Hot flashes from lack of estrogen

I have had anorexia for 27 yrs now. I'm 39 female. For the past 6 months or so I have been having severe hot flashes and I got my hormones checked at the gynecologist and she told me that I have low estrogen due to the malnutrition caused by the anorexia which is making my pituitary gland not produce the hormones needed to give me estrogen. I'm underweight and she is suggesting that I take hormone replacement therapy( estrogen patch) to eliminate the hot flashes. Does anyone know if that'll work to take away the hot flashes since it's cause is no estrogen in my body?

Also I know the real treatment is to gain weight and that hopefully with the better weight my hormones would turn back on but I'm not sure if the hormones will turn back on since I've only had like eight periods in my entire life and I've starved myself for so many decades.

[crazycrossstitcher]

HRT should help - I too had hot flushes and getting oestrogen helps - as does getting your weight back to a better level - so its worth a try and can't hurt.

[Hidden in reply to crazycrossstitcher]

So the HRT took away the hot flashes and feeling hot in my face all the time? Bc that's what I'm experiencing... even while I'm still underweight? And then once I get to a better weight that will ultimately take the hot flashes away?

And I have to ask of course, did the HRT cause weight gain? bc I'm worried that it will and that's why I've been fighting the estrogen patch all this time even though my hot flashes are so bad. Like I don't want to have to restrict fearing that the estrogen patch is going to cause weight gain and I've read reviews where some people say it does and some people says it doesn't so I wanted to know does it cause weight gain?

[crazycrossstitcher in reply to Hidden]

In my experience it did not cause weight gain. Suggest you try it - you can always stop if there are any problems.

[Hidden in reply to crazycrossstitcher]

Okay thank you so much. I pray to God that it does not cause any weight gain. I am supposed to start it on Tuesday when I go see the gynecologist and I'm very worried but I am going to try it because I am miserable with feeling hot all the time especially in my face. It's like if I knew that my body would react right I would just go ahead and gain the weight and let my body hopefully turn the hormones back on but like I said I'm just so scared that I'm going to have to supplement it with the HRT because I'm afraid my periods won't come back on their own and that my body won't ever produce that estrogen again no matter what weight I get to.Are you still taking the hormone replacement therapy for your hot flashes and did that take them away?

[crazycrossstitcher in reply to Hidden]

hot flushes went - I am now too old for HRT - I had it when I was first diagnosed anorexic and no oestrogen - another thing to consider is the effect no oestrogen may have on your bone density - without oestrogen your bone density is probably declining meaning your bones are increasingly brittle and may fracture easily - HRT can stop this drop in density - talk to the gynaecologist - and ask if you need a dexa scan to check your current bone density.

[Hidden in reply to crazycrossstitcher]

Would you PM me? I've been reading some of your posts and it sounds like you have had anorexia for a long time as well as me? It seems like you would have a lot to offer me and I was hoping that you wouldn't mind helping me as I really want to get better and it looks like you seem to have a lot of the experiences I'm having?

[Hidden in reply to crazycrossstitcher]

Do you know how long it took you for the hot flashes to go away with the hrt? I have now been on the estrogen patch for about 13 days and I'm not getting any relief and it's making me worried and discouraged that it's not going to work. How long did it take for it to make your hot flashes go away?

[Hidden]

Yes I do have severe osteoporosis and have broken T10-T12 in my back resulting in severe kyphosis- hunchback. I have been taking osteoporosis treatment and I'm about to start a new medicine evenity this week for my severe osteoporosis. This disease has been horrible on my bones and unfortunately I've had it for 27 years. I just had never had the hot flashes until this year but that's why I'm looking into the HRT is because I just can't stand the hot flashes anymore. So I'm glad to hear it should help take that away since I'm still underweight. My hope though is that eventually I could get a good enough weight to my body would give me back my estrogen but it's been 20 years since I've even had it. So I'm fearful that my period will never come back and that my body will never start making estrogen again no matter what weight I get to....

[crazycrossstitcher in reply to Hidden]

I've also started evenity - it has good reports of success - I'm told I shall need to wait for a year then they'll check to see how successful its been - seems to be one of the only treatments that actually regenerates bone so let's pray for both of us this is the case.

[Hidden in reply to crazycrossstitcher]

Yes I will pray for you and you please pray for me and yes I pray that the bones will get stronger and I hope that this medicine does wonders in helping me to rebuild bone and keep me from breaking any more bones. That's part of the reason I didn't want to end up in any kind of treatment center is because since you need the shots once a month I need to be able to be at home so that I can get these shots for my bones. I'm hoping the medicine will work quickly.

[Hidden in reply to crazycrossstitcher]

My gyno won't prescribe me the estrogen patch for the hot flashes because she says the cause is from the anorexia not making the estrogen in my body so she doesn't feel comfortable prescribing it. She says the only treatment is to get to a healthy body weight and then my body should hopefully produce the estrogen needed to turn the hot flashes off. Although of course no one knows if the estrogen will be produced again or not if I get to a healthy weight but that's my best bet. What am I supposed to do about these hot flashes in the meantime especially if I can't motivate myself to get to a healthy weight? I asked her that and she said that I would have to suffer with the hot flashes and she said the only thing that I could try is over the counter Estroven but I don't think that's really any different than black cohosh which is what I already take and that doesn't do much good at all for the hot flashes. I'm so discouraged an extreme discomfort because I'm already hot enough and then now they're going to be probably making me a brace for my back which is going to go front and back which is going to make me really really hot....

[Hidden in reply to crazycrossstitcher]

Okay so now the gynecologist has decided to take pity on me and is going to prescribe the hormone replacement therapy for me after all. So she prescribed the estrogen patch and told me also to take a progesterone pill at night. She told me to start this tomorrow because she's taking pity on me because of how miserable I am with my hot flashes and she has an anorexic daughter as well. So I'm happy that she's giving me a chance but I'm terrified of taking any kind of hormone replacement therapy because I've always read that weight gain is a side effect and I'm terrified that it's going to cause me to gain weight. But you said that it didn't cause you any weight gain so I'm just praying that I'll be one of those people like that that it doesn't cause any weight gain.

[Hidden in reply to crazycrossstitcher]

Sorry to bother you again but I'm getting worried.. I've been on that estrogen patch 0.75 mg for about 17 days which is over 2 and 1/2 weeks and I'm not getting any relief from my hot flashes at all.. the gynecologist acted like it would be two weeks and the endocrinologist felt like it would be more like a month before I would get relief. Do you think this is normal that I haven't gotten any relief yet from the estrogen patch? and did you get any relief in the first month? How quick was it for you when you were in my position and making no estrogen to get relief from the hot flashes with the estrogen patch?