Ladies who decided not to take HRT...how has it been?

I think Macadia was looking for a more detailed answer to her question.

Choice. For many of us a bit older than most here- the idea of choice, for HRT, contraception, method of birth, terry nappies, and so many other things- was just not there. We got on with it, because we had to.

This is not a critical or unpleasant comment, just the way it was.

Also, I am past menopause (men-on-pause ) and didn't use HRT.

Excuse me for sounding daft but, what is HRT for?

While I appreciate that for some women the menopause is very difficult, I do think the fact that for many women it isn't is played down, so that women approaching the menopause approach it expecting to have problems

Sometime in my 30s/early 40s I heard a radio programme about women in some part of India, where the women were more or less put into purdah when they started menstruating and had to live a constrained and closeted life until the menopause. They could then move around freely, leave the house, not cover their faces etc etc. As a result very few women had difficult menopauses. On the contrary they looked forward to it because it gave them back their freedom.

This program made a deep impression on me, and while I had no constraints on me before the menopause, apart from having to deal with monthly periods, I did really look frward to it because it meant not having to be prepared for periods all the time.

It seems a cruel twist of fate, Lia that many people are going through the menopause just as their children are teenagers!

NotSpaghetti

I also "sailed through" az someone else said. My youngest daughter who was a teenager at the time says I was a bit "up - and - down" though.
I say I admit that I may have been up and down but then she was the fourth of five teenagers so I may have just been dealing with my teenagers!

I previously had years of very heavy and very long but not particularly uncomfortable periods (since a teenager). I did have a several weeks of bleed in the menopause which was not fun to deal with but was stopped with tranexamic acid. I suppose if I'd asked for help sooner it would have been stopped sooner!

I developed a liking of soya milk during the menopause so maybe I was benefiting in some way from the phytoestrogen.

Hope this helps.

One teenager is enough to send you up and down! 😁. Your post is helpful, thanks.

V3ra

My Mum developed osteoporosis, apparently caused by her oestrogen levels dropping during the menopause.
She was put on HRT and told to warn her daughters they would need to take it as well.
Mum then developed breast cancer and had a mastectomy.
She was taken off the HRT.
Later she developed Alzheimer's, which she died with.

(Along with all this she also developed diabetes, which my sister had warned her had been identified as a risk factor for the blood pressure tablets they both took).

Neither my sister nor I have taken HRT.

Sorry to hear all your mum went through V3ra . You just never know what to do for the best do you? That's why I started thread as I've read so much about the benefits of hrt in relation to certain conditions, you wonder if they outweigh the risks. Life really is a lottery sometimes but we can just do our best.

I also "sailed through" az someone else said. My youngest daughter who was a teenager at the time says I was a bit "up - and - down" though.
I say I admit that I may have been up and down but then she was the fourth of five teenagers so I may have just been dealing with my teenagers!

I previously had years of very heavy and very long but not particularly uncomfortable periods (since a teenager). I did have a several weeks of bleed in the menopause which was not fun to deal with but was stopped with tranexamic acid. I suppose if I'd asked for help sooner it would have been stopped sooner!

I developed a liking of soya milk during the menopause so maybe I was benefiting in some way from the phytoestrogen.

Hope this helps.

My Mum developed osteoporosis, apparently caused by her oestrogen levels dropping during the menopause.
She was put on HRT and told to warn her daughters they would need to take it as well.
Mum then developed breast cancer and had a mastectomy.
She was taken off the HRT.
Later she developed Alzheimer's, which she died with.

(Along with all this she also developed diabetes, which my sister had warned her had been identified as a risk factor for the blood pressure tablets they both took).

Neither my sister nor I have taken HRT.

I’m 69. Started HRT in my late 40s, but only took it for about 6 months, didn’t feel “right” while on it, and husband said it was affecting my personality- severe outbursts of anger! (Whether this was the menopause or the HRT, I will never know.) Anyway, stopped taking it and went down the route of high dosages of Evening Primrose Oil and Black Cohosh. Also remember some sort of hormone cream which I rubbed in! Symptoms calmed down, periods finally stopped at 56!

Jaxjacky

Romola my husband is seven years younger than me, I didn’t take HRT, 18 years later he’s still here!
I had few symptoms other than my periods stopping.

