Is anyone else not on HRT?

i never had HRT and wasn’t offered it.
If I’d known it would help with arthritis, that Esspee mentioned, I’d have suggested it for DH.

I’m lucky, my hormones have always behaved themselves and still are, so havn’t needed HRT which is a blessing. Currently my main issue is facial hair, OH laughs and blames testosterone, wether it is I have no idea, I’m using electrolysis to reduce it.

Phew thank goodness, I was beginning to think every woman in the UK must be taking it going by the news headlines.
Menopause came and I moved on, no obvious problems, not just luck.
Lifestyle, life choices, do play a big part, plus I rarely see a doctor so no one looking at my age and deciding for me that I need it.

I wish I had used HRT I am suffering badly with osteoarthritis in various parts of my body and wonder if HRT would have helped maintain my joints. When I had hot flushes I used evening primrose and black coshash for about 6 months , taking 2 capsules of each morning and evening, this worked for me.

Never had HRT. Had cold flashes, not hot (though no one believed me). My mood was very, very low a lot of the time but because I'd no physical symptoms to speak of I didn't go to the doctor, it didn't occur to me.

I always planned to take it, mainly for vanity reasons, I’ve got a friend much older than me, who hardly seemed to age at all.
But my periods just stopped, no symptoms whatever.
Looking back at my life at that time, I think I was quite volatile and quick to fly off the handle, but at the time I didn’t connect the two things.

What most women do not understand is that although the early effects of low oestrogen levels such as hot flushes and brain fog are usually of relatively short duration and are only experienced by some women those are NOT the major effects of menopause. It takes often 10 to 15 years before the really debilitating effects, those that hugely affect the rest of your life, start manifesting themselves.

Once your ovaries stop producing oestrogen there is a slow but insidious deterioration in your body. Your bones thin, your vagina atrophies, your urinary tract becomes prone to infection, arthritis kicks in, sleep becomes a problem. etc.
Whether or not you “sail through” the early stage there is a time-bomb in each and every one of us as the lack of oestrogen weakens your bones, causes prolapse, vaginal atrophy, loss of libido, osteoarthritis, urinary infections, stress incontinence to full incontinence, sleep problems etc.

No, we won’t all suffer these issues but few older women escape without at least one of these conditions impacting their quality of later life. I am in my 70s and among my peers almost everyone not on HRT complains about preventable health problems.

Simply women were designed to live to about their 50s. Our egg supply lasts roughly that long. Nowadays, thanks to huge advances in medical science living to 80 and way beyond is not unusual but a high proportion of elderly women suffer from lack of oestrogen. It impacts their quality of life in a major way. Thankfully modern medicine provides a solution. Once your body stops producing oestrogen it can be replaced by identical oestrogen in the same way that diabetics can replace their missing hormone insulin. It is not a drug. Both menopausal women and diabetics can now choose to go without or replace the hormone their body is not manufacturing.

What is needed is for women to become informed about their bodies and to understand that they do have a choice. It may be that for medical reasons hormone replacement is not suitable but for those for whom it has overriding positive advantages it can give them a healthier happier future.

I'm not on Her now but when I was I felt fine. GO stopped the prescription and have felt very achy and often quite low since then.

No, I managed without it. I know some women are not as lucky.

I was 48 just and it petered out and stopped I never had any side effects at all, my eldest daughter stopped in early 50 s with no side effects either. Nothing
Neither of us know what a hot flush is
Were we lucky or is that how it should be ?

(Had plenty of other things throughout life so certainly not without pain and fears but just not this one)

I loved being on HRT. I had the most appalling mood swings, being either murderous or suicidal.. my poor family.
I was on it for 5 years, that was before they decided it was ok to keep going on it.
Once off, I had a good year or so of hot flushes, not pleasant…
When I asked my elder sister how she was getting on with the menopause, she said, “what’s that?” I could have killed her! ?

I've never been on it. The doctor I had at the time said it was associated with cancer and that was enough to put me right off!

Not on HRT due to breast cancer. The medicine I’m on stops all estrogen. Doctor said estrogen is like fertilizer for the cancer.

Had a very uneventful menopause, with periods gradually petering out in my early fifties, so taking Hrt never entered my head.
Some posters mentioned hair colour and like them, I have very little grey.
Lucky I suppose.

Another one here who's never had hrt and had very little trouble with menopause.
Also good hair colour still.

My DD has hideous periods and I hope she doesn't have a hideous menopause too.

I asked for it 20 years ago but the doctor said it caused cancer.
I am quite jealous of those who have had a success with it because of all the hot flushes I had in classes while teaching and sleepless nights. Maybe I could have reacted better towards everyone and be having a healthier life regarding aging both mentally and physically. Is an over 70 year old too old to start?

Nope not on it either, never have been

My menopause was pure hell. I could not go on HRT due to a family history of breast cancer. Mind you, if you need to come of the HRT you go through all the menopause symptoms again. There was just not enough information provided by the Health Centre.

A doctor put me on it when I was 45 for very heavy periods. Patches. It made my hair fall out. That was over 25 years ago. Maybe it's different now.

Because of previous cancers I was never a candidate for HRT, although being in osteopenia I'd have probably benefitted. Thankfully the night sweats have abated, but I still 'sleep warm' although this is mitigated by arms and legs outside the duvet. Who'd be a woman eh? ? My periods were quite obliging last one two weeks after my 50th birthday, then nothing ever again the sudden cessation very much like my mum. She suffered horrendous heavy bleeding lasting 10 days with two weeks in between, then stopped, like turning a tap off
she said.

No, I had a form of cancer in my 30’s so I’ve kept off it.

a new doctor took me off of it saying he (yes a man) didn't believe in it! about twenty years ago too

I was advised by my then Gp not to go it around 20 years ago.
No problems at all.

No HRT here. I had a couple of random extra heavy bleeds then nothing else. I got checked out to make sure all was OK because of my medical history but they said I wouldn’t be prescribed HRT. Fortunately I’ve been fine, and so happy to be done with menstruation!

I don’t take it, but sometimes wish I had. My mum and sister both do (did, in my mum’s case), and looked younger for longer. I didn’t consider osteoporosis either.