u/ungulatealphabet

I'm recently off HRT after a cancer diagnosis, in surgical menopause, and severe hot flashes have returned. My menopause specialist prescribed me Lynkuet and I'm on day 2 of trying it. I'm taking half the dose, 1 pill, just to see if I tolerate it before dosing up. So far, even a half dose has been effective in shortening the duration of most hot flashes, but I'm not loving the side effects so I'm hesitant to try it full strength:

- In the morning I feel weak, shaky, groggy, a little dizzy, and foggy brained for a few hours

- All day I feel a little sleepy and lethargic

- It's increased my acid reflux

If side effects stay at this level it will be very difficult to return to work in a few weeks.

TL;DR: I'm wondering if anyone who has been on Lynkuet can tell me:

- If you had side effects like mine, how long until they went away?

- If they never went away, how long before you threw in the towel and tried something else?

- If Lynkuet didn't work for you, what did you try next?

(edited for typos: brain fog!)

I've posted a few times on this forum about my experiences going on estrogen after 5 years in remission for endometrial cancer. I was delighted that I was cleared to be on it, and despite the many side effects I experienced as I dosed up, it was worth it for how effective it finally was for my mood, sleep, hot flashes, energy, and cognition when I got the dosage right.

I'm so devastated to say, though, that my cancer came back. I've had pelvic exams regularly for 5 years and that never caught a very large tumor that had probably been growing slowly since my original hysterectomy. My oncologist thinks being on estrogen didn't cause the tumor, but probably sped its growth.

Because endometrial cancer recurrence is so rare, no one thought to offer me an ultrasound or MRI in those 5 years of screening. It doesn't seem to be standard practice.

This isn't to scare anyone in my position—my oncologist thinks what happened to me is pretty rare—but I urge anyone who is also in remission for endometrial cancer to ask for an transvaginal ultrasound before starting estrogen, and to ask for regular ultrasound screenings while on it. I'm pretty pissed that this wasn't offered to me before I went on HRT.

I'm now off estrogen and exploring non-hormonal treatments, and I hope some combination will get me where I need to be again. My oncologist did say I can try estrogen again in 5 years if nothing else is working, and if I do try it again I know I'll be getting far more rigorous cancer screenings before and during.

I have a friend who I've known for about a year. She works with my husband but we also have other mutual friends. I like her, but she's kind of a boundary pusher without realizing it. She's always inviting me to things she likes to do that I've told her I don't like (sports games, hot days at the beach) so I'm always turning her down. When we do hang out, she wants to really lock in the next time we'll hang out. She called me her "new best friend" after our first hang out, which seemed a little extra. So basically while I do really like her, the friendship takes some energy from me to hold boundaries.

Then two things happened pretty recently:

1. She became my husband's direct supervisor at their work.

2. I got cancer.

The thing about cancer is that she's a survivor, too. She offered me any kind of support I needed, and so in the weeks leading up to my surgery I had a call with her. It was rough. She basically detailed her own nightmarish experiences with cancer that lasted for many years, including scary surgery complications. It was the opposite of what I needed to hear, and I kept trying to cut her off when she'd say, "Maybe you don't want to hear this, but—" and I'd say, "Yeah, I don't want to" but she'd keep going. She didn't offer any helpful advice from her own experiences and she didn't listen to me about what I actually needed. I politely cut our call short.

Now I'm about a week post surgery and facing chemo soon. She continues to text me every other day with offers of support. If she weren't my husband's supervisor I'd feel fine about saying, "hey, that last phone call really sucked for me, let's take a step back." I have plenty of other people supporting me, luckily. But I know from him that she doesn't take feedback like that well. I know I don't need to stay friends with this person just because she's my husband's supervisor, but I do see her often as we move in the same worlds and it will be complicated to be in direct conflict with her.

TL;DR: How do I tell someone who really wants to be helpful to back off because she isn't, in a way that won't come down on my husband at his job?

For countries who once had fascist or authoritarian rulers and no longer do, is there a most common cause for régime change like popular uprisings, economic shifts, or foreign invasion? Or is each case more time-and-place specific?

Hello beloved hag community,

I'm a plus-sized non-binary person who likes to dress fairly masc/androgynous, but for summers I must wear loose linen dresses or risk passing out in the heat. I have no problem with leaning into femme as long it's camp, but because I'm fat and AFAB they don't make a lot of interesting clothes in my size and I end up defaulting to mother-in-law on the beach clothing (no shade to mother-in-laws and beaches, just not my vibe or gender).

This year I want to make some of my existing dresses + long sleeved button ups more fabulous. I'm open to cropping, tie-dye, embroidery, hand-painting, etc. but I can't figure out where to begin.

Anyone have inspo to share of interesting patterns / cuts / colors / adornment on otherwise ho-hum summer house dresses? The queerer the better. Thanks!

Hi all,

An update on my estradiol journey (I've posted here a few times before when it was gnarly). This might help someone who's just begun or considering beginning.

I started on a .0375 transdermal patch in September. Felt nothing till I moved the patch from my thigh to belly in November. Had about six months of intense side effects as I was getting used to it and dosing up—anxiety, fatigue, feelings of doom, nausea and lack of appetite, jitteriness. Deeply unpleasant and I eventually started cutting up patches to dose up more gradually. I still have all the same side effects for about a month each time I go up, but they've gone down to about a 4 instead of a 10. Oh, and I realized I can only use Dotti brand. Allergic to Sandoz and Mylan does absolutely nothing for me.

Now I'm on .06 and going to stay here for awhile. My hot flashes have gone from 20-30 in 24 hours (with most of those intense enough that my heart is racing, I'm sweating, and it's hard to focus on anything else) to about 2-4 in that same time period, and the ones I have now are so mild—a few seconds of face flushing and wanting to take off my cardigan, then gone. I'm still waking up once or twice a night, but it's far better than 8 times a night and easy to fall back asleep.

The best thing is I just feel like myself again. My concentration, energy levels, and general mood are all so improved. I'm in less overall pain. My sex drive is back (but not at distracting/make bad decisions levels). I think maaaaaybe my thinning hair is getting thicker, or at least not thinning any more. I look in the mirror and, at certain angles, recognize the self that used to feel hot when they looked in the mirror.

I live with a few chronic conditions and nothing has disabled me more than perimenopause. I feel like I lost six years of my life before I was able to go on HRT, and I hope I never have to go off it again.

Sending love to all of you navigating rapidly changing bodies in a system that doesn't support us nearly as much as we all deserve. <3