It's going pretty well with the Armour. I'm on 2 grains. I tried 2.5 but felt too hyper. However on 2 grains I'm not sure it's enough. I'm not exactly bursting with energy but I do feel better.

Only issue is it makes sleeping more difficult.

It's an online pharmacy, so I don't have anything in my hands, yet, but the order the dr. wrote says: "e2 e3 progest testost cream; Adren-All; DHEA 5mg; pregnenolone 10 mg" plus progesterone capsules to take at night for sleep.

The Adren-All and the DHEA appear to be for adrenal support, but I also have very low overnight cortisol and testosterone and I have only a vague notion about how these things interact. I decided to trust the Dr. for now.

I understand the impulse to avoid all of this stuff and just age "naturally," as an earlier poster said. And I said the same thing at 50, but my body is changing too much too quickly now that I am fully post menopausal, and I just really want to try to regain a better sense of myself.

The hot flashes are frustrating, the insomnia is exhausting, the weight gain is demoralizing, and I can't concentrate on anything for more than a few minutes at a time!

I will be tracking my experiences with bhrt in detail in my journal when the meds actually arrive, so anyone can take a look at any time to see how my experience is playing out.

Aging naturally is one thing if you're feeling well.

Suffering needlessly is just stupid IMO.

I was suffering, I'm not anymore and haven't been since I started bHRT over a year ago.

My quality of life has improved beyond description.

You have to do what's right for you.

I'll be interested to read your experiences.

Lisa

Last night was the first night I took progesterone at night time. They are supposed to help me sleep, but actually did the opposite. Does anybody have experience with this? Lisa, perhaps?

Oh, I toughed it out for over a year, waiting for my body to adjust.

I took Dong Quai, raspberry leaf, and a few other things I can't remember. I exercised more, exercised less, ate more soy, stopped eating soy, and ignored the near constant online vegetarian advice.

I struggled as my sleep got more disturbed, my stress threshold dwindled, and my attention span became that of a brand new Lab puppy.

Finally I went in to the Doctor, scared the living wheeeee out of her (she showed me her notes afterwards... five alarm menopause emergency!!!) and got a prescription for PremPro.

Within two hours of taking the first pill, I felt it hit. Within five hours, it was like every cell in my body unwound, and I got the first good night's sleep in ages.

Of course, everyone is different. I had mild hot flashes; really, no physical discomfort.

But the mental & mood symptoms were truly unliveable.

So glad you went in and so glad you found relief!! Did the PremPro bring back your periods then? That's what I am curious about w/ the HRTs. If you take them, do they always keep your period going until you eventually stop taking them?

It's such a relief to be able to talk about menopause w/ other ladies! All of my female relatives have had hysterectomies so their experiences are physically different than mine. So far, the Evening Primrose Oil, B-Complex, Magnesium, etc..and some Progesterone cream are doing the trick pretty well...but this past weekend, my husband and I were on a drive and all of a sudden, I just started laughing so hard I could barely breathe! Tears were just pouring down my face and he was looking at me like, "What in the world???" It was hilarious and mildly frightening! I could not stop for anything! Just kind of felt like I was about to crack!

5 alarm menopause emergency!!!! Priceless.

No period. But mine stopped quite abruptly anyway. I lost an ovary in a cancer scare, which seemed to signal the other ovary that it could just leave on vacation. My doctor said my symptoms seemed to indicate I was getting NO estrogen at all.

But you can't go by me; this is a highly variable state. It seems like everyone has a different reaction.

I, too, have female relatives who had "surgical menopause," so I had no idea what to expect; but then, I think that's true of most people. When I googled the HRT study and found it was only a "slightly" elevated risk of side effects, I went for it.

Honestly, I was completely incapable of moderating my stress. Someone was going to wind up dead!

Sounds like you made the right decision!!

So, here's my plan. First I'm going to get my adrenal glands straightened out, apparently they're likely messed up due to many years of being hypothyroid. Then I'm going to try the bio-identical hormones.

Wish me luck!

apparently when you get the adrenals straightened out the reproductive hormones can settle down some. Keep fingers crossed for you.

Good luck!!!!!!!

Good luck!!

Let us know what you do with the adrenals. Too bad my endo won't even acknowledge this problem exists! I gues if they don't have an insurance code to assign to it, then it doesn't exist! So frustrating to have to learn about this on your own!

Wow, that is a great insight. I wonder just how many of us are struggling with health issues because of exactly that.

We can't examine what we don't think of...