Dear Megs2, I am not a doctor but have been through so much with menopause too much to get into. If you read some other topics you will see my story. I just started with bio-identical hormone replacement pellets. You should look into it. Just google it and you will open yourself up to a new world. Just started 5 weeks ago and feel a difference already. Prior to beginning I was on estrogen patch for 2 years. I also take 100 mg of prometrium every night and still do even with pellets its important when you have all your parts. Hoe you will look into it and good luck. Let me know how you do. lostnj

Since alesse is a combintion of synthetic progestin and (synthetic) estradiol, I wonder why you attribute any "improvement" to "progesterone?" Alesse is a triphasic oral contraceptive meaning that the pills are three different combinations and each combination is to be taken sequentially. While I don't know the specifics about Alesse most of these types of oral contraceptives have a "low" dose of estrogen along with a "low" dose of progestin in the first group, a higher dose of both drugs in the second, and a lower estrogen dose along with a still higher dose of progestin in the third. This type of pill is not suitable for continuous administration because it depends on your having a "washout" time period at the end of the cycle of pills before you begin on the next package. The difference in progestin dose between the first group of pills and the last is enough to induce the withdrawal bleeding you experienced when you go directly from the pills in the last group to the pills in the first group of the next package. One of the more common and more serious side effects of oral contraceptives is depression. Either estrogen, progestin/progesterone or a combination of the two may cause depression. I would seek medical advice about this. If your doctor doesn't return calls or makes you wait for three months to get assistance, you might need to go looking for a doctor who is more responsive to the needs of his/her patients. Refusal to return calls borders on malpractice and you might wish to report this doctor to your state medical association and/or your insurance company.

The idea is that progesterone is the raw building material for a number of hormones, one of which is testosterone. In peri-menopause, our testosterone production drops dramatically. Testosterone is one of the key hormones influencing libido (but not the only thing involved in sexual response). Some of us can compensate for its decline; others cannot. The situation is worsened by taking estrogen, in a way, in that estrogen increases levels of a protein that binds testosterone. When you have fully-functional ovaries, these things balance out: you make enough testosterone to still have enough left after the protein gloms its share. When your ovarian production goes down, as in menopause, and you take HRT that contains estrogen, you are in effect hitting the testosterone with a double whammy: lower output and the protein to skim off what you do have. By adding progesterone, some women find they are able to manufacture enough testosterone again to regain their libido. Others, in whom the libido loss is due to some other problem, may not find progesterone helpful in that regard (although it may or may not be in other ways). Generally speaking, there's no way to tell whether it will help or not without trying it. But oral progesterone should work for this as well as the cream does. There are women for whom oral progesterone is ineffective--either because they do not absorb it or they too readily get rid of it--and for them, a trial of the cream form may be useful to see if it's route-related. The main difference between oral and cream seems to be that the oral route produces more sedating metabolites; otherwise, they should work the same way.

Wow!! Carol, I'm happy for you. Heel to toe for 8 steps takes a lot of coordination, and YOU DID IT. When my kid was 4 years old, she would be so happy when I lost weight on the scale ... health for my friends cheer me up more than roses. I'm elated when I heard Garran home & healthy, and I'm happy about rain for Jess & no more thorns in her toe. I am happy when my daughter is happy. I'm sure that's how God, our Father in heaven, feels .. He's happy when His children (us) are happy. My kid has a friend came over today (same age). The friend was on Ensure (canned nutrition with soy milk) .. her skin was clean this past summer. I did research on soy milk and thyroid disorder, yes, there's a slight link, esp. with carrageenan added. So I e-mailed this teenager info., and her nutritionist switched this gal from Ensure (soy-based) to Kefir (fermented cow-milk). Fast forward today, this friend gets pimples on her face. I feel bad since the bad news about dairy didn't come out until this year. I google thoroughly when I switched my child from soy-milk to cow milk .. could not find a link between cow milk and acne until recently. But I learn something: always look at how many people are involved in any study. The thyroid & soy link are just a few personal testimonies, versus the below: " The famous Nurse's Health Study examining health habits of 47,000 nurses found that those who drank more milk as teenagers had much higher rates of severe acne than those who had little or no milk as teenagers. In other studies of over 10,000 boys and girls from 9 to 15 years old, there was a direct link between the amount of milk consumed and the severity of acne." Today I'm back to the diet that I was on when I was skinny: soy milk (new formula without carrageenan) & high fiber cereal ... I feel so much better & more energy. My kid loves her cereal & soy milk. She could NOT handle cow-milk either .. she's lactose-intolerant. I checked on soy milk again before I switch back: if the soy-protein is concentrated, like soy Isolate in faked meat, then it will screw up the thyroid. If the soy is concentrated and made on aluminum equipment, like tofu, then that will UP the risk of Alzheimer's. But soy milk in low dose with cereal, isn't bad ... at least it's freed of hormones, antibiotics, feces, and pus like in cow's milk. Soy milk is easier to digest, plus zero cholesterol. What I like the most is: it smells clean, NOT strong like cow-milk.