@meingan I'll reply to both your messages - First - I'm so sorry about the stress. Question - did you have this level of stress when you started HRT, or did it make things worse? My time line is, I started HRT in April, coming out of horrible stressors and PTSD/adrenal fatigue. I would say it took 2-3 months before I could say for certain that I felt better, but couldn't quite describe how. After another month or so I was saying I felt like a million bucks. My analogy was, HRT felt like a "glue" that was holding all my pieces more tightly together. To your second msg, I started on Estradiol cream (vaginal) about a year prior, and stopped when I started the oral HRT (Estradiol patch and Progesterone pill). I dont know much about HRT creams but I feel like it makes sense that it might be easier to dose. I have read about patch "surges" and "dips" depending on the timing. I asked my compounding pharmacist one day if there are dosing guidelines geared towards weight/size/stature, and he said no. I now feel certain that criteria should be added to the formula when doctors prescribe it. We are petite, and likely metabolize things differently. One more thing - is your stress more "stressors" or is it felt as anxiety, panic, jitters? Because all of those appeared, and as of this minute, Im switching to a lower Est patch. Est is the "activating" hormone and Progesterone is the "calming" one. I think I reacted poorly to both, at the starting doses. Anyways, since it's only been 1.5 months - definitely be patient. My sister started about 1.5-2 months ago also (64y) and doesn't notice anything quite yet. I want to say, be happy there's no negatives at this point - hopefully you'll have steady gain!