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[kenny]

Hi , quick update , I have tried for the last 3 months to come off HRT, 1st 2 month every other day, 3rd month every 3rd day, was absolutely fine for 10 days then omg , my symptoms came back with a vengeance. I have attempted to come off HRT a few times and it was the awful headaches that made me go back on it. It was not the headaches this times, it was the tears, the nervousness, no sleep, seen my GP after 3 days, explained I was going straight back on it , she was lovely , I'm 57 now as she has agreed that until I'm 60 she is happy for me to stay on it. I do not think I will ever be able to come off it to be honest, the way I see it , life is short, enjoy everyday, the risks associated with HRT are so small, I'll take the risk and feel great about life. I am back to the person I was, 😄😄

[Dana]

I'm sorry to hear that, but at least you tried. Maybe your tapering off was too quick. I'm planning on trying to taper from a medium dose down to a low dose very soon, but I'm planning on doing it really slowly, like maybe even over a year or even two. My theory is that if I do it slowly enough maybe it might encourage my body to adapt to it better. I had to taper off diazepam a while back and I did that really slowly (2 years) and it was the best way to do it. Of course I know benzos and HRT are two different things, but that's the theory anyway.

I was hoping to be able to do it with patches, but I just don't seem to absorb patches very well, so I'm back on the 2mg estradiol tablets. I plan on cutting out half a tablet one day a week for maybe a couple of months, and then cutting out another half tablet on a different day for another couple of months, and so on. The idea being that maybe I can end up taking half a tablet every day, and that would be equivalent to a low dose. Then if all that goes well, maybe I can cut it down even more.

I understand that a lot of women plan on staying on HRT for life, and I would love to do that too because of all the benefits, but progesterone just makes things too difficult for me. I can tolerate it on a cycle, but I can't take it on a continuous basis, so I really don't want to still be having periods well into my 60s, or god forbid 70s!! The alternative to all this is a hysterectomy of course, but that will be my last resort.

[kenny]

Hi Dana, i'm not sure how much evidence there is to show the ideal time to wean off, think it may be down to the individual, i was getting so stressed as i was so determined to stop HRT, now i look back and think, just go with your body, if you need it and your quality of life is good stick with it. To be honest there is so much talk now of how low the risks are, lifes to short to be worrying, will you be one of the small minority and catch what HRT can throw at you,,Good Luck if you want to go with it, but for me who's tried coming off it 5 times now,,,, enjoy life.. 

[Dana]

Don't get me wrong. I would be quite happy to stay on HRT for the rest of my life if I didn't have to contend with progesterone. My ultimate answer may have to be a hysterectomy, but that's not something I'm going to do lightly.