Hi Tingly
I only started taking it at nearly 51, to help with the joint aches - they came in waves over a few days at random intervals (probably due to my 'cycle' but hard to pin it down - 'cycle' being dodgy and random.)
I had the talk about it only being 5 years etc, but doctor said she thought I was doing the right thing.
I found elleste made it worse during the progestogen phase, so started femeston. After that I had a test for arthritis at the nurse's suggestion as a lot of the pain was in my neck. That came up with low vitamin D but otherwise ok. Unfortunately, taking vit D coincided with the change to Femeston, but I have carried on taking it because it gives me more stability with my sort-of-menstrual cycle and my bladder is much happier (I have urogenital symptoms too).
The only downside to the hrt for me is that it kills off my libido. Apparently it is the pill form of oestrogen going through the liver that does this and patches may be better. These do not come with the same progestogen as femeston. However, I have taken the pill for nearly 30 years, so am well used to dealing with this
