Greetings, I'm from New Zealand, 53, and I've been grappling with menopausal issues (ha ha, what a euphemism!) for a few years now. And not just the roller coaster involved with the various stuff going on physically, psychologically etc; the roller coaster of "medical advice" and studies showing you should do this, not do that, do the other. Because of the Big Scary Study Showing The Breast Cancer Link (overblown!) I was all "OK, no hormones". Then last week, I went back to the dr., after a few months of horrendous night sweats, no sleep etc, "give me hormones! give them to me NOW!" At which point she noted my pretty erratic looking record of trying various things...hormones, nothing, SSRIs, nothing, different hormones, nothing. Kind of made me feel like a madwoman just hearing my medical record recited back at me. Anyway, the hormones have always worked for me, but then I've always been scared off them by my dr. after taking them for a few months (I have been through 3 dr.s as they keep leaving the practice; and all have different attitudes -- gawd, is it me who's driving them away?). Menopause Matters has given me the confidence to ask for hormones and also, I'm hoping, when I go back for a refill in 3 months and am given the "this should only be for the short term, you should think about stopping" speech, that I will stand up to it and and say, no, I need these hormones and I'm sticking with them for a year or two because I need some damned peace from this on again off again misery. Wow, this is a long introduction. Just get me started...obviously...on this subject and I'm like a broken record. Or is that a CD. Or an MP3 file? Thanks for the site and community! Happy Holidays to you all.