I've been going through menopause and bad night sweats for over 10 years now. A saliva test (while I was using biodentical hormones in a cream form) showed my estrogen was way too high, at cancer-causing levels.

I found a naturopath/OB-GYN RN who said that we all absorb hormones differently. It turns out that I don't absorb it through my skin - only my skin and saliva have estrogen, not my blood. The troche (dissolving under the tongue) and pill form didn't work for me either - she put me on an estrogen patch, that is the key for me. I'm still upping the dose gradually but the night sweats are already a little milder.

My Dr. has always said to do a saliva test instead of a blood test. But that's not always the case. If my estrogen was really too high, I'd have headaches every day and my boobs would feel like I ran into a wall. Now I'm going to keep upping the estrogen in the patch (twice a week) until the night sweats go away. We will do a blood test later to confirm things, but to me getting rid of the symptoms is much more important than what the test levels show.