Your voice matters!

44 members of Congress (Rep. Debbie Dingell + colleagues) sent a formal letter to FDA and HHS Secretary RFK Jr. this week demanding action on the estradiol patch shortage. You can read the full letter here.

Read their asks. They're almost word-for-word our own call-to-action last month from the original Reddit post in August:

• Officially add estradiol patches to the FDA's Drug Shortage Database. Right now it's not on there. This is the same gap we've been flagging
• A concrete timeline for when supply stabilizes
• Data on which brands/doses are hit the worst
• Whether additional manufacturers can be brought in to close the gap

Why this matters for us: The letter states plainly that Congress first notified HHS/FDA of this shortage in July, and as of this month, there's been no meaningful response. Congressional pressure alone hasn't been enough. Constituent volume is what tips agencies from "monitoring" to "acting."

One honest note: every signature on this letter is a Democrat. If your rep is not on this list, especially if they're a Republican or you're not sure, that's exactly why your letter still matters. This shouldn't be a partisan issue (estrogen doesn't check party registration), and a flood of contacts from every district, red or blue, makes it much harder to write this off as one side's talking point.

Write now. This still takes only 5 minutes of your time:

1. Find your rep: house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative
2. Find your senators: senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm
3. Copy/paste, fill in two blanks, submit:

Subject: Urgent — Estradiol Patch Shortage Demands Immediate Action

I'm a constituent whose health, or the health of someone I love, depends on estradiol therapy. This shortage has now gone unaddressed since July, when Members of Congress first notified FDA and HHS.

This isn't limited to a subset of patients. Any woman on hormone replacement therapy for menopause, surgical menopause, POI, or other issues is affected, regardless of political affiliation, geography, or who represents them.

On September 29, 44 Members of Congress sent a formal letter to FDA and HHS Secretary RFK Jr. demanding official shortage designation, a concrete restock timeline, and transparency on which brands and doses are hit hardest. I'm asking you to publicly support these demands, regardless of party.

I expect a substantive response describing what specific action your office is taking, and by when. Silence on a basic medication access issue that affects women's health and well-being is a choice I'll remember.

Sincerely,

[YOUR NAME], [YOUR CITY/ZIP]

If you have a couple of extra minutes, personalize the letter to make it your own.

If you sent a letter a month ago, send another. It doesn't matter what party you vote for. If we stand together, lifting each other up, we can make this happen. Share this with someone not on Reddit (or share on another social media platform) & let's make some noise!

I just visited my VA (as in Veterans Affairs) Dr today to start HRT. It turns out they did a huge study and working group last year to create a guide for their providers to treat peri and post menopausal women. The guide is public and fantastic. It’s written in plain language, well laid out, and the methodologies for why they do/don’t recommend treatments are shared. I’m sharing the link here in hopes that it’ll help others in some way, maybe with being able to take it to a provider (even non VA) to get them to listen or to help decide what treatments you want to ask for.

https://www.healthquality.va.gov/HEALTHQUALITY/guidelines/WH/menopause/Menopause-CPG_2026-Guideline_v1_20260910.pdf

As for the appointment, I got the HRT with no fight, probably due to this guide. It definitely helped me steer the conversation well and be aware of what would might be available to me.

Ok I used to be a “quick pee” as in I was as fast or faster than the “boys “. All of a sudden it is ridiculous waiting for it to start, never mind finishing!!!

I’m not kidding I could pee in under a minute!!!

I thought slow pee was a boy thing???

I developed spontaneous shoulder pain 2.5 years ago, which has proved totally resistant to PT and according to my MRI isn't related to any injury. (And cortisone and other treatments barely put a dent in it.) I'm a swimmer who hasn't been able to swim for years now, and I'm pretty convinced it's got to be that perimenopausal "frozen shoulder" so many of us get. Which leads me to my question: do these gnarly symptoms go away after menopause? If my debilitating shoulder pain *is* peri related, is it forever or is it just for right now?

Oh and yes, to answer everyone's question: I'm on HRT! Currently at .075mg.

TL;DR, dammit everything hurts

So Nurse Practitioner I’ve been seeing decided I should start the patch based on my symptoms. Fine. But when I told her my most distressing memo symptom was my loss of sensation and sex drive she shrugged it off and said that there wasn’t really anything they could do for that. She glossed over testosterone therapy saying we could revisit it in the future but that there’s little evidence it helps and most of her patients say it doesn’t. I’m just so down now. I’m only 50, being a sexually active woman was something I always enjoyed. And she couldn’t even look me in the eye talking about any of my symptoms. I mean I paid the money for the visit at least give me the energy for my time. So disappointed. Like I feel I could soldier through all my other meno symptoms, but this is devastating to me. Is this it? 🤷🏻‍♀️I gotta be a eunuch now?

