I completely agree with your thinking! There are risks to every drug option and I'd rather take the risk with something my body naturally recognizes and offers so many additional benefits aside from bone density maintenance.

That is a super-low dose of estradiol you are on. I didn't even think it was offered at such a low dose. The doses I have seen listed that are helpful to bone start at .025 and I thought that was the lowest dose offered. I've been on .025 transdermal for about 5 years. I've mostly maintained my density (same overall dexa score) with a couple of vertebrae that show loss so that concerns me a little. I've recently seen an integrative gynecologist who is bumping me up to .037, a very small increase. She would definitely go higher but I'm concerned about the potential of increase in breast size. If you are considering increasing your dose (after your course of Forteo sounds like a good plan), it might be a good idea to assess your stroke/CVD risk if that is a concern. I've had my detailed cholesterol numbers done which most doctors don't order. If you ask for them, they might. I've tested LPa (genetic marker and hard to lower. fortunately mine was low), oxidized LDL (whether your particles are small and dense which tend to clump and form plaque), and a CT scan to determine calcium score. My calcium score was 0 which means there was no discernible plaque detected in my arteries as of yet. I'm tweaking a couple of things to try and keep it that way but since my risk appears to be low, I'm comfortable with continuing on the HRT and increasing my dose. Unfortunately, most doctors don't do detailed cholesterol bloodwork to really get a good determination of risks so it's important to ask.