I think it's safe to say that the usual goal of bio-identical hormone therapy is to take the minimum amount of hormones needed to achieve balance.  Seems simple right?  Over the time that I've been taking bio-identical hormones my doctor(s) and I have changed my dosage based on three factors:
<ol>
	<li>symptoms</li>
	<li>blood tests</li>
	<li>saliva hormone testing</li>
</ol>
A few short months ago I was feeling my very best hormonal self - better than I've ever felt hormonally.  My menstrual cycle was perfect - barely a blip in my life!  Woohoo! What a dream-come-true for someone with as many hormone problems as I've had.  So when my doctor suggested we start to decrease my progesterone I was VERY reluctant!  You have to understand:
<h3 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #be4052;"> I ♥ </span><span style="color: #be4052;">my progesterone more than almost anything in the whole wide world!!!</span></h3>
Remember me?  Helllllooooo.....I'm the Progesterone Junkie, remember!  Suffice it to say I did not take this suggestion lightly! But my doc is always in my corner and we had a good discussion about it.  So I decided to try it....at first all seemed well...until the irritability set in.  And have you ever noticed that when you're the one who's irritable you aren't actually the first to notice it!  One day, it dawned on me that I'd been awfully grumpy and grumbly and so posed the question to my loved ones, "Have you noticed that I've been irritable lately?".  The raised eyebrows were all that I needed to see - it was the downward slide after altering my hormones I figured.

I began to realize that other less-than-desirable side-effects also were screaming to be noticed:
<ul>
	<li>Changes in menstrual bleeding</li>
	<li>Hair Loss - oh no not again!</li>
	<li>Low sex drive</li>
	<li>Urinary Tract Infections (Bladder Infections)</li>
	<li>Memory Lapses/Foggy Thinking</li>
	<li>Mood Swings</li>
	<li>Muscle Aches/Stiffness</li>
	<li>Vaginal Dryness</li>
	<li>Incontinence</li>
	<li>Eczema type rash</li>
</ul>
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