I don't think one can get hormones the way our body produces them; I have to take thyroid hormone but that causes aches/pains and other problems because the oral hormones aren't used the way the body uses the ones it produces; no way to get hormones into the bloodstream and where they're "supposed" to go if they don't start in our body, manufactured by that body.

If it isn't helping your symptoms, I'd try other things besides estrogen? Hormones not our own (I'm not talking about whether they're bio-identical or not but whether they're produced by our body or not) can cause other, cascading problems. These things are not understood well yet by researchers/doctors. The female body naturally lowers estrogen after menopause for all women. I don't know how I'd mess with estrogen if I had to.

Here's a site that's helped me: http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=george&dbid=197