A bump up in dosages is doubling?

[Hikari]

So, I have been on the same hormone regimen for about 8 months now, and this last time, my doctor told me that since the blood tests came back with reasonably consistent results that I wasn't getting too much E or T, that I could increase my dose a bit and be safe.

Since my breasts haven't really been hurting recently, I said sure, so when I went down to the pharmacy, I found out that she had doubled my dose, does this seem normal? I know stepping up Estrogen isn't always the easiest sublingually due to the fact that most pharmacies only carrier a few sizes of pill and many doctors like my own are loathe to tell a patient to cut a pill and it isn't a service my pharmacy offers. Still to outright double the dose seems a bit quick for me.

[suzifrommd]

My doctor often stresses that the serum levels don't correlate linearly to the doses. Often raising the dose a little bit has a profound affect on the serum levels and sometimes it takes a major dosage increase to raise serum levels a little bit.

Still, I agree that might be extreme. Might be worth a talk if you can get hold of her to find out what she was thinking and make sure it wasn't a mistake.

[IdontEven]

Sounds okay to me. If I remember correctly, what my doc told me (and what I've heard elsewhere for others) is generally 3 months at starting dose, if things check out double it, and do that again 3 months later. At that point (two doublings, 9 months) you should be at full transition dose, depending on how your body is responding of course. One more checkup at 3 months after that then they push the checkups out to 6 months.


You said you've been on your current regimen for 8 months, so perhaps you started with a "higher" relative dose or some other thing is going on and your doc wants to finish getting you up to "normal" levels? Of course if any part of it makes you uncomfortable you should talk to your doctor about it. Also some doctors will go more based on your levels than any pre-planned dosage increases, and every doc probably does things a little differently, so ymmv.

[Deborah]

Not all doctors start off with a lower dose and then increase later.  Mine started out with a pretty high dose and has kept it constant.  So if the new dose is still in the dose range normally considered acceptable there's most likely nothing to worry about.


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[Rachel]

If you have a question about your dosage you can call your doctor and ask. Her response may rest your mind.

[.Christy]

As others have said, different doctors have their own hrt prescribing protocols they like to follow. Your doc probably started you on a low dose, hence why the doubled dosage may seem like a huge jump.

As for me, my doctor gave me the full dose of estrogen right at the start, the only thing she doubled at the 3 month checkup was my spiro dose. As always, consult with your doc if you have any concerns.

[iKate]

As others have said, different doctors have their own hrt prescribing protocols they like to follow. Your doc probably started you on a low dose, hence why the doubled dosage may seem like a huge jump.

As for me, my doctor gave me the full dose of estrogen right at the start, the only thing she doubled at the 3 month checkup was my spiro dose. As always, consult with your doc if you have any concerns.

Same here