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[Dancinggirl]

Hi everyone
Menopause symptoms can be quite wide ranging and, as we know, will vary from woman to woman.
There is no doubt that the treatment of menopause symptoms needs to handled better by GPs and I'm hoping that the new guidelines will go some way to addressing the wide variations in help and advice we women get.
I also think we women need to be educated better about what the menopause involves.  We are given information about birth control as teenagers, advised to examine our breasts etc. but when it comes to this part of lives that we will all have to face we are left to muddle through with precious little information unless we are fortunate enough to discover this site.
I am starting back on HRT after a one year break - for me HRT has always been a compromise. I do get side effects with HRT but being without it is also tough.
I often read posts on MM where women seem to have really high expectations of how HRT will help - do you feel we expect too much?
DG x

[tabbycat3838]

For me ,ithink its a matter of trade off..i never expect to feel wonderful  anyway meno or no meno..if hrt can help with my mood but i end up with some other minor physical symptom for example ..i will happily joyfully even lol trade that..totally agree with you about lack of support and info ..as you know i was in a complete state of shock and fear about being told i was in perri..and how horrible i was feeling because of it ..wish ide been better informed x

[bramble]

Yes, I think we expect far too much from HRT. It isn't a magic bullet, nor does it suit everyone. Sometimes life sucks and there is no rhythm nor reason as to how we feel so we just need to get on with it. I have been a member of MM for many years (joined on the old forum) and I remember how I first felt when I found it - I thought great - someone here will tell me what recipe to use to make me better. Nooooo! It did make me feel better to know other women were out there and I was not the only one feeling absolute c***. But every menopause journey is one you travel alone. There is no magic cure-all, not even HRT, and I have tried everything from Peruvian Maca picked in the Andes, to Reiki and all things inbetween. And to be honest, I think it was time that was the healer.

Bramble

[Ju Ju]

For me, no, I didn't expect much from HRT, and was amazed that a small amount of oestrogen would make so much difference. I wish I had tried a few years ago, but thought I couldn't. It's not magic, though, as I still have health issues, but I can do more and live a quality life.

[CLKD]

I think people expect a sudden improvement on most medications.  When I was suffering severely from depression I didn't seek help for months, so when I did eventually own up I wanted a cure and I needed it yesterday …… but it took several years to get to where I am now, as some ADs gave me side effects that I was unable to tolerate [i.e. nausea]. 

I think it's the same when people go on a diet, they want instant results.  But we don't get 'here' all at once, either with weight increase or other health problems, putting aside emergencies like appendectomy or heart problems. 

I need to keep in mind that on a daily basis I am better than in the 1990s.  But I have to keep in mind that unless I eat correctly and get good quality sleep I soon go down-hill.  My anxiety is background partly due to the time of year ……. knowing that doesn't help the physicality of the anxiety 

Any chronic condition can take a while to find a status quo.  It's a learning curve that our Grandmothers didn't have the opportunity to consider.

[peegeetip]

I agree with Ju Ju and CLKD.

I too wish I'd started earlier than I did, and annoyed that Doc did not point out options sooner.
Some of my personal symptoms were directly related to peri and doc made me go through unnecessary tests when all my body was shouting for was hormones

That is where I think a lot go wrong.
Its not expecting too much, more taking it too late.

We put off going on HRT for various reasons, often silly ones or just down to being refused it.
We get higher stress, wear and tear due to our reducing hormones without HRT.
Then unfortunately take HRT to try and make us all better when things get unbearable.
In some cases things have maybe gone to far to get back fully to where we used to be.
Even the way our bodies react to the hormones may differ after time making the whole process even more difficult.

It scares me what would have happened if I'd been another year or 2 down the line before taking HRT.
For me it took 6 months plus to help some of my more personal issues.
Had I started earlier I reckon I would have bypassed the issues and not had such a horrible time.

Just part of my view on my journey so far.

 

[CLKD]

I suppose that GPs have a route to go down ……… so doing blood tests is a starting point.  Also patients are notorious for not explaining their symptoms  , what is known as the 'door effect'.  the patient tells the GP what is wrong as they are about to leave the surgery therefore elliciting another appointment  …….