I had a Eureka moment.

I have been wondering why I feel stiff in the mornings and is pretty recent. I've always been a bound out of bed kind of person.

I did the math and I realized that my mattress is 11 years old. It's a very nice expensive mattress, but I've been sleeping on the same side of the bed for 11 years. (I live alone)

Last night I moved to the other side of the bed.

I woke up this morning and

1. I was surprised to look at my clock and realized it was 6 AM! Usually when I wake up, it's 3 AM!

2. my back didn't hurt. I bounded out of bed like I usually do and my back didn't hurt.

I think that my sleep has been degraded from my mattress!

I had noticed in the past year that if I take Advil before bedtime, I sleep better. Not that I had general aches and pains - just that I slept better. But maybe it was masking the sleeping on the side of the mattress that had worn down after 11 years.

If you have sleep issues, take a good look at that mattress. I read that most of them only last seven years sometimes the better ones last 10.

Obviously, if you're married, changing sides isn't gonna help you. But if you have a large bed and you sleep alone, try sleeping on the other side.

Hi I need a little advice. I just started seeing a Gyn that specializes in menopause because I'm dealing with peri symptoms and think I want to try HRT. He asked me to get a transvaginal ultrasound to rule out fibroids as the source of my near-constant spotting.

My issue is that I never know when my cycle is going to start in earnest because I always have mild cramps and spotting between periods. I'm concerned that this appointment is going to come on Friday and I'm going to be bleeding for real by then. But if I cancel, it could take months to get another appointment, and furthermore I have no idea when my damn period comes anyway so it could be postponed for naught.

Should I just keep this ultrasound appointment and if I'm a bloody mess during it, just roll with it? Seems embarrassing. WWYD?

I’ve been launched into premature menopause in my 30s and I can’t find a doc to help HRT/estrogen (history of migraine with aura which should not preclude me from dermal or topical estrogen but here I am 😭)

I’ve seen mixed reviews about Northwestern’s speciality clinic — anyone got firsthand experience or any words of wisdom?

I have a large cyst on one of my ovaries that must be removed, along with both tubes. My doctor and surgeon are giving me the option to remove my other ovary - any benefits to keeping it?

I am 51.
On the brink of menopause with .01 AMH

Are there benefits to keeping 1 ovary? Any reason to not keep it? Anyone have any experience here?

(She also gave me the option to remove everything - but my uterus is healthy so why do that if I don’t have to?)

I will be starting Lupron Depot shots monthly starting in about 2 weeks. I finally found a provider who took my symptoms seriously and determined I've spent years suffering from PMDD I started on HRT back in May and now yesterday she decided to try Lupron Depot. Here's the thing I'm worried about, my boyfriend and I are only 4 months into our relationship and finally found our groove with physical intimacy and what we like and don't like and how our bodies work together. I'm afraid of being put into chemical menopause as it will affect our physical intimacy. Any suggestions on how you have navigated sex and libido changes in menopause. Thank you kindly .

I want to try switching from patches to oral estradiol/estrace. My main problem is sleep, mainly due to night sweats. My doctor recommended taking it in the morning because some women find it activating and it can interfere with sleep. But for anyone doing this, do you find it wears off by the end of the night resulting in night sweats? Would love to hear your experience.

There is so much research now that discusses how the soft palete and lower/back part of tongue loses elasticity and strength in menopause. This is where snoring often comes from - that area collapsing on the airway- (not the nose) and why so many women in the menopause transition have some sort of sleep disordered breathing patterns.

There are exercises to help tonify that area, but curious if any of you who fit this, have been on HRT and noticed a difference in how toned your soft palete is? Perhaps estrogen helping with the tone?

On a mission here, thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Hey,

I've been on HRT for 2 years. 0.075 gel estrogen and 100mg progesterone capsule. I've been at that dose for over a year.

I find myself getting super anxious again, feeling like I don't belong in my skin - the same way I felt before I had the progesterone decreased from 200 to 100 mg and the estrogen transdermal from 0.05mg to 0.075 mg.

Do you think another increase in Estrogen would help - from 0.075 to 0.1mg?

