I think birth control is usually a combination of synthetic estrogen and progestin, whereas HRT would probably be bioidentical estrogen (less risky).
I could see why a doctor would be worried a blood test would be thrown off by the synthetic estrogens in the birth control pill, because it might lower your body’s production of estrogen as it relies on the synthetic stuff.
You are still left with a situation where it seems like your levels are too low and you are having symptoms, so you might still need a higher dose to compensate for menopause and to alleviate your symptoms.
You might also look into a birth control pill that is a progestogen-only pill and then introduce bioidentical estrogen for HRT (ideally as a cream or patch, oral estrogen is poorly absorbed and is metabolized in spikes which creates mood swings and results in uneven blood levels, just an awful way to get estrogen in the body tbh).
Either way, I would advocate for getting more estrogen in your body somehow, because what you are describing (night sweats, anxiety, brain fog, etc.) all sound exactly like the symptoms of low estrogen.
You wanna know something wild? I just saw a GI today for an IBS flareup that’s been going on since September, and I mentioned I thought it might be peri-related, and told her about a few more of my non-GI symptoms. I kid you not, she said “it sounds like you’ve got low estrogen, you should ask your GYN about bioidentical estrogen.” So the two of you convinced me to make an appointment with a new GYN and start that conversation! Thank you! :)
fingers crossed …
I think birth control is usually a combination of synthetic estrogen and progestin, whereas HRT would probably be bioidentical estrogen (less risky).
I could see why a doctor would be worried a blood test would be thrown off by the synthetic estrogens in the birth control pill, because it might lower your body’s production of estrogen as it relies on the synthetic stuff.
You are still left with a situation where it seems like your levels are too low and you are having symptoms, so you might still need a higher dose to compensate for menopause and to alleviate your symptoms.
You might also look into a birth control pill that is a progestogen-only pill and then introduce bioidentical estrogen for HRT (ideally as a cream or patch, oral estrogen is poorly absorbed and is metabolized in spikes which creates mood swings and results in uneven blood levels, just an awful way to get estrogen in the body tbh).
Either way, I would advocate for getting more estrogen in your body somehow, because what you are describing (night sweats, anxiety, brain fog, etc.) all sound exactly like the symptoms of low estrogen.
You wanna know something wild? I just saw a GI today for an IBS flareup that’s been going on since September, and I mentioned I thought it might be peri-related, and told her about a few more of my non-GI symptoms. I kid you not, she said “it sounds like you’ve got low estrogen, you should ask your GYN about bioidentical estrogen.” So the two of you convinced me to make an appointment with a new GYN and start that conversation! Thank you! :)
That’s great!! 🥳
Hoping your appointment with the new GYN goes well 💕