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[Nula]

Hi ladies
Looking for some of your invaluable words of wisdom again please!
I've just got back from the doctors and she's told me that I've got to come off HRT following a very severe migraine.  (I'm 41, diagnosed with POF, been on various HRT's for almost a year).
I'm actually petrified.  I remember what an absolute nightmare it was pre-HRT.  I thought I was losing my mind (actually did lose my job), and really wasn't coping with the catalogue of symptoms I was experiencing.  I'm especially worried about the vaginal dryness coming back - my partner is already at his wits end with me due to the not-being-able-to-have-a-baby thing, and all the mood/physical issues, so I think if the sex goes out the window too I'll swiftly be following it. 
I also could not cope with the not sleeping, continual hot flashes and the hair loss.
I was getting on much better on the HRT as at least I felt a little more level and could work, go out and get on with life.  Without it I'll be jobless, single and homeless.  I don't think I'll be able to cope. 

Any words of advice please?

[Maryjane]

tou can go on HRT if you have migraines, if you saw a top migraine specialist in London she would put you on HRT as part of the treatment, I also get a dreadful migraine each month, but getting less the further into peri I go , I am on HRT.

Obviously I am not a doctor and this is what I have been told by my specialist.

[Wrensong]

Hi Nula, I'm so sorry to hear about this - it is a horrible situation to be in.  There are other ladies with more knowledge about migraine than me (especially ElizabethRose whose knowledge is encyclopaedic), so I hope one of them will be along soon to give some detailed advice. 

Meanwhile, I would just like to say please don't lose hope - I am also a migraineur, having had two types of migraine - classical & ocular, the first starting at around age 18 & the second from late 30s-early 40s, BUT I am also on HRT and have not had any migraine since starting it 2 years ago.  Though I should perhaps add that my classical migraine episodes had stopped after my final period i.e. 3 years before starting HRT, though the ocular type continued.  The relevant point is that HRT didn't bring my migraines back.   

You don't say what type of HRT you are on, but transdermal methods are thought to be OK for women prone to migraine.  I use a combined patch formulation for just this reason.  So if you are on oral HRT, it's possible that swapping to a transdermal method of delivery (patch/gel) would be more suitable, or if you have already tried one or more transdermal types (you say "various"), that there might still be another you could try. 

Vagifem or another type of topical oestrogen should help with dryness, if you are not already on this.  Though I had headaches when I first started Vagifem - these were not migraines & settled as my body got used to the extra oestrogen, which I started some months before systemic HRT, so I would hope, if you exhaust all systemic options, that topical oestrogen should at least provide relief for the GU symptoms & not be troublesome in terms of provoking migraine.   I do hope you are able to find a regime that works for you.