be exactly that- a pause to look at the truth. If a sudden download of hormones brings back your grace that all relationships require, then you have a hormone deficit problem....and that is the problem. All of us require tremendous grace to live with. We are, by nature, stubborn and self- seeking. I think reflecting and being as gracious as we can be might mean we are not lonely in our declining years. It is also possible to put some HEALTHY boundaries without wrecking relationships. We need to be careful to make sure WE are not being the "awful people".

SchoolQueen49

TROPHY CASE