Questions about HRT
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Anonymous
| If you take HRT (through patch) do you also need to take progesterone? What is the function of each? |
Anonymous
| I take estradiol and progesterone. When my doctor prescribed HRT she said the estradiol would address my symptoms (the hot flashes and sleep disturbances were my big problems) and the progesterone was "to protect my uterus." |
Anonymous
| If you take systemic estrogen, through a patch, pill, gel, or spray, and you have a uterus, you have to also take progesterone to protect the lining of the uterus. Progesterone is also helpful for sleep so some people without a uterus choose to take it for that even if they don't need the protective effect. |
Anonymous
| If your periods are done (ie menopause) the tradition thinking is you can have estrogen (estradiol) without progesterone. BUT it’s seeming more and more that there could be independent benefits to progesterone like improved sleep! I take progesterone for 14 days out of 28. It mimics a cycle in your reproductive years when you had progesterone in the last half of your cycle. Anyway I sleep best on progesterone plus estrogen but well and through the night on just estrogen. When I’m on progesterone I am angered a bit more easily too. |
Anonymous
I think you mean have a uterus plus still having some type of period and not all the way to menopause |
Anonymous
No, even in menopause, you can’t take unopposed estrogen. |
Anonymous
| You have to take progesterone with estrogen if you have a uterus. Unopposed estrogen leads to tons of side effects like increased cancer risk. |
Anonymous
| Can you take progesterone by itself? |
Anonymous
yes. My doctor started me with progesterone and DHEA and DIM (supplements). It has helped, but not enough, so considering some estrogen patch. Progesterone has very minimal side effects and does not raise cancer risks. So IMO it's good to start there and see if it helps enough, before adding estrogen of some type |
Anonymous
| What does progesterone help with? Curious about trying this first. |
Anonymous
Sleep and night sweats. I still have issues, but it's way better than with nothing. And if I forget to take it 2 nights in a row, I can guarantee I will be wake up by 2/3am and have trouble getting back to sleep. When I take It, I don't wake up that much and if I do I can get back to sleep (and it's normally a night sweat that woke me up) |
Anonymous
Thanks. I wonder if it would also help with other issues I've been having during the luteal phase, since that's when progesterone is highest when you're young and having "normal" cycles. Things like increased anxiety in the 4-5 days before my period, diarrhea leading up to period, heavier bleeding than I used to have, etc. |
Anonymous
| Progesterone helps some with pms and pmdd. Sounds like you are early peri and some docs will treat that as pmdd esp if it’s predictable symptoms. |