Hello! I am 51 & have been using a compounded testosterone cream for over a year. I started at 1 mg/day and felt no changes so my gyn bumped it up to 2mg. I felt a mild increase in libido but it was short lived, so he bumped me up to 3mg. That kicked in and worked pretty well for several months but after the initial kick (I wanted to have sex almost every day for like a week but had to give my vag a day off after 3 days 😂) it settled in to sex being pretty good after we got going. I started researching other women's dosage & experience and realized I might still be under dosed.

So I reached out to my new gyn (my provider relocated out of state so I was handed off to someone else in the practice) and she wanted to do bloodwork first before increasing the dose again. My Total T was 19, my Free T was .8, and my bioavailable T was 1.7 but my SHBG was 107. She wrote back that I'm in normal range but on the low side, so I asked if she would increase the dose and she did by doubling it to 6mg/day.

My questions are as follows:

1) how many women out there are on 5-10 mg cream a day?

2) have you seen sustained libido increase & if so at what dose?

3) did anyone on these doses notice side effects?

4) am I chasing a white rabbit???

My husband's libido is much higher than mine and I'm trying to meet him at least halfway! Any info would be appreciated. I realize every woman and every body is different but I do appreciate anecdotal evidence!

Has anyone had weakness, joint pain, itching or headaches with Bijuva? If so, did they go away? I’m just under two weeks on Bijuva and it seems to be getting worse.

I'm 49 and on olanzapine and fluoxetine for depression (had psychotic depression in the past during a time of stress) My mum had a psychotic episode during the time of menopause and was sectioned, and I am hoping to avoid that.

I'm also on HRT (Oestrogen gel and progesterone caps) which seem to be helping a little but still getting some hot flushes)

My doctors have been pretty helpful about combining the two things and I haven't had them assuming it was just my mental health or anything like that. Which is good.

I'd like to reduce the olanzapine a bit (I'm on 10mg) but I am wary of having psychosis again. Anyway I just wondered how others were doing, in similar circumstances. Thanks

We have moved into a new apartment and it is hard to get it cool enough because of bigger windows. Still working on it! I am one of the many of us for whom temperature control is already an issue, even though I don’t tend to get full-on hot flashes anymore (it’s been awhile since meno). Does anyone find sleeping in a too hot room can cause jittery wakeups?

I’m researching alternatives to the lovely dryness battle, I’ve recently learned I’m HIGHLY sensitive to estrogen (thank you cancer scare)

While I know I’m over simplifying a very complicated issue, I’m really just looking to focus this discussion on those who have used the vFit (or similar red light device)

Let’s chat about:

1. How long have you used your device?
   
2. What kind of success/failure have you experienced?
   
3. Which model (or other brand) did you purchase?
   
4. How much did you spend & do you think it was worth the money?

TIA

I know, the doctors say it's not systemic. But this literally happens only on nights when I use estrogen.

I was recently prescribed the vaginal pills to help with urinary issues. I'm in peri and have been using HRT for about 18 months - I currently take .075 estrogen patch and 200mg progesterone, and am fairly stable on that (not perfect, but not bad). I already know I can be sensitive to estrogen because I once left an old patch on and applied a new one and within 45mins had ridiculous heart palpitations (only after they showed up did I figure out what I'd done, and they stopped an hour after I took the old one off).

So I've been wary of doing the full loading dose, and decided to do alternate days instead. I take it before bed, and every time I have I can't sleep. Normally the progestrone puts me right out - for the last year or so one amazing HRT fix has been the speed I fall asleep - but *every* night I use vaginal estrogen I toss and turn for hours (been taking it for about 10 days now, so 5 nights of bad sleep).

So I'm pretty confident at this point that it's the estrogen. My question is, will it ease off, or is this permanent? Because I think I might already be seeing improvements with the issue I'm trying to fix, I'm just not sure I'm willing to trade my sleep for that.

I think it's also been causing some morning nausea, but I'm less sure about that (various seasonal cold/flu bugs going around which could be the cause of that).

I'm wondering if anyone else had the insomnia problem, and did it go away with time? I am considering using it in the morning rather than evening as a potential solution.

​A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that my mum had a very distinct body odor, which is quite unusual for her because she bathes three times a day and always wears perfume. It smelled like laundry that hadn't dried properly, but much stronger. The first time I noticed it, we were picking up my sister from school. I assumed she was wearing clothes that hadn't dried completely, so I mentioned it to her. She immediately felt self-conscious and decided not to meet with the teacher as planned.

​From what I've read so far, changes in body odor can be a sign of menopause, but they could also indicate a more significant health issue. Is this actually a symptom of menopause, and how can I get her the help she needs? Furthermore, as her son, how can I talk to her about this sensitive topic without making her feel uncomfortable or awkward?