Hot Flushes

I’ve been on HRT for approx 7 years now. I came off it a couple of years ago as recommended by my doctor, cold turkey, and my goodness did the symptoms (hot flushes/palpitations etc) come back with a vengeance!

So I went back on it. I’ve recently been weaning myself off it gradually for the past 4 months. The hot flushes have come back but I can cope with them, as have the palpitations. I will wait and see how they are when I stop it completely and decide if I go back on it or not.

I don’t really know why I’m stopping it other than hearing/reading etc that I should do! My doctor hasn’t mentioned it for a while. But I will wait and see what happens and then make a decision.

Shelmiss why are you putting yourself through this hell?

Life on HRT is life. Without it is degeneration into post menopausal deterioration.

To be honest it’s not really hell, it’s a lot easier and calmer than coming off it cold turkey.

But to answer your question - I don’t really know whether or not it’s best to stay on hrt for the very long term (I’m 58) or stop it. I am very good at research but for the life of me I can’t find anything which gives a balanced viewpoint.

Even this from the NHS website is complete balderdash:

“…. most women stop taking it once their menopausal symptoms pass, which is usually after a few years”

But how do you know if your menopausal symptoms have passed without coming off hrt first? Ridiculous.

I’m at the end of my second month of HRT.
I got in from an internet pharmacy! Which feels rather naughty.
I’m in constant contact with my GP because of other health issues, both my own and DH’s, and I just wanted a quick fix.
I was so fed up with feeling ghastly due to the hotness, the sweating and the smell (I’m not apologetic about tmi!)
I’m not physically well any way, and to have all those issues on top was too much.
I will tell my GP in due course, but I get the feeling that she won’t be delighted!

It is not the initial symptoms which have the most impact Shelmiss. Way down the line it is the osteoporosis, incontinence and all the other conditions connected to low oestrogen which impact hugely on the lives of women.

Fanny I am sorry you have other issues at the moment but, much as I like to promote HRT, there are some people for whom it is not recommended.
Unless you have had a hysterectomy this is a really complex subject.
Please discuss it with your GP.

Yes, yes, I will Esspee
Thank you. She is actually a brilliant GP, and I’m lucky to have her. I do predict a telling off!

Also, I’m not in any of the groups for whom it isn’t safe, but I do realise that I’ve done something slightly dodgy!

Esspee

The body ages DiscoDancer1975. That doesn’t change.

I was crewing a boat yesterday, everything worked beautifully.

Years of replacing the missing oestrogen means I don’t suffer from osteoporosis as my mother did. I don’t suffer from vaginal atrophy, loss of libido, osteoarthritis, incontinence, prolapse, etc. etc. No disadvantages have appeared as yet and my last consultant (top in her field) reckons it would save the NHS a fortune if everyone took it as most money spent on elderly women goes on entirely avoidable treatment such as hip replacements.

You may not have done anyway. I haven’t, and don’t take HRT. I appreciate it’s different for everyone, and sometimes it will work really well. I would worry about the dependence on something which could stop. Supplies run out..that sort of thing. If you suddenly stop taking it, of course you’re going to feel awful.The same as anything else you depend on. The body has had no time to adjust.

I just worry, that to tell all women they will be fine...forever, is not good. You have no way of knowing that.

That's it DiscoDancer. We have no way of knowing if someone might not have experienced certain symptoms if they hadn't taken medication. My mother and grandmother haven't had problems and they didn't take HRT. I'm not aware of any of woman in my family in that generation having problems either but, to be fair, I don't know them as well, so who knows? I'm just watching and seeing what happens. I can act if I need to.

My Dr asked, when I was 50 plus, if I had problems with hot flushes. I replied truthfully that I’d had one hot flush about 6 months after my periods had stopped. Otherwise I’d had no problems and had never had any nasty symptoms of menopause and hadn’t given it a thought.
He said it was a shame that most women never thought that the menopause could be problem free and he was delighted to hear mine was. So for those reading about hot flushes in advance? Don’t automatically assume you’ll suffer. And take the advice offered here to alleviate any problems.

I wish, wish, wish my body had adjusted to the menopause but it didn’t. It continued to make my life without oestrogen not worth living. After 12 years of suffering I had to do something I decided to take HRT and I have continued with it for the last seven years with good results. I just can’t get that 12 years back but onwards and upwards. Lucky, lucky people who have no problems.

I went through the menopause 20+ years ago. I had hot flushes and layer dressed, stripping off and opening windows regularly. I was once told I was the same colour as my top (cerise pink). I asked for an assessment for osteoporosis because of family history and was treated for that. Currently I only take a calcium supplement as my bone density has improved so much. I don't have any of the problems which have been quoted as being things alleviated by HRT and I really don't know how anyone knows that HRT has stopped them developing those things. They seem to me to be the things women are told they will get because they are old. It's nothing to do with that. It's partly luck and genetics, partly attitude and partly good diet and exercise. I've never taken HRT because when I would have qualified for it it was sourced mainly from pregnant mares and partly because I don't like drug companies making fortunes. I realise it is entirely a personal choice but this idea that if you don't take it you are doomed to live a life of ill health and look ancient is so wrong.

In what form are you taking the Royal Jelly Zappy and have it given you more energy?

Esspee

I simply replace the missing oestrogen. Been doing that for 32 years.
I do not intend going through the menopause ever.
It may start with hot flushes, night sweats and sleep disturbances but the truly debilitating life changing effects can take years to manifest themselves, osteoporosis, vaginal atrophy, incontinence, osteoarthritis, loss of libido, prolapse, even Alzheimer’s is linked to loss of oestrogen.
Instead of trying to find help from unproven self medication you have the choice today to replace the oestrogen you lack which is the natural proven solution.

You are so right, Esspee, about those debilitating effects.
They can take so long to manifest themselves that by the time a women eventually needs to see the doctor about them, it is often too late for hormone replacement to be used.

Although they were unpleasant, I stuck it out through the hot flushes, thinking that I could live with those (and assuming that they would eventually ease to some extent), with no idea that the other, seemingly small, niggling effects that I was experiencing would become irreversible and affect me for the rest of my life!

Women need to know that these things can happen so that they know what to look out for, and to seek treatment before it's too late!

I bitterly regret not knowing this in time, and with hindsight feel rather let down by various GPs who I think missed very good opportunities to warn me.

All of those things can be treated by a combination of exercise, specific drug treatment and diet. I think anyone contemplating using HRT should look at the scientific evidence carefully. This is a good article www.ox.ac.uk/research/hrt-safe-use-menopause-what-science-says-0
I do have an aversion to medical intervention unless it is essential.