Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Jaz]

Hello Ladies
The last time I was on here was about 2 months ago when I was feeling terrible with anxiety,fatigue, low moods, joint pains etc etc. I had a sub total hysterectomy 5 years ago, so still had ovaries but told they would pack in within few years and thats what seem to have happened.
Well I was started on Tibolone (Livial) and symptoms got worse especially anxiety. Went back to Meno clinic and was started on Elleste solo 2mg, I have to say within a few weeks I finally started to feel myself again.....lots more energy, huge mood improvement, anxiety gone (which I never experienced before meno, so thought I was going mad) and joints pains greatly improved.
I cant believe how much better I feel and how variable everyones symptoms appear to be on the same HRT. I really hope it lasts and would like to know others experiences of the long term pros and cons.
My GP has already started to advise about reducing the dosage or taking it less often as she informs me they have an obligation to tell their patients.
Another friend who is dealing with it naturally said 'well you will just have all the symptoms in your 70's when you come off it'. I am 51 by the way. Surely quality of life has to be the main priority....I am so glad to get my life back but feel it seems too good to be true. I think a lot of women are being fobbed off by putting them on anti depressants or just left to get on with it. Would love to hear from you ladies and stress there is hopefully light at the end of the tunnel and please don't give up! Wish you all the best.

Jaz x 

[Hurdity]

Hi jaz

That's great news that you feel so much better on the right HRT and long may it continue!!

Firstly re reducing the dose - you didn't say whether you were going to or not but I would have thought really no need if you don't want to yet. Many of us don't even start going on HRT until our 50's!!

Also if you look at the balance between benefits and risks on this site http://www.menopausematters.co.uk/balance.php
 you will see the benefits outweigh the risks between 50 and 60  so your doc is not up-to-date.

Re the having symptoms in your 70's - well even if they were as bad - you would have had 10 or more  extra years with better quality of life and had a beneficial effect on your bones. I have read on here that many owmen on HRT who have had a hysterectomy stay on HRT for much longer than those with a womb because it is the progesterone that causes the problems ( spotting etc and pmt feelings) and in one of the major studies was shown to be associated with greater risk than oestrogen alone.

I am still using it at age 60 - although have just started to reduce it slightly.

Lovely to read your post   

Hurdity  x

[Patricia]

Hi Jaz,

It's about a year since I have posted!

Just want to say delighted you have found the hrt that suits you.  I am also on Elleste Solo 2mg but have a Mirena Coil to protect my womb.  I too find it very agreeable.  Prior to this I had been on Elleste Duet 2mg for about 14 years and that also suited me. It just goes to show how individual we all are really. I know some ladies have tried this brand and it doesn't suit them. I too dread the day I have to stop but it will be sooner for me as I am 59!  You are only a young thing yet.

It's more the mental things that get me and this brand seems to do the trick.  It hasn't stopped me from being an anxious type of person but I'm not going round weeping and gnashing my teeth expecting the world to end which I would be doing otherwise.   Occasionally I will get a flush but nothing unbearable. 

The fly in the ointment for me is that I continue to spot with the mirena coil. I have been investigated with scans and hysteroscopy etc and the hospital seem to think if I don't mind living with it then I should carry on otherwise change the hrt.  I really don't wish to change as this arrangement does suit me and I feel if I make too much of a fuss at the meno clinic they might insist I stop HRT altogether.  So here I am at  59 still wearing a pantyliner and sometimes even a sanitary towel. 

I have friends who are going it naturally too and seem to think I'm bonkers putting up with the spotting at my age but I agree with you regarding the Elleste Solo, it is brilliant. 
 
Before I go let me just tell you that I experimented with other brands of hrt after I finished the Elleste Duet 2 mg before settling on this and it was a pretty rough time headaches, tears no libido etc.  I paid to see a consultant just to get another perspective and as much information as possible and he certainly made me feel very optimistic and told me he was still seeing a lady in her 70's! 

Lovely to hear from you and keep taking the tabs.  Patxx

[Jaz]

Thank you ladies I am so glad I discovered this site, it certainly helps to share experiences and you are all such a font of knowledge!

