and Hollis-Hormones

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Hi Michele and Hollis -Vivelle.dot patches are excellent in my opinion and I don't have a bit of trouble with them. They are indeed very, very small and they are changed twice a week.No redness, itchiness or other kinds of irritation. The Climara and the Combipatch left with with red, raised welts and some pretty serious itching. I was running out of places to put the next patch because the red places weren't going away so fast either. Climara was the worst, Combipatch a little less trying - but Vivelle.dot - no problems after 3 years. Vivelle.dot has no progesterones (Combipatch did - I don't remember about Climara) - so if you still have a uterus, you and your doc will need to discuss how to protect the uterine lining (I take norethindrone every 60 days and get a bleed).The more pertinent question is why are your hormones (even with supplementing them as you do) plummeting as they are? Have you

seen an endocrine specialist? You may have underlying thyroid, pituatary or hyopthalamus disorder. Although 'reproductice endocrinologists' generally evaluate us for lack of fertility, I would suspect that seeing one of them because of this loss of hormones may be more advantageous than seeing a regular endocrinologist.Hollis - I didin't know that the patch delivered more than it indicates on the package? That's interesting. I wonder what I'm getting at .075 mg patch?Dusty Zdamask@... wrote: I, if your practitioner honored your request for hormone supplementation before, i really think that, given your latest E test result, you should be able to get it again. Lug your Vliet along and shove the section concerning the link between low E and bladder problems under his/her nose if you have to and demand it! If you're working with another MD (the uro-gyn?), then point out that your history indicates you're in dire need of it, regardless of your tender age, that you used it successfully before, and you need MORE of it. . . NOW!

The two main brands of E patch are Climara and Vivelle/Vivelle Dot. Both are impregnated with bio-identical 17b estradiol. Some people appear to like one over the other, probably due to differences in the adhesive they use. Plus, the Vivelle Dot patches are smaller, which sounds like an advantage to me. Dusty, on the board, uses them very happily and perhaps she can tell you more about them. I use the Climara patch, but will be switching soon to drops compounded in emu oil (an experiment, but it should work just fine, i think) for sublingual use. Over time, i've started to react more and more to the adhesive with some itchiness and reddening and bumpiness. If i don't like the drops, i'll try the Vivelle Dot and see how that goes.

Right now, i think the important thing is to just get a Rx for either; you can always change brands later, if need be. With your levels so low, i would not start at the lowest dose, which is 0.025 mg. That's what i originally did and my estradiol level actually LOWERED, down to a pathetic 33! The next highest Climara patch dose is 0.035 mg. The next 0.05 mg. . . . and upward. Pete, the pharmacist at Bellevue told me that the 0.05 mg. patch equals 1 mg. oral E, if that helps you and your doctor figure out where to start. Good luck. Hollis

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