The doctors and the booklets say "apply two patches weekly," "X.XXXmg is how much estrogen is released daily," and "change patch weekly." A google search says basically the same thing.

Does this mean that you are supposed to put on one patch and keep it on for a few days and then put the other one on? Put on two patches at the same time and keep them on all week? Put on one patch then takeit off at the end of the day and then put the other one on a different day?

These things are confusing

Ask your doctor.

Well if say each patch is x mcg each and the patch manufacturer states to "change them weekly" and your doctor has prescribed you to apply "2 patches weekly" of x mcg giving a total of 2x mcg dosed per day; then you ought to stick two patches on and change them every week as indicated by the patch manufacturer. I would have thought from what you say, no?

If in doubt ask your doctor, as KayXo has said.

It's not really going to matter that much.  Provided you're changing each patch weekly, you're good to go.  Changing them on the same day makes it easier to remember to change them both (they're identical, and you might find yourself wondering which one is older if not).  Offsetting the days on which you change them works too, and supposedly "smooths out" the delivery, although when on single weekly patches I never really noticed any "highs" and "lows" in my system.

Try a system like changing the left-hand side patch on Monday morning and the right-hand patch on Thursday morning.  Or just stick to the same day.  Six of one, half a dozen of the other.

I found that the far bigger problem is how to get the damn things to stay stuck for a whole week.  A semi-stuck patch that falls off in the shower three times is going to have a far bigger impact on your dosage than the system you utilize for patch replacement.

Yes having a system to remember which patch is the older one and which is the newer helps. I stagger my 3 - 4 day patches as per my patch manufacturer; on one side of my body for the first set in the week and the other side for the second half of the week. Doing so this way allows the skin greater time to rest (as stipulated by my patch manufacturer) before the next one goes back onto that side again. It's especially important for me, as my patches are massive, so working out a fresh piece of skin where they can go is a challenge without them creasing and cutting my skin.

I've used two types of patches. It sounds like you have the ones that last a week, but there's also ones that last half that so you change them every 3-4 days.

I used to stagger the times so that they overlap to even out the blood levels.. So change one, then 3 days later change the other one, then 4 days later change the first again. The problem I found with these is getting it to stay on a week and skin irritation. The twice weekly ones way smaller, much less skin irritation and stayed on more easily. Once I changed to these I never went back to the weekly ones.

I also established a pattern of where they went to reduce the skin irritation, leaving as much time as possible before applying tot the same place again. It also made it easier to remember which one to change.

You might find you clothes rub them off depending on where you put them. I have read of people using extra (medical) adhesives to make them stay on, but I never tried that. I also had them higher on my body so that hot water didn't reach them easily in the bath. That's not good for keeping them on.

I was on them for years, but they were not very effective. My endo tells me that estrogen absorption in some people is not very good with patches. That was fine as I was after low dose anyway, but when I changed to implants the difference was dramatic. You might want to check your blood levels after a time to see how well they are working.

I've used gel also, but not pills or injections.

At least for me, I think patches are good to start with, but not really long term. Safer if you're older of course.

So they have to stay on ALL WEEK!? Wow! This sounds rough how do you shower with them on?

They are waterproof, well the ones I have are and are pretty much well stuck on provided you don't catch them on clothing.

Quote from: Leila on February 20, 2015, 03:52:38 PM
They are waterproof, well the ones I have are and are pretty much well stuck on provided you don't catch them on clothing.

Waterproof yes, but I don't think they much like prolonged hot water which was why I tried to keep them out of the bath water. I have to admit it was a while ago and I can't remember details.

Quote from: Leila on February 20, 2015, 03:52:38 PM
They are waterproof . . .

My patches were the most unwaterproof things ever.  Generic patches though, useless things, like big fat round foam band aids.  For the first day, they'd stick.  Then no matter where I put them on my body, by day three they were half-unstuck and would suck up shower water like sponges.  My wife was once on some tiny little thin transparent ones, like pieces of sticky tape, that were the opposite end of the spectrum in terms of adhesion.  Expensive though.  One would think that making something sticky enough without breaking the bank was a problem the human race would have solved by now.  I can't think of any reason the generics are useless when it comes to sticking other than for encouraging consumers to the branded and costlier versions.

I have very little problem with my patches, and I can bath with them if I want to.  The brand I use is called Evopad from Janssen Labs.  The're around 4cmx4cm.  I exfoliate the desired bit of my derrière with a decent soap and scrub in the shower before applying them.  To ensure that they stick I rub them hard for a few seconds with a corner of a dry towel.  This has the added benefit of causing some tiny fibres from the towel to stick to the edges of the patch which makes the patch less prone to come off.

On some occasiona a bit of patch comes lose and I use a normal sticking plaster over it until it's time to be changed.

I have found (through a sister here) that the patches stick better if you clean the area you are applying it to with rubbing alcohol and a cotton ball. Since I have done that I have had zero problems with name brand patches sticking all week. Generic ones are a whole different story though.

The ones I have are probably a UK version and similar to those that Julia uses and also made by Janssen-Cilag called Evorel. They have adhesion similar to that of surgical tape so long as the edges don't get dog eared.

I can't speak for generics, but I suppose that's the difference and not all patches were created equal. Personally I'd want Estradot as they are smaller, thus easier to find unused skin to stick them to.