Good to hear 😊

Romola

Lots of good advice here. I just wanted to say, if you do get annoying menopausal symptoms, I know that HRT can be a great help. I'm certainly not against it.
(I have noticed that women with younger husbands/partners do put more effort into keeping a youthful look. HRT does seem to help.)

I think my symptoms are not too bad at the minute, apart from the lack of sleep, energy and mild anxiety. I've had those symptoms before without being menopausal! I do wonder if I'm missing a trick with staying youthful though as the opinion it keeps you looking younger does come up a bit. I guess it makes sense too. I met my friend who is turning 60 the other day and she doesn't take hrt and looks at least 10 years younger so there's hope . She recommended bone broth I will give that a go.

nanna8

I was told there was a link between that and cancer so I never took it. I had an early menopause in my early 40 s and just coped with hot flushes etc. The worst thing for me was a tendency to overthink things and worry about trivia.

Yes, yes nanna8, I too found that the menopause made me extremely nervous & anxious.
I was (still am!) extremely tense & wittily, which I wasn't previously!
I began to get very stressed about travelling too. The hot flushes I can cope with it's the anxiety that's the problemo for me It just doesn't stop.

Romola my husband is seven years younger than me, I didn’t take HRT, 18 years later he’s still here!
I had few symptoms other than my periods stopping.

Ilovedogs22

I wasn't allowed to take HRT because I had high levels of oestrogen which had caused breast cancer (told my husband I was too womanly.)
The hot flushes were a faffing nuisance, together with just more than the usual rattycow mood- swings.
I do worry about my bones though, which HRT is said to protect.
To be be honest I'm a bit ratty & jealous of those who can take it!
Especially my irritating, big- headed tarty sister! 🙄

Hope all is good now. The comment about your sister made me laugh 😃.

I wasn't allowed to take HRT because I had high levels of oestrogen which had caused breast cancer (told my husband I was too womanly.)
The hot flushes were a faffing nuisance, together with just more than the usual rattycow mood- swings.
I do worry about my bones though, which HRT is said to protect.
To be be honest I'm a bit ratty & jealous of those who can take it!
Especially my irritating, big- headed tarty sister! 🙄

I never considered hrt as menopause wasn’t a problem and apart from a bit if flushing and some bleeding a year or two later I was ok.
I only know one person who took hrt, only briefly.

Lots of good advice here. I just wanted to say, if you do get annoying menopausal symptoms, I know that HRT can be a great help. I'm certainly not against it.
(I have noticed that women with younger husbands/partners do put more effort into keeping a youthful look. HRT does seem to help.)

If the benefits of HRT are to be believed you'd be foolish not to take it as early as possible. But are they believable? Only time will tell if osteoporosis, dementia and heart disease etc rates drop significantly as women on HRT age.

I started menopause in my mid 30's, never took anything. I carried on having hot flushes for years (probably my OH would say mood swings!) but nothing that I noticed apart from them.

I had no menopause symptoms at all other than my periods stopping, so I never thought to ask for it and was never offered it. I’m fit and well apart from some osteopenia, for which I take daily calcium tablets. Whether this would have been prevented by taking HRT, I’ll never know. If I’d needed it, I wouldn’t have hesitated - the menopause can be dreadful and it’s been a life saver for some.

There used to be some horrendous scaremongering on any HRT thread from a couple of posters who thought they were so much better than the wizened old crones who didn’t use it. I’m glad to see posters are more supportive now.

I didn't take HRT and didn't really notice my menopause. I had few symptoms, only irregular periods for a while before they stopped completely.

I always planned to take it, my dear friend, older than me swore by it, and I wanted to stay as young as possible for as long as possible.

But like some of the ladies above, my periods just literally stopped, never had a hot flush, or any other symptom, so I didn’t think I could justify it.

I am 70 now, still working, helping with my grandchildren, infact doing pretty much everything I did when I was fifty.

Of course if I’d taken it I might look ten years younger, but I’ll never know.

Both my sisters died relatively young from breast cancer so I had already made up my mind that I wouldn’t be taking HRT. As it happened, I didn’t need it as my periods were regular until they just stopped when I was 55. No hot flushes, thankfully, just terrible insomnia for a couple of years but that was it. I know others who suffer terribly and for them HRT has been a blessing.