Fortunately my GP realised I was headed towards VA before I did - after 3 urine tests came back 'normal' and by the time I was sitting on razor blades  , he guided me towards treatment ……….

[peegeetip]

I wish my doc had be so astute CLKD.

Had my doc been willing to consider HRT earlier they would have:

1) saved me from some horrible symptoms
2) kept appointments at local doc and hospital for others that really needed them 
3) not wasted a lot of money in the process
4) made me well sooner
5) stopped me worrying during the tests
6) stopped me getting worse

Given that they keep telling us how much our health services are under strain surely this would save suffering, money and time if this even applied to a small percentage of us in peri/meno.
I'm sure I'm not the only one thats gone through the mill on this.

[meno lesley]

Agree wholeheartedly peegeetip - I went from hardly seeing a doctor year on year to visiting nearly every department at the hospital with all sorts gong on. My doctor at the time refused hrt and said that I needed to get through it as I would only get the symptoms back when finishing hrt. That is all well and good but was trying to juggle a job, elderly parents, children, grandchildren, etc. etc. and felt that i was going mad.

If there was more info out there about menopause it may help hospital waiting lists.

Lesley x

[CLKD]

Should there be a menopause dept at each Hospital?

[Rowan]

There is a lot of information about menopause and there has been for decades, my mother gave me a book in the seventies called "Women and the Crisis in Sex Hormones" by Barbara Seaman" and since then I must have read dozens and dozens of books about woman's health, menopause( and HRT) most found in the library before Amazon and online information.   

I worked at a Well Woman's Centre and gave advice and counselling on health, hormones and menopause. and there were stacks of books in our library to read and borrow for anyone who came to the centre, this was in the nineties.

Today there is so much information about women's health, menopause, hormones and HRT its over whelming.

Its all out there, it just takes the will to research and find out for yourself.

[Hurdity]

There should be well-women centres today at every surgery to educate women about menopause and the changes expected and to give them a health MOT if necessary as they reach 50 for example, and have a general health and life-style review.

I agree there is a lot of info out there especially nowadays with access to the latest scientific papers (as well as a lot of dross though!) but as Dancginggirl says, whereas at school girls are taught about puberty - the true picture about menopause comes as a surprise to most of us. It did me.

Re the original question - we have to ask the question why are we taking HRT? In most cases the over-riding reason we turn to it in the first place it is to prevent debilitating hot flushes, and night sweats which prevents us getting on with our lives. All the other reasons for most women, I suggest - are extra to this - anxiety, palpitations, low mood, vaginal dryness etc.

Therefore what we should expect initially, is that the HRT will more or less eliminate these, so that we can function - and perhaps this should be promoted more - that overall women should hope to feel better than they did without HRT and better able to function. No-one should be under any illusions that you will get the old "you" back because in most cases you won't but you will be better than before. There may well be side effects. There will almost certainly be some form of pms/pmt as with periods, but hopefully not worse!

Many of us as we read more about it then realise it has so many health benefits beyond just symptom control, and opt to stay on it for longer.

Hurdity x

[CLKD]

   certainly once I began to feel better: from depression and anxiety : I could go to my GP with more informed questions and actually listen to suggestions ………. without feeling that I was a nuisance; without feeling that they might be nothing more the GP could do; without feeling that there was only 1 option and if that didn't work …..

Not everyone has access to the internet even now.  Particulaly in the 3rd World.  So talking, sharing, advising, listening ………. 'it helps to talk' 

[Kathleen]

Hello ladies.

All I wanted from HRT was to feel a bit more normal.

Oh well, that's the way the cookie crumbles I suppose.

Take care everyone.

K.

[tabbycat3838]

Totally agree with you about the well woman clinic idea Hurdity.
And Lesley ,i also relate ,maybe this meno stuff would be alot easier to deal with if we didnt have such intense pressure on us ,if we wernt having to keep so many balls in the air..i truly believe intense and prolonged stress is a massive problem which in itself causes so many debilitating issues mental and physical including  more than likely a much rockier hormonal transition if not even possibly an early meno Its kind of a catch 22 really that we end up having to resort to taking all sorts of pills and potions to keep functioning at those levels.