After pouring over Peat's articles and this forum, I am still a bit unclear whether a woman can truly have low estrogen and what lab tests can be done to make sure the estrogen level is accurate. I am 51 yo woman, with diagnosed endometriosis in my late teens. Over the years I have always made a conscious effort to watch for estrogens in my environment, in my food, etc. I also use Progesterone regularly (either Progest-E or Progesterone in Vit E from Forefront Health). My saliva hormone tests over the years have shown I have a good level of Progesterone to Estrogen.
3 months post op from a major surgery I started having extreme hot/cold "flashes" that I thought was related to my meds but once off those, I think it is perimenopause. My most recent saliva test is showing almost zero estrogen. I need relief from these flashes because they are so bad I don't sleep at all.
My question is whether I should truly be looking at low estrogen? Everything I've read on here and Peat's articles is saying Progesterone is the way to go but I have already been taking pretty good quantities of progesterone and experimented during these hot flashes with it and I think it does make them worse. I don't want to add estrogen because of all the evils, but IF I am truly low then I do need some. My dr. recommended Black Cohosh. I know there are some herbal remedies, which is the route I'd go--not estrogen directly. Any insight would be awesome!
Thank you.
3 months post op from a major surgery I started having extreme hot/cold "flashes" that I thought was related to my meds but once off those, I think it is perimenopause. My most recent saliva test is showing almost zero estrogen. I need relief from these flashes because they are so bad I don't sleep at all.
My question is whether I should truly be looking at low estrogen? Everything I've read on here and Peat's articles is saying Progesterone is the way to go but I have already been taking pretty good quantities of progesterone and experimented during these hot flashes with it and I think it does make them worse. I don't want to add estrogen because of all the evils, but IF I am truly low then I do need some. My dr. recommended Black Cohosh. I know there are some herbal remedies, which is the route I'd go--not estrogen directly. Any insight would be awesome!
Thank you.