Oestrogel & Levothyroxine - having issues!

[TiredMummy]

Hi there,

Sometimes I just don’t think I’m getting anywhere & I’m going though that patch right now & wonder if anyone can offer any insights that might help.

I’m on oestrogel as peri-menopausal & Levothyroxine.

I’ve just had bloods done today for both oestrogen & thyroid & will post results with ref ranges when I get them next week. Meanwhile, according to a recent oestrogen tests via blood, I need to be on more oestrogen but according to a 24 hour urine test i did privately, I’m on too much & need to be on less.

Anyway, my question really is about whether anyone has any insights or experience as to why I might be really struggling at a certain time of the month with my medication.

All I know is this, I feel absolutely great from day 15 of my cycle right through to starting utrogestan (progesterone) for 7 days & fine up until the evening of day 5 of my cycle. Although I say I feel ‘great’, I do feel like I’ve had a double espresso but that could be a result of how my Levothyroxine is interacting with my Hormone status at this time of the month (I have Hashimoto’s).

Anyway, I feel like I can do anything at this time of the month, super optimistic, full of mental & physical energy.

From evening of day 5 of cycle (this is when oestrogen starts to rise naturally) my head starts to feel like it’s made of cotton wool, I start frowning shortly after applying the oestrogel & taking my Levo (but again, this is complicated by the fact I take my Levothyroxine at the same time as the gel), have extreme fatigue, nausea & headache & just look & feel awful! This lasts until around day 15.

I just wonder if anyone has any insights into why I might go from superwoman to Nora batty (on a very bad day) on a continual basis! I really wish I could understand what is going on as it’s starting to impact on my career, life, relationships etc in a scary way!

I know I have a T3 conversion problem &, as I said, I will post my latest results as soon as I can, so I’m wondering if my oestrogen is too high at this time of the month & hampering T3 conversion & leaving me with too much unconverted T4. I literally CRASH about and hour after applying the gel & taking my Levo in the mornings at the time of the month I’ve outlined yet I am zooming around like superwoman, feeling I can take on the world from day 15 of my cycle right through to day 5 of the next cycle!

I know I need my bloods on here & I know I need to try different timings of applying the gel & taking my Levo (e.g. taking Levo first perhaps & then applying oestrogen later when hopefully some T3 conversion has taken place) but I wondered if there were any other ladies out there suffering in the same way & if anyone had any insights or ideas?

Thank you for reading & any comments gratefully received!

[Hashi-Monster]

It’s not that oestrogen is hampering conversion, its that oestrogen increases TBG.

Thyroxine-binding globulin is a globulin that binds thyroid hormones in circulation. When thyroid hormones are bound they are not available (Free) to be used by yours cells. This can be seen in blood work where the Total T4 and T3 are good but the Free T4 and T3 are low.

This is why you feel better when taking the utrogestan as progesterone opposes the oestrogen and decreases TBG making more thyroid hormones free.

[TiredMummy in reply to Hashi-Monster]

Ok, that sounds really interesting, thank you Hashi-Monster. It certainly feels like the thyroid hormone isn’t getting into the cells. I wonder if there is anything I can do about this to alleviate the situation?

[Hashi-Monster in reply to TiredMummy]

I’m also peri-menopausal but I don’t have symptoms of low estrogen like hot flashes etc. So I choose just to supplement with natural progesterone cream 10mg every night, this really helps me.

I can only suggest that you try and reduce your dose of oestrogel to the minimum that relives your oestrogen deficiency symptoms.