Are my remaining symptoms perimenopause?

[WitchingHour2point0]

I've just done bloods after 13 weeks on a stable dose (150mcg T4 & 30mcg T3) which are as follows:

TSH: 0.007

T4: 18.7 (12-22) 67%

T3: 6 (3.1 - 6.8) 78%

My vits are low but also stable since I quit gluten, I will work on them.

Folate: 12.2 (>7)

Vit D: 67 (50-250)

Ferritin: 77 (30-150)

Recent female hormones test results were:

(On day 4 which turned out to be ovulation phase due to a 14 day cycle. 🙄)

Albumin: 41 (35 - 50)

SHGB: 115 (32.4 - 128) 86%

FSH: 13.6 (4.7 - 21.5) 53%

LH: 33.9 (14 - 95.6) 24%

Oestradiol: 850 (222 - 1959) 36%

Testosterone: 0.007 (0.003 - 0.033) 13%

FAI: 0.9 (0.297 - 5.62) 11%

Prolactin: 307 (102 - 496) 52%

Peri symptoms were awful before these bloods; night sweats for a full week. Hot flashes that lasted hours. Irritability. Difficulty dropping off to sleep...

Remaining consistent symptoms are mostly fatigue; not enormous but I've definitely felt better.

Tinnitus, burning feet, lack of appetite, difficulty getting up in the morning, brain fog, difficulty concentrating or finding motivation.

I'd be grateful for some thoughts. 🙂

*Edit to add:* my antibodies have increased on this test compared to October 23 so perhaps that's playing into things too?

[CornishChick]

I’ll leave it to the experts here for advice. You seem quite young for perimenopause, has that been confirmed?

Are you on HRT? Your testosterone is a little low. I saw a private hormone GP who prescribed HRT for low testosterone, that is the first thing to try as GP’s mostly refuse to prescribe T.

Hopefully the others can help with your results.

[WitchingHour2point0 in reply to CornishChick]

Yes, unfortunately, it's confirmed perimenopause. I ought to have said in my post! I'm on a starter dose of HRT but it's a job to unpick which symptom is caused by what! 😂

[CornishChick in reply to WitchingHour2point0]

Yes so many overlaps! I don’t think your thyroid bloods look too bad and symptoms do sound very menopausal. I think they should be monitoring you and increasing oestrogen if they continue. It’s more about symptoms than bloods with menopause.

You’ll perhaps know more when your vitamins have improved a bit. In the meantime if it were me, I’d ask the GP for an HRT increase.

[TiggerMe Ambassador]

Tinnitus, burning feet, lack of appetite, difficulty getting up in the morning, brain fog, difficulty concentrating or finding motivation.

I'm thinking low B vits especially B12 and B1

Also getting your Vit D up will make a surprising difference

Oestrogen is at a good level but irritatingly they never test progesterone so quite how you are supposed to balance your hormones?

SHBG is pretty high so a lot of bound hormones

I bought a cheap test which covered progesterone too from Randox

Thyroid levels looking good so I'd concentrate on sex hormones 🤗

[CornishChick in reply to TiggerMe]

Why don’t GPs test progesterone?!

[TiggerMe Ambassador in reply to CornishChick]

Who knows 🤷‍♀️ seems ridiculous when many are oestrogen dominant

[WitchingHour2point0 in reply to TiggerMe]

Yes, that was my inclination too. If I were to increase oestrogen, what would I increase by? (I have 50mcg patches.)

I'll take a look at Randox now.

[redmums]

Your testosterone is very low for your age. Have you ever tried DHEA supplements? I take it. I have below normal DHEA and testosterone. You will feel very fatigued with low dhea and testosterone. Have you done a ratio on your ft4 too ft3 before. I use the Optimal DX calculator to figure mine. It's very important to have them in the right ratio. You can have too much of one compared to the other and throw the balance off.

[WitchingHour2point0 in reply to redmums]

I had DHEA tested about a year ago and it was way over range. Not tested recently though.

I have been concerned about low T for awhile; specifically low muscle strength and zero stamina! I was hoping the HRT would help with it.

[redmums]

I've read that when testosterone and estrogen are normalized to the same units women usually have more testosterone than estrogen. I have used testosterone that has been compounded . It really does help with muscle, bone , memory, fatigue. Hope you get to feeling better.