Of course! I got my blood work pulled on day 3 of my cycle (follicular phase).
Total test: 15.7 ng/dL
Free test: 1.1 pg/mL
Sensitive e2: 13.3 pg/mL
Progesterone: 0.3 ng/mL
DHEA: 158 ng/dL
LH: 3.8 mIU/mL
FSH: 10.2 mIU/mL
TSH: 1.74 uIU/mL
The reason I’m jumping straight to DIY is cost, really. I have heard great things about Defy and also about Hormonesforme (I’ve watched Ryan Root on YouTube and he clearly knows his shit.)
Thank you
Hey, I’m a woman in peri and on hrt. I’ll be 43 next week and started hormones right after turning 41. It’s been great! I’ve tracked symptoms/cycles for almost 15y and looking back definitely hit peri mid 30s. It started with shitty sleep, but I had a 3yo and 4 other boys, then so figured it was that
Your estrogen is low, but it’s supposed to be low on day 3. Mine has been anywhere from 25pg/ml to high 100s when testing. To get the progesterone you’d want to test it closer to say 21, that’s when it peaks.
I am getting ready to leave town, so might disappear, but wanted to share my experience. I use Defy and am on injections for estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. Actually just had a follow up yday. Starting out with 2mg a week is on the higher end, because we do still make some hormones so a surge can push you high. I was told we’d start at 1mg a week then titrate up if symptoms persisted after 6-8 weeks.
I started having bleeding every 2 weeks at 1mg split twice a week. It got to the point that even doing .25mg would make bleeding restart within a few hours. After 1.5mos of that, I quit the E altogether and waited for progesterone injx I’d gotten from India pharm to come in. I ordered it on my own because the wait for Defy was over a month out. I had a normal cycle and restarted both the prog and e injx. I was already on 300mg oral p and had tried using it vaginally without success. I didn’t tell Defy what I did afa sourcing progesterone on my own, but told them I wanted to switch to injx and why.
All that said, after I started the e injx initially, aside from the bleeding, I felt amazing. I’d been on e patches and switched because I quit absorbing them and started reacting to the adhesive. Adding test onto things made a huge difference. I never got enough lubrication from e alone, and even using lube sucked. Test fixed that completely and I don’t even need lube anymore. I also use Bezwecken suppositories to help with feeling like I need to pee when I don’t. It’s like uti symptoms but not a uti. The Bezweken dhea is double the dose of rx Intrarosa, so I either cut it in half, or dose every other day while using the Bezwecken estriol/dhea combo. I also like a cream called Vulva Dose for outside use. Reg rx e cream helped some initially, but didn’t last. I still use it though.
Did you check your thyroid? Mine crapped out mid 30s with Hashi’s, but I only had to go on meds after 40.
Also my husband uses hormones for me and likes them. He’s got a Facebook group and the women who use them have had a good experience. When I compared them to Defy the pricing was pretty close, but HFM was cheaper.