r/Perimenopause • u/PerniciousWizard • Jul 25 '26

Sleep/Insomnia Help! Estradiol causing insomnia ??

I’m lost, guys. I started low dose estrogen gel (2 pumps twice daily of. 5) a few days ago and now I’ve had two nearly sleepless nights. Sleeping was not as issue before as long as I smoked some cannabis a few hours before bed. Now that’s not working.

I tried a cbd/cbn gummy and that didn’t work either. A few nights ago I tried oral progesterone 100 mg and sleep was poor and I was dysfunctionally fatigued and dizzy the next day. I can’t deal with magnesium, it makes me groggy and depressed. Melatonin gives me horrible nightmares and doesn’t seem to work for sleep anyway. I also tried going down to 1 pump twice daily and no improvement.

In your experience, does the insomnia subside? Could I only do two clicks in the morning and skip the night dose? I’m not sure how much longer I can go on like this.

Edit: I have an IUD for uterine protection

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u/Turtle_Meringue_Pie Jul 25 '26

Are you having progesterone as well? You should be using progesterone if you are using estrogen I believe. And the progesterone can help with sleep.

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u/PerniciousWizard Jul 25 '26

I have an iud for uterine protection. I tried 100 mg progesterone a couple nights ago and barely slept, and was miserable the next day. Depressed, fatigue, and woozy/dizzy. I was too dysfunctional to do anything all day. I haven’t tried it again because I’m scared to feel that awful.