I went to a weaker dose for a couple of months then quit. I went through mild menapause symptons, no big deal. I only took hormones to help with transition from a hysterectomy to menapause.

You may get a few menopausal symptoms again, because you are lowering your level of estrogen. However they shouldn't be as severe as befre the HRT. You have been on low levels so it may just have gotten you over the hump. Try eating or drinking soy products. Soy beans have natural plant estrogen. A good diet will help too. You will always produce some estrogen. Just not at the high doses you did before menopause.

I am so sorry you have had this suffering from going off your HRT. I too, have had a sudden onset on terrible symptoms from an inability to be able to buy my HRT lately. I have been on HRT since my hysterectomy in 1991. I started on premrin, changing the strengths until we knew that was not working for me, went to estrace, then patches, then injections; all making me feel like a lab animal, going through too many changes over the years. It was 3 years ago that I read about Estring, and asked my Dr if I could try it. It was PERFECT! No more dryness, no more remembering to take my meds (it lasts 3 months) and most of all, no more worry about the breast cancer threats from all the other ones. This was my magic ring, and the amount that was absorbed into my blood was so insignificant, that I knew I had found the answer to all my problems. I had balanced out perfectly, and needed nothing more than my ring once every 3 months. 2 months ago, I came into a situation that prevented me from being able to buy my estring, and have not been able to buy it yet. Since then, I have entered, SUDDEN, full blown menopause, and this is not a joke. I have become a basket case; emotionally and mentally, physically I cannot sleep, am stressed constantly, and have tension headaches that overwhelm me. I am looking forward to when I can resume buying my estring, and will NEVER go off it again, if I can help it. I do not want to have to go through this again, for any reason. I'm afraid I have lost all quality of life in my state now, and just want to get back to feeling like a normal, and sane woman again. After having found such a safe HRT, I would never even consider the thought of going off it on purpose. I agree that "quality" of life takes precedence over trying to be a model of healthy intake at this stage of the game. I do everything else I can to be healthy, and being ON HRT gives me a far more healthy brain, body, and emotional state of being.

The old tried and true best method for weight loss is to find out approximately how many calories you use per day as a base metabolic rate (generally based on height and weight) then eat less than that number of calories per day. Less in than out equals weight loss. You can easily learn to count calories by getting a basic calorie count book and by reading labels. Mrs H