I'm definitely planning to ask my doctor for both OMP and estrogen gel, for a number of reasons:
1. Symptom relief (hot flashes suck, and I'm not enjoying the joint pain, poor sleep, extra anxiety, blah blah blah.)
2. Bone protection (I already have osteopenia)
3. Colon cancer prevention (HRT seems to reduce the risk of the disease my dad died of.)
Seems to me like it might make sense to start progesterone, take it for a few months, then add in estrogen. Would make it easier to figure out what's causing side effects if something causes side effects.
It's basically me and, like, two other people who've ever used the #perimenopause hashtag. 😂
I did NOT expect this many people to be interested in my posts about #perimenopause. That's great! We need to talk about it more! It's something around half the population goes through if they live long enough.
It tends to sneak up on people. All of a sudden, they're more anxious and getting crappy sleep, and feeling tired and lousy and wondering what the hell is wrong with them. Then their periods get wacky. And then hot flashes start. And then it's like -- OHHHHH, THIS MUST BE THAT.
People should know more about it in advance! I didn't know anything.
@APBBlue I’ve got a Mirena and I think it’s doing a little bit on the progesterone front but not maybe enough. Planning to discuss HRT with OBGyn at next visit in December. The sleep is the worst thing but now I realize maybe I’m starting to get hot flashes too. And my mood is so bad and random.
Oct 10, 2026, 5:37 PM@APBBlue taking both progesterone (2weeks on - 2 weeks off) and estradiol patches. Started 3 years ago after being incredibly fed up with all my joint pains, tennis elbows and more of those stupid things. After 2 weeks I was snapping my fingers without pain, after 4 weeks I was digging in the garden. --> still digging. 💃
Changed estrogen dosages twice. (Once up, once down), now laying low and hoping it stays like this. (Joint pain sometimes here, but then I take a new patch a bit sooner.
Could be placeboeffect, but voila.
Oct 10, 2026, 9:58 PM@Franka
thanks for sharing! I asked my gynaecologist for a gel but she told me she won't prescribe this because I still have an uterus 😑 I asked her why I couldn't just also take progesterone to prevent unintentional side effects, but she refused and gave me some tablets instead which I didn't feel like taking so far.
So I opted for psychopharmacology instead which helped with depression and sleeping problems and also decreased the hot flashing a lot. But I'd still rather go for the hormones, learning from you that they help with joint pain... Guess I'll need to change doctors...
Thanks for the #perimenopause exchange initiative @APBBlue
@raVeN I highly recommend changing doctors. The thing I keep learning over and over is that you have to advocate for yourself, and you can’t expect your doctor to be up to date on the latest in women’s health science. Even female doctors are out of date. It’s depressing but it’s the truth.
Oct 11, 2026, 2:20 AM@APBBlue Can’t really contribute but I’m taking notes. Thank you for your service 🫡
@APBBlue Just a shout out to say thank you for using this hashtag which we should all talk about more! Also thank you for teaching me that joint pain can be a #perimenopause thing. Did not know that. UGH.
@sundogplanets SO MANY THINGS 😑
@APBBlue Here are my lessons learned from seeking help and advocating for myself to figure out wtf was happening to me.
First off, general practitioners for premenopausal symptoms - totally useless. They do hormone tests and nutrition tests, but are only looking for levels so low you would be basically dying. Scrap that. Go to a functional medicine wellness practice. Everything is out of pocket but you may be able to file an insurance claim. It’s also worth finding out if you’re actually really low on iron, vitamin D, etc. because the GPs are, once again, looking for levels so low you’d be dead, and don’t seem to be aware of factors like “quality of life”.
I take progesterone and have a testosterone implant. Lots of people think HRT is only estrogen but women have other hormones that need supplements too. Low testosterone can mean low libido, and low progesterone can lead to fatigue.
I haven’t really had hot flashes but interestingly enough I finally have regular periods for the first time in my life, and it makes me wonder if these hormone treatments might have been helpful during my entire reproduction years rather than just when hitting the end. I get the feeling that most medicine and doctors are terribly wrong when it comes to women’s health overall.
@suzannealdrich I must be lucky, because my GP (young dude) is more than happy to prescribe HRT for me without testing, but I want to check in with my gyn first.
@APBBlue the weird thing is the GPs I approached bout testing or amendment were women, so I would have thought they’d be, I don’t know, a bit more curious or supportive of my journey, but no. They were clearly still on the “HrTs cAuSE StROkEs!” bandwagon and more concerned about my T implant causing side effects, which I assured them I had been properly informed of and hadn’t seen a single thing off. Honestly, I felt like they thought I was some kind of hormone freak, going to a private wellness clinic by myself to get the treatment they are too ill informed to consider.
@APBBlue I’m halfway thinking of getting into the wellness clinic business myself! I’m going off island to get this, so there’s clearly a need here, and a well designed marketing campaign could help relieve many other women of symptoms that are seriously impacting their quality of life! Untapped market potential.
@suzannealdrich It's nuts how every woman (if she lives long enough) goes through it and yet it seems like it's so hard for many of us to get any useful help.