Well I've finished my one remaining box of patches after an eight month nightmare without HRT and can report that I feel great now. The sweats have gone completely, night and day ones, my skin is really supple and not dry anymore, I'm sleeping really well for me - this means I sleep for around three hours without waking up at all now and then when I do wake up I go straight back to sleep for a couple more hours instead of waking up in a saturated puddle twice an hour. My stiff muscles are much better although still not as good as I would like and people are noticing that I'm more "your old self" - not sure about the "old"!!
Today I finally got to see my lovely GP and knew that I had to confess because I was hoping she would renew my prescription. The first confession was to be that I hadn't started the Citalopram she prescribed in Feb when I was really low and the second one was the fact that I had put myself back onto HRT when she was adamant that I couldn't have any because of my age. I walked into her room and she said "My you look fab - Citalopram is obviously working then. I thought it would". So I straight away had to fess up to what I'd done. She said "Of course you feel great but that doesn't mean you should be on it - especially with the hyster coming up" We talked about the pros and cons of stopping HRT before operations and she said that pelvic and orthopaedic surgeries were the worst for blood clots. Having had one friend who developed a clot after an abdominal hyster six months ago and a friend's mum who is in hospital with two lung clots following minor knee surgery I sort of agreed. She phoned a colleague for his advice which was the same. In the "older" woman HRT is to be stopped at least four weeks (eight preferably) before any planned surgery.She agreed it was strange this wasn't in my letter about my op but did point out that in the letter she had received from the consultant it did say that "I understand that this lady is no longer on HRT"
She was really helpful with hints re recovery time and said that week one and two you feel quite good because you have had the op and survived but that week three is often one when women can feel quite low and miserable. She also said that I would probably be in hospital for four to five days which seems an incredibly long time to me! I mentioned the anxiety - hate knowing I can't go out if I need to - and she said not to start Citalopram before the op but to make sure GAD is written on my notes when I go for the pre-op so that I can have sleeping tablets if I need it. This saves having to get it authorised by a doc which can take up to three hours which is a long time to be in a panic.
As for HRT - she said that if I really can't cope after I've had the hyster and given it a couple of months then at least my HRT will be oestrogen only which is better but that I had to understand that at some stage of my life I will have to go through these symptoms. I, of course, did mention that if I took it for the rest of my life then that wouldn't happen. She did agree that up to the age of 70 risks and benefits are thought to be equal.
I am sad that my month of feeling great (apart from the horrible period that started yesterday) is at an end and that the flushes/sweats will be back pretty soon. At least I know though that if I can persuade someone to prescribe it then that little patch makes me feel a whole lot better.
Taz x
