HRT

Mine was withdrawn when I hit 60. I have become steadily iller in a host of ways. It is very frustrating.

Yep. I still get it.
Have to see GP annually for renewal of prescription when I go armed with all the latest data from the NICE site.
They are not keen, but I am on the oestrogen only HRT, which carries less risk, particularly of breast cancer. I am not overweight, as obesity is a risk factor, but I do drink up to the 14 units a week, another risk factor.
It's basically about weighing the risks, against quality of life I believe. I told my GP that it should be my informed choice when I have all the info. They said, quite rightly, that there is a small extra stroke risk at my age, and that would cost the NHS extra if they had to look after me!
She agreed to give me the HRT and endorsed my notes that I was aware of risks, thus covering her back!

I am nearly 74 and will stand outside the surgery with a banner if they try to take it off me again. I am on the lowest dose oestrogen and that keeps me well.

Thanks - I was reading patches carry less risks? I’ll talk to my GP.

Agree! My quality of life is not good at the moment due to the symptoms. I was told the symptoms would only last a year! 10 years on now!

It really is frustrating isn’t it? I feel I’m not of this world for most of the time!

I have been on oestrogen implants for over 30 years now. I am almost 71 and will be taking HRT for the rest of my life.
Fortunately my consultant is one of the top NHS specialists in the country and one of the authors of the NICE guidelines on the menopause.

My recommendations to you, as you want to try HRT, is to become very well informed by reading up on the subject.

Google ‘NICE guidelines on the menopause’ and print it off. Study it until you know the parts that are relevant to you. (a highlighter pen is handy) and take it with you when you go to your doctor.

If your doctor still doesn’t want to prescribe it without reasonable explanation ask to be referred to your local menopause clinic where they should be more up to date.
It helps if there is no history of breast/prostate cancer in your family and if there is a history of osteoporosis. (The first is contraindicatory, the second a very strong reason to consider HRT.)

Do not accept oral HRT. It is the cheapest form but you have to take a relatively large dose as your liver will be working overtime to remove it from your body before it can do any good. Transdermal HRT (patches, gel, implants etc.) do not have to pass through the liver so is effective in very much smaller doses.

Taking HRT (and you may have to try different types to find the best one for you) should help with all your symptoms and protect you from the silent ones such as osteoporosis.

Good luck Tilly.

ask to be sent to a menopause clinic.Most GP's dont know much about HRT ,so you need a specialist.I see a gynaecologist yearly ...yes on the NHS ...and have my womb and ovarian cysts checked.I've been told by him that I can stay on HRT for life and I'm 66 next month.My late mother had oseoporosis and I had the menopause from hell,I'd be dead or least divorced without HRT .Dont be fobbed off ,get the right help .Good luck

One of the GPs at my practice declined to prescribe it when I initially asked for HRT. When I asked another GP at the same practice later in the year, she was happy to prescribe and described herself as an advocate of HRT. So it very much depends on which GP you see, even within the same practice. Good advice above, study the latest guidelines and show the GP you are well-informed. If they still decline, ask for a referral to the menopause clinic.

I am 82 and have been on HRT for over thirty years - attempts to stop always having resulted in joint pains, insomnia, exhaustion, weakness and the feeling that my pilot light had been switched off. My thinking became muddled and my memory suffered. So I kept on taking it, though switching to low-dose. Now, the last of the old style GPs, who believed that quality of life is important, and who treated me as an intelligent woman capable of understanding risks and making choices, has retired. I am faced with a group of brisk number-crunchers who intend to extend my life by taking away the thing helped me to live rather than exist. Four months on, I don’t care about the flushes and sweats, which are decreasing, as are the joint pains, but I have ceased to be the lively, active, interested person I was. There is no spark left. I was walking daily, three to four miles, going to the gym twice weekly to use the rowing-machine, and attending exercise classes. I was out doing something every day. Now, I don’t go out at all unless I need to buy food - some days I don’t even unlock the front door. I have projects to complete - family history stuff, and poems to work on, but it’s all too much trouble, and I’m not thinking clearly enough. I believe that I am starting to dement and I’m terrified. I knew this would happen, and warned the doctors, but they “know better” of course. But I know my body, and I know my mind. I used to think that I’d last till my late eighties, clear-thinking and active with the aid of HRT - and now I feel betrayed and powerless, and know that I’ll have to make an early exit to avoid the full horrors of dementia. Not yet, but within the foreseeable future. Sorry to be depressing, but that’s how it is.

I really wish my Gp would have let me have HRT. No medial concerns and not on any medication when i asked. 5 years later suffering with jont pain, herniated discs, and mobility issues. My mother was in a similar situation which was what prompted me to ask as i got older. Now i am on painkillers every day and attend hospital for check ups. All may have been avoided if she had let me have the HRT. I have informed my daughter of family risks and told her to go on it if she is able to when the time comes.

Bluejude can you not ask to see a different GP or go privately?

It seems very unfair to stop it at this stage after so long, when you are clearly suffering without it.

I started at 64 and am now 70 and will be on it for the rest of my life. I’m oestrogen only and have a patch. Doesn’t solve all my problems and still have 2 hot flushes at night. But that’s a lot better than every hour, day and night. I initially went privately after suffering for 12 years. But now my GP is happy to prescribe it on the NHS . However, due to shortages, I have been known to travel to Tenerife to get it (those were the days) and have also had some via the internet. Have a look at the GRANSNET question and answer link on menopause and that should allay any fears about HRT, oestrogen only, and breast cancer.