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[Kathleen]

Stellajane.

You're welcome!  This 'journey' can be so tough for some of us. Thankfully this forum reassures us that we are not alone.

Take care.

K.

[Night_Owl]

Hi Stellajane - sorry to read you're having such a difficult time.

I've been off now for c.17 months - it has been extremely tough going - every day I think about going back on (although I was never that great when on it) - however I only have to look at a packet of Utrogestan (((shudