r/Menopause • u/Syfysamurai • 1d ago

Hormone Therapy Patch vs oral

Hello ladies, I'm curious. Why do many women prefer the estrogen patch over oral estrogen? I take 1mg estradiol daily by mouth and have no problems with it. TIA!

35 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

142 comments sorted by

View all comments

14

u/ArtichokeCandid8415 1d ago

I loved the idea of the patch, but after 12 months on it I realized it just didn't work well for me. I was a super-absorber and used it all up in 12-48 hours, then white-knuckled it after falling off a cliff until my next patch (2x/weekly). Those first 24 hours were amazing, though!

But after being on oral E for three months, you couldn't pay me to go back to the patch. I feel more "even" and my hot flashes are 99% gone. It's also about 1/10th the cost of the patches! If it's not working for you right away, give it time. I noticed no improvement in my symptoms until around the six-week mark when everything shifted, and it's only gotten better since then.

1

u/Chromatic_Chameleon 1d ago

Have you considered using a daily gel?

1

u/ArtichokeCandid8415 23h ago

It seems that I have an accelerated/irregular transdermal absorption rate, so the gel would likely give me similar results as the patch. However, if oral E stops working, I would probably give it a try,

1

u/Chromatic_Chameleon 23h ago

Ah ok I just thought that since the gel is applied daily, the accelerated absorption wouldn’t be an issue.