Bless you all xx

[Hurdity]

Aslo interested Pat that you are still on full strength 2mg at 59 - which is termed high dose when post-meno but medium under the oestrogen only preparations! Also that you are getting spotting at 59 (I am just being investigated for this at just 60). I don't even talk about this with my friends - just mention now and again I am still on HRT!

Are you still under a private consultant and is this why you haven't been asked to reduce the dose yet? It gives me hope about not reducing my dose and my prescription has just been changed to a lower dose too!!

It's great to hear everyone's stories - and amazing how different they all are under different docs.

Hurdity x

[Patricia]

Hi again - No I'm not with a private consultant Hurdity I just paid for a one off visit because I was having problems trying to find an alternative regime after coming off the Elleste Duet 2mg.

I attend the local menopause clinic and they have been very thorough - scans, biopsies .....My womb  lining had thickened which is why they fitted the mirena and it is doing its job. It has come down to 7mm (It was 12mm I think - I can't remember, head like a sieve) but this spotting won't stop. It could be my lining still shedding.  Like I've said though, all the tests have come back okay.  One of the nurses at the meno clinic has the mirena and she says for two Christmas's she has had a full blown bleed like a period!  She reckons it's the stress...

So I don't know what the future will bring.  I would like to think I could stay on HRT forever! If I have to come off HRT I'll definitely be hitting the cooking sherry hard I think.   Patxx

[Taz2]

Hi Stellajane - I hope you manage to get your dose increased. I found that both the meno clinic and my GP were keen for me to start dropping the dose once I hit 58  rather than increasing it and I'm supposed to be coming off it by the time I'm 60 - that's eight months to go then!

Taz x

[Hurdity]

According to this website the benefits equal the risks between 60 and 70 and I think the recommendations are that it should be a woman's informed choice - provided of course there are no medical factors requiring to come off.

We don't know if we are going to get cancer or not - quite a number of us will as we age - and we won't know what the cause is as it is so complex. My view is that even if I get cancer I won't know if it is due to HRT or not, but I do know like stellajane, that I too want to protect my bones and general health for as long as possible, and that had I not taken it I would not have been able to function - and as stellajane says - I really don't want a return of those bladder/pelvic dragging symptoms either.

And in case you don't know - I have reached the magic age - 60! There are a few of us on here...

The compromise is dropping the dose which I am trying to do - so far so good after 1 month - but last time it was later  (oie 2-3 months) that I started getting a resumption of symptoms (after stopping completely)

Hurdity x

[Patricia]

Hi Stella Jane and all you lovely ladies - I came off the Elleste Duet because I was 57 and fed up with the monthly bleeds which had become extremely heavy.  it suited me fine for many years but had got to the stage where I wouldn't arrange holidays or nights out during that week because they were quite unmanageable. If I had never taken HRT my periods would probably be finished by that stage too.  What followed then was a phase of experimenting and as we know, it's all trial and error.

I suppose I was lucky, the meno clinic could have just said then stop the HRT completely.  I did stop for a few weeks during the experimenting phase but I was soon going out of my mind...aches, sweats, shakes, panic attacks ...it was desperate.  My anxiety was the worse though - constantly crying, up in the night unable sleep, crying over the computer trying to find answers - thank God for this wonderful site and lovely ladies.  As well as stopping for a while I tried continuous hrt (can't remember brand though) ..anyway, throughout it all I was still slightly bleeding and that's why they started the investigating and found my womb lining had thickened. The Meno clinic then really pushed me to have the Mirena fitted to protect my womb...I actually suggested hysterectomy a couple of times but they thought I was mad!!

So that's how come I'm on this regime but I'm still spotting. Spotting = panty liner then nothing for a week or two and very occasionally heavy enough for a sanitary towel.  As all the tests have come back okay though I'm alright with it and the hospital is.  I just have to hope the gynae at the meno clinic continues to be.  I have to see her again in a month or so when we will have a talk about it.

Hope that answers your question Stellajane...and I really hope I can continue till I pop my clogs! Patxx

Well done Hurdity - Happy 60th xxxx