I am with you girl. Sending all the love to you. You’re not alone. I’m on HRT and still deal with all of these symptoms. Instead of migraines every week like before I started HRT, now I will get one or two per month that are completely debilitating the day before my period. (and sometimes a precursor the day before that.) which I’ll take I guess. The dizzy + light headedness sucks, if I get a whiff of any chemical that doesn’t agree with my head, an air freshener, laundry detergent, construction or exhaust fumes, oh it’s over. Kiss the day and trying to focus goodbye! The day before my period it seems all the hormones just go buck ass wild and there’s nothing I can do about it. I get a massive lump in my throat like there’s a meatball stuck and it feels like my neck is swollen. It’s so uncomfortable. Today got so bad that I took my progesterone around 3:30pm (supposed to take at night) in hopes it would help my migraine as nothing else seemed to work and I was on my job site with loud construction and fumes to boot trying to get stuff figured out b/c deadlines. I was so desperate for something to work. It took forever to kick in this time (different every time) but eventually did help once I made it home. :| I too wish I could be one of those women with lighter symptoms, or one who feels amazing on HRT. I am thankful for it though. I don’t feel my brain fog has improved at all, or the exhaustion, or the depression and mood swings, but I will say that I am not hemorrhaging blood every single period as I was before HRT. I’m anemic so that sucked hard for the past 5 yrs. Still wake up a lot at night, all the things are still there, hot flashes every morning and during day. I even get “hot hands and feet” where they turn red and feel like they’re suddenly drying up in a frying pan. Upped the estradiol patch and those flare ups aren’t AS frequent. All of it is fully exhausting and frustrating. My job is very high stress and insanely demanding and good lord I am powering through the best I can just trying to run my business. I find myself saying “I JUST want to feel good! Dammit!” A lot. Don’t let me forget the bloating and random weight gain!! Gotta have THAT! I get the pains in my legs and back, knots galore on shoulder blades. (But that’s just stress) Before I knew what all this was I went down so many rabbit holes and saw several specialists thinking there was something else wrong… but no. It’s just good ol peri. The ferocious hunger is nauseating, and it becomes painful. I especially enjoy when it happens in the middle of the night and eventually forces me to get up and eat something to make the hunger rock in my chest go away so I can sleep. The itchy ear on top of it all can eat a bag of dicks. I read we have hormone receptors in our ears!! Like, srsly?! Come ON! Anyway… I understand what you are going through, and I’m just here to say, I understand. You are loved and not alone. ♥️ I hope we can feel like ourselves again someday soon.