Has anyone else experienced this reaction from "HRT"?
I was diagnosed with POI a few months ago.
I was told that this was a manageable condition and all that I needed to do was start birth control pills to replace the loss of estrogen and progesterone at a level more suited for my age (30s) and I would just need to take them until I was in my 50s or 60s. The OB/GYN acted like it was no big deal at all.
Well, in just a few days of trying the pill, my body literally started shutting down.
I went to the doctor concerned about how I had become even more fatigue and was having trouble breathing. Turns out my kidneys were starting to fail and my blood pressure which is typically low normal had skyrocketed. I was able to recover that same day with IV hydration and drinking lots of water. (I had already been hydrating with electrolyte mix before starting the pill because I am prone to dehydration. I am not on any other medications and have not been for most of my life.)
My primary doctor, the OB/GYN, and the endocrinologist I am now working with after releasing the OB/GYN, are all baffled by this reaction. But they are advising me that it was just the oral form that caused this and the transdermal estrogen patch and progesterone pill (probably Prometrium) will not cause the same reaction.
I am very concerned, to say the least, that something else is at play that I need to fully investigate before starting the transdermal estrogen patches and progesterone pills. I cannot eat phytoestrogen heavy foods like strawberries or flaxseed without my chest getting tight now. I tried taking DHEA-S and my blood pressure and fatigue skyrocketed again so I had to stop taking that too. I have had the standard autoimmune tests done and almost all of them came back negative. But I just want to make sure I don't end up in the hospital or worse this time when/if I try the transdermal route.
Has anyone else experienced this kind of reaction? What did you end up doing for treatment if so?
(I have HRT in quotation marks in the title because my understanding is birth control is not the recommended form of HRT for POI.)
TLDR: I started birth control pill as "HRT" (according to the poorly skilled OB/GYN) and within a few days my body started shutting down. I had to be administered IV hydration and recovered same day. I want to know if anyone else has had the same reaction and what treatment ended up working for you.