I had a bad experience with bioidentical hormones. What information can you give me on this topic?

I am so glad I found this forum. Everyone raves about Bio hormones, but I found they made my symptoms much worse. It was a horrible and expensive experience for me. The doctor kept telling me to tough it out, but she was not in my body. Now just hoping I can find something that will help with my hot flashes and night sweats. They are back stronger than ever.

Anyone have slight bleeding after getting off progesterone? I went off in May and had the bleeding in July. The doctor said he was not surprised. However, I had a very slight bleeding at the end of September and then the end of October. The doctor says this is worrisome but can't find anything. I am thinking it is the progesterone. Had some cramping in September but took some Chinese herbs and did an acupuncture session and it seemed to alleviate it. My pap smear has come back unsatisfactory, meaning there is something interfering with a reading of it one way or the other.

I was wondering if anyone of you ladies out there have experienced bad leg (and sometimes arm) pain. Been on 1ml Biest (20% Estradiol and 80% Estriol) as well as 1 100mg Progesterone capsules at night. The pain in my thighs started about 1-2 months in and has gotten progressively worse. My calf and thighs muscles are painful now. It is really only on exertion, but my arms can pain on and off for no reason . Dr's seem puzzled and yet I see muscle cramps being mentioned on the net as a possible side effect of hormone replacement .... Mine just seems worse. I have been on the treatment for about 9 months. I had quite severe menopausal symptoms so I am not keen on weaning myself off of the BHRT, but I cannot live with this pain any longer. Thanks and good luck to all you ladies on this hormone roller-coaster!

My problem wasn't with progesterone like I think most of your's was but with testosterone. My testosterone was twice as high as a man's should be. It made me terribly ill and the same happened to a friend of mine. Actually, I have been n this thread for a long time. In fac I started one similar one but perhaps my problem has nothing to do with hormones. My organs were failing, all of them. Prayers from every church in our town I credit for my recovery because I truly don't know what was wrong with me. I was at mayo for a month and they treated all my symptoms but didn't know why. I no longer have any of these things but for six months I was incontinent, diabetic, had NASH, extremely low thyroid, high iron, high copper. Not just a little high but very high. I had/have a kidney tumor and colon polyps. I am fine now with none of those problems except the kidney tumor but it s very small and not growing. This all happened after starting the bio- identical hormones but I'm thinking it was something besides the hormone now because my symptoms were so different than any of yours. I had no panic attack problems. I just couldn't sit up. Couldn't eat, sleep was not good and was so sick I couldn't speak. I know. Should just thank God I'm fine now and move n and do thank God but I still have to wonder what was wrong. Guess I will never know.

I went on these natural hormones almost 1 year ago. I had a hysterectomy when I was 34 and had my ovaries removed when I had Colon cancer and they removed part of my Colon. That was 4 years ago. I am 57. My doctor told me I had very low hormone levels when I had the blood work done. My question is, can I get along with not taking any hormones? I have a severe sleep problem, but the hormones have not fixed that. I was thinking the hormones were going to be my shining light, but I'm not sure they have helped at all. Anyone else with the same question?

Well. I have been off progesterone since the beginning of May. I did it in 10 days. I was on progesterone all the time and no other hormones. I was ok for about a week. The heaviness in my chest that felt like I was having a panic attach went away and I have not had it since. However, I started having terrible symptoms of anxiety. I had read on this forum that someone had to go on xanax for 2 - 3 months till the progesterone was out of her system. So I went to the doctor (not the one who prescribed progesterone) and told him what I thought as my bp was hard to control. He said I needed to take a anti-anxiety which I didn't really want to do. He didn't want to prescribe xanaz so he suggested a SSRI and let me pick. Since my daughter had been on Effecor, I went on a low dose. He told me not to read the side effects so I thought ok. I have to get this anxiety under control. I went on the Effexor on June 6. On June 20 I was to leave for a month long visit to Peru. I was supposed to go back just before I left but didn't because I didn't want a higher dose. So I started taking it but it supposedly doesn't work for 2 - weeks. I still had anxiety including the first week in Peru. But I was putting pressure on myself to get things done around the house and was nervous about my trip as I was going alone. By the second week in Peru, the anxiety was gone. I actually felt myself relax and handled everything quite well. So I didn't want to stay on it too long and started reducing the dosage (the doc said take a month to get off it). I did great. I had NO anxiety with taking it every other day. Last week I went to every 3 days which was the same week I returned to the US. Well, I thought I had a parasite. I have not felt good at all (nauseous, dizzy, headaches, can't sleep). So I looked up Effexor and the same effects. However, NO anxiety. So I guess I will try to deal with this and continue to decrease the dosage of Effexor! I am going back to Peru. I don't think western doctors know what they are doing! Very frustrated.