After many hours of research, I have made the decision to try to come off my EHT (estrogen hormone therapy), to see if..
1) I can handle the side effects of not having the estrogen. I never really had a hot flash, but did have a few night sweats when I first came home from the hospital. They ended soon after though, after the estrogen got into my system, but they were never that bad anyway.
2) To see if the estrogen may be causing me more struggle with keeping the weight off.
3) To see if I get back to my old self again.. I just haven't felt as 'happy' since being on the estrogen, or maybe it has something to do with another hormone. I have no idea if/or how much it might affect my mood. I guess I will see soon. I imagine that if I begin to cry a lot, or feel irritated all the time, I may be putting the patch back on pretty quick!
From what I have read, hormone replacement therapy is trial and error anyway, and sometimes you have to change things up a bit to find what works best for you. It is definitely not 'one size fits all' type of treatment. I've looked up a couple of doctors in the area who specialize in hormones, and thought that if this doesn't work then I may make an appointment.
I definitely don't want to have to be on hormones for years and years, and my doctor now, has really never given me much of a choice. In the hospital, a few days after my surgery, he came to talk to me about estrogen replacement. The only choice I was given was, would I rather have the patch, or a pill.
Don't get me wrong, he is a good doctor, and I couldn't have asked for a better doctor to have through my pregnancy and delivery. But, I don't feel like he understands my situation now, and somewhat dismisses my concerns.
So, I thought that I would use this thread to keep track of my progress, or lack of progress, whichever it may be.
It is only my second day without the patch, and I assume that I must still have estrogen in my system, and that's the reason I don't feel any different yet.
Hopefully, this will turn out to be the right thing to do.
Does anyone think that I may be making a mistake?
It´s the only way to find out if the estrogen patch affects you negatively, and if it turns out you can´t
do without it, you could always go back to it, couldn´t you. Doctors don´t know everything!! You know your own body better than any doctor could from the
outside, and if you think something is not right while using the patch, then you should definitely find out how you´ll feel without it. I think it´s very brave
of you to oppose DH in this too. 
You did the right thing, and I´m very proud of you, I know that took quite some courage, going against your doctor
and your husband - but you were right, and it´s your body. Well done, you are a star!! 
I told you before in this thread what an emotional wreck I turn into when I´m
on the pill, so my personal view is - hands off from hormones. 
I am determined to get through my menopause without hormones, after all women didn´t have
them in former times either, and dealt with things fine. The body is perfectly able to adjust to things in its own time, we mess too much with its natural
regulatory processes nowadays in my opinion. Soya products help women a lot, I heard - Asian women don´t really have much trouble with their menopause. I have
already started to eat more soya products now, especially tofu. 
