Re: Measuring Oestrogel

[Guest guest]

Thanks Rosette,

I am using 1/4 tsp one time per day. I switched from the 1.25 dose on

the plastic ruler that comes with it. I only added the progesterone

today because I am so bloated. I thought that it might help. Honestly,

when I woke up this morning my eyes were swollen nearly shut. It gets

better as the day goes on.

This was a hugh symptom of my Hypothyroidism. It should not be

showing up as I just raised my Armour thyroid about a week ago.

If I understand correctly you are saying that 1/4 tsp of Oestrogel is

equal to .6 mg of estradiol. That means that a teaspoon would equal

1.2 mg. estradiol. If I was using 1.25 on the plastic stick then I

was getting about .7 of estradiol. That is not far from the 1/4 tsp.

This is just too much. Trying to adjust thyroid hormones & E & P all

at the same time. Someone may just have to shoot me.

Thanks for your help.

> >

> > I am having a really hard time getting my dose of Oestrogel right.

> I

> > am now using measuring spoons rather then the device that comes with

> > it. Right now I am using 1/4 tsp & feel great but I am having

> > horrible bloating & gained 5 lbs (water I'm sure) overnight. I have

> > the pinch, smidgen measuring spoons on order. Does anyone know how

> > 1/4 t. equals out to mg.? Is that about 1 mg?

> >

> > I added about 30 mg of progesterone cream today to try & balance the

> > excess estrogen. This is all so frustrating.

> >

> > Gale

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Isn't 1 gram of Oestrogel (and estrogel) around 0.60mg of estradiol?

I use a little syringe (sans needle) to measure. The ruler with Oestrogel

really confused me...like what " width " of line, and all that... I think I

figured it out...

Progesterone seems to be good for " me " , and I take it without a break.

Same with estradiol and testosterone...all topicals. It's probably due to

me being ovaryless and never being exposed to super high doses of it. I

took nothing for over a decade and after adding the BHRT, it was amazing,

and still is. I really do react if I take too much E and P, tho. The only

reactions I seem to have taking more Testosterone than I do (I'm on 2gm),

is that I feel ultra-supercharged in both body and mind, and maybe a

little pushy...oh, and I get zits, and an extra hair or 2 somewhere.

Too much P for me and I itch like crazy. Absolutely maddening.

Too much E and breasts and butt increase.

Sam

k9gang@...

> I have a 1 gm plastic measuring spoon from Women's International, and

> I measured the amount in teaspoons that fills it. I came out to 1/4

> tsp. It says on the box of Oestrogel that 2.5 gm of gel equals 1.5

> mg. estradiol. Therefore, if my math is right, 1/4 tsp. equals .6 mg.

> estradiol (not 1 mg.) Are you leveling off the spoon with that litle

> ruler thing that is included in the box of Oestrogel? If you are

> using this amount twice a day, that is a total of 1.2 mg. per day

> estradiol, a very modest dose. (When I was using Oestrogel, my daily

> dose was about 2.4 mg.)Possibly 1.2 mg. a day is too much for you,

> though, and that is why you have gained water. You could try cutting

> back a little. However, I would tend to think it is the progesterone.

>

> Can you hold off using the progesterone until you find the right dose

> of estrogen that makes you feel good? You are not going to develop

> endometrial cancer overnight or even in a few months. Once you start

> adding progesterone, bad things tend to happen. Right now I am on my

> 10th day of oral progesterone, and I can hardly wait for it to be

> over with. I am only using 100 mg. a day this time instead of 200

> mg., which just about killed me last time. But I've been eating non-

> stop and have had a migraine for 2 days. I'm not even sure I'll get a

> good bleed from this dose, so I might just be suffering for nothing.

> I just feel SO BAD on progesterone! I am going back to the vaginal

> progesterone next cycle. I didn't have as much hunger and headaches,

> although I had more uterine cramping with the vaginal P. As far as I

> am concerned, progesterone is the hormone from hell! I really cannot

> understand all the Dr. Lee progesterone lovers. I guess some of

> us just have " paradoxical reactions " to P, as Dr. Uzzi Reiss said.

>

> All this talk of " balancing " of progesterone with estrogen doesn't

> make much sense to me since the first two weeks of a pre-menopausal

> woman's cycle, she has almost no progesterone. If you'll look at a

> menstrual hormone graph, women do fine with very little P for 2 weeks

> until ovulation makes the P start to climb for possible egg

> implantation. Since we're not going to be getting pregnant at our

> age, why not live in that glorious progesterone-free time for as long

> as possible? I spent 38 years going through 2 weeks of PMS hell every

> month, and now I deserve a break!

>

> Go about half-way down this page to see the graph showing the ultra

> low P first two weeks of a menstrual cycle.

> http://embryology.med.unsw.edu.au/wwwhuman/MCycle/birthcontrol.htm

>

> ------Rosette

>

>

>>

>> I am having a really hard time getting my dose of Oestrogel right.

> I

>> am now using measuring spoons rather then the device that comes with

>> it. Right now I am using 1/4 tsp & feel great but I am having

>> horrible bloating & gained 5 lbs (water I'm sure) overnight. I have

>> the pinch, smidgen measuring spoons on order. Does anyone know how

>> 1/4 t. equals out to mg.? Is that about 1 mg?

>>

>> I added about 30 mg of progesterone cream today to try & balance the

>> excess estrogen. This is all so frustrating.

>>

>> Gale

>>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Gale, I was doing that same balancing act for a while. I did find, tho,

that when I was close to being otimized on Armour (I'm thyroidless, and on

11 grains), that the BHRT thing was easier to " juggle " ...

Sam

k9gang@...

> Thanks Rosette,

>

> I am using 1/4 tsp one time per day. I switched from the 1.25 dose on

> the plastic ruler that comes with it. I only added the progesterone

> today because I am so bloated. I thought that it might help. Honestly,

> when I woke up this morning my eyes were swollen nearly shut. It gets

> better as the day goes on.

>

> This was a hugh symptom of my Hypothyroidism. It should not be

> showing up as I just raised my Armour thyroid about a week ago.

>

> If I understand correctly you are saying that 1/4 tsp of Oestrogel is

> equal to .6 mg of estradiol. That means that a teaspoon would equal

> 1.2 mg. estradiol. If I was using 1.25 on the plastic stick then I

> was getting about .7 of estradiol. That is not far from the 1/4 tsp.

>

> This is just too much. Trying to adjust thyroid hormones & E & P all

> at the same time. Someone may just have to shoot me.

>

> Thanks for your help.

>

>

>

>> >

>> > I am having a really hard time getting my dose of Oestrogel right.

>> I

>> > am now using measuring spoons rather then the device that comes with

>> > it. Right now I am using 1/4 tsp & feel great but I am having

>> > horrible bloating & gained 5 lbs (water I'm sure) overnight. I have

>> > the pinch, smidgen measuring spoons on order. Does anyone know how

>> > 1/4 t. equals out to mg.? Is that about 1 mg?

>> >

>> > I added about 30 mg of progesterone cream today to try & balance the

>> > excess estrogen. This is all so frustrating.

>> >

>> > Gale

>> >

>>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Gale,

Is it possible that your own progesterone may be kicking in causing

the fluid retention? I think I still ovulate sometimes and when my

body makes progesterone it makes it harder to figure out if it is the

estrogen or the progesterone causing the fluid retention. I think for

a long time I was blaming estrogen when I should have been blaming

progesterone. Cutting back on my estrogen can intensify my

progesterone side effects. I am taking my morning temps now so that I

know if I am dealing with my own progesterone or not.

I think a key here is to figure out how much a ¼ tsp dose of Oestrogel

raises the blood level. I found this web site:

http://www.rxcarecanada.com/Estrogel.asp?prodid=2397

It says that 2.5 grams of Estrogel/day for 14 days to 17

postmenopausal women raised their serum concentrations of estradiol to

117 pg/ml. They did not say what the non treatment estrogen levels

were, but if we assume 30 then 2.5 grams would have only delivered 87

pg/ml of estradiol. If this is correct ¼ teaspoon would only deliver

21.75 grams of estradiol. (I hope I did my math right.) Is it likely

that raising your estradiol by 21.75 pg/ml could cause your side

effects? How sensitive are we to estrogen? I just wonder what

estradiol level triggers bloating??? It seems that since younger

women get estrogen levels into the 200-600 range that an extra 21.75

would not cause bloating. Am I missing something here?

Kathy

> > >

> > > I am having a really hard time getting my dose of Oestrogel right.

> > I

> > > am now using measuring spoons rather then the device that comes with

> > > it. Right now I am using 1/4 tsp & feel great but I am having

> > > horrible bloating & gained 5 lbs (water I'm sure) overnight. I have

> > > the pinch, smidgen measuring spoons on order. Does anyone know how

> > > 1/4 t. equals out to mg.? Is that about 1 mg?

> > >

> > > I added about 30 mg of progesterone cream today to try & balance the

> > > excess estrogen. This is all so frustrating.

> > >

> > > Gale

> > >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Kathy,

I trust your math. I could have never figured that out. I have had a

problem with retaining water all of my life. It was during the P.

phase of my cycle. I do not know if it was because of too much or too

little P. Now that I know that I am on a really low dose maybe I will

go up & drop the P again.

Thanks for your help.

Gale

> > > >

> > > > I am having a really hard time getting my dose of Oestrogel

right.

> > > I

> > > > am now using measuring spoons rather then the device that

comes with

> > > > it. Right now I am using 1/4 tsp & feel great but I am having

> > > > horrible bloating & gained 5 lbs (water I'm sure) overnight.

I have

> > > > the pinch, smidgen measuring spoons on order. Does anyone

know how

> > > > 1/4 t. equals out to mg.? Is that about 1 mg?

> > > >

> > > > I added about 30 mg of progesterone cream today to try &

balance the

> > > > excess estrogen. This is all so frustrating.

> > > >

> > > > Gale

> > > >

> > >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Sam,

I have no idea about whem I will be optomized on the Armour. I am at

7gr now. I know that my levels must be over range now but the

symptoms keep returning. I am still gaining weight for crying out

loud.

I am trying to switch to the measuring spoons for the same reason.

That little stick thing is not at all accurate.

I have been waking up in the morning with a very dry mouth for the

past couple of days. Does that indicate anything?

Gale

> >>

> >> I am having a really hard time getting my dose of Oestrogel right.

> > I

> >> am now using measuring spoons rather then the device that comes with

> >> it. Right now I am using 1/4 tsp & feel great but I am having

> >> horrible bloating & gained 5 lbs (water I'm sure) overnight. I have

> >> the pinch, smidgen measuring spoons on order. Does anyone know how

> >> 1/4 t. equals out to mg.? Is that about 1 mg?

> >>

> >> I added about 30 mg of progesterone cream today to try & balance the

> >> excess estrogen. This is all so frustrating.

> >>

> >> Gale

> >>

> >

> >

> >

>