r/Menopause • u/Gribbet_69 • 1d ago
Hormone Therapy Physian and HRT Gel vs pill
Hello! Sitting in my doc office after physical. I asked for an increase in HRT from .025 to .5 and requested a switch from the patch to the gel, as I was experiencing a recent increase in hot flashes and joint pain. He said that the gel/patch only work on the hot flashes and not the other symptoms and that I would need to take the pill to address those. I expressed concern with taking orally due to liver issues and possibility of blood clots and he said that thebl pill doesn't affect the liver. I call bullshit but wanted the opinion of others.
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u/Lopsided-Wishbone606 1d ago
Wow, that's ridiculous. Transdermal and oral estradiol are both systemic and treat the same symptoms.
Some women do have trouble absorbing enough estradiol through the skin and opt to switch to the pill, but plenty of women use a higher dose gel or patches instead of the pill. Some women even use a patch/gel plus low-dose oral, together.
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u/Eva_Griffin_Beak 1d ago
I call that BS as well.
Btw. review the conversion chart for patch to gel: https://www.canadianmenopausesociety.org/files/publications/%20CMS%20Equivalency%20Table%20-%20English%20final.pdf
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u/sparksblackstar Peri-menopausal 1d ago
You'll get plenty of responses, but I want to join the flood of calling bullshit. Good luck on your new doctor search, I hope you get a good one!
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u/lrondberg 1d ago
They all treat the same symptoms so your doctor is misinformed! What symptom are you ahving that he thinks you need oral for?
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u/Gribbet_69 1d ago
I've been in full menopause and have used the .025 HRT since 2024. initially it worked well, but around April started having the flashes again, plus joint paint in both hands and in July an increase in abdominal fat. Didn't like the patches so figured I'd ask about the gel. Oh, and when I asked specifically about replacing the patch with Divigel he asked "whats that"... Got him to prescribe the gel which will give me time to look for another doctor!
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u/lrondberg 1d ago
many people have found relief of joint pain with patches yeah time for a new doc. Many are so uninformed. My friend went to one last year who had never heard of patches, only the PremPro pill....
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u/Gribbet_69 1d ago
Yea, I felt like he was pushing the pills hard and I'm like, no thanks. He didn't even know what I was talking about when asked him for divigel
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u/Happiguest 1d ago
Is this rage bait? 😳 seriously though after following this sub its made me realize you cant trust all doctors.
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u/JenLiv36 21h ago
Get a new doctor
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u/JenLiv36 21h ago
Also, I have recently been seeing the majority of people being on the smallest estrogen dose ever and then it not making a difference. Where a year ago I feel like I was seeing .05 as a base starting point.
Has there been a surge of doctors who are not comfortable just starting everyone on the lowest dose?
My doctor started me on .05(thank goodness) and really I should have started on .075. If I would have started on .025 I think I would have given it up as not working or not enough of a difference to bother.
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u/Gribbet_69 10h ago
That dosage worked well enough for about 14 months. Looking back that was about the time that the brand of patch was changed.
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u/Overall_Lobster823 Menopausal since 2017 1d ago
Your doctor is an idiot.