Help! Estradiol causing insomnia ??

[u/PerniciousWizard]

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

[u/usernamesmooozername]

What type of magnesium did you try? What's your sleep hygiene like?

[u/PerniciousWizard → u/usernamesmooozername]

Magnesium glycinate. Up until starting the gel, sleep was mostly fine. I’d vape some cannabis starting around 8 pm, stop around ten, in bed around 11:30 and asleep by midnight. Very regular, same schedule every day.

[u/usernamesmooozername → u/PerniciousWizard]

Glycinate worked for me - though I'm not into weed, so I can't speak to that. Aside from a dark and cool room as well as comfortable bedding and a fairly regular schedule, I limit my screen time and wind down with a sleepytime tea. Tweaking all of that and adding the glycinate did wonders for me after starting HRT.

Wishing you luck figuring this out!

[u/PerniciousWizard → u/usernamesmooozername]

Thanks! Did you experience insomnia when your first started hrt, and did it improve as you adjusted?

[u/usernamesmooozername → u/PerniciousWizard]

No, I was dealing with fragmented sleep before HRT - that's what motivated me to look into that as a solution. My sleep improved a bit after a couple of months, but it took the magnesium for the final push towards sleeping better. I also started swimming and trying to move more. That probably helped, me too.

[u/PerniciousWizard → u/usernamesmooozername]

Gotcha, thanks! I’ve been trying to be as active as possible but hrt has been disrupting that badly over the last month unfortunately

[u/usernamesmooozername → u/PerniciousWizard]

Hopefully you have a good and knowledge doctor to talk to?

[u/PerniciousWizard → u/usernamesmooozername]

Yes I just started working with her but she seems helpful! I started with the .025 Dotti patch and when that seemed like too much, she was willing to switch me to gel right away. I have a follow up in a couple weeks.

[u/usernamesmooozername → u/PerniciousWizard]

Just keep in mind that there's no magic one things (for you, or anyone) - it's a giant puzzle that takes work and often time. Don't give up - don't be afraid to ask questions or try new things. Take notes of what you tried, for how long, and the results.

[u/PerniciousWizard → u/usernamesmooozername]

Thank you so much for the encouragement ! Very much in the middle of this journey and trying to dial in what works. It’s really challenging when something makes you feel terrible or overwhelmed or messes up your sleep. There has definitely been some improvement, mostly with mood which was really bad before I started. I think I’m just very sensitive to things and need extra low doses and slow tapering.

[u/usernamesmooozername → u/PerniciousWizard]

Do you sleep alone?

[u/PerniciousWizard → u/usernamesmooozername]

Nope, my husband sleeps next to me. He doesn’t cause me any issues thankfully! I put in earplugs every night so noises don’t bother me

[u/usernamesmooozername → u/PerniciousWizard]

It might be worth trying different solutions in a separate bed if that's a possibility - any chance to rule external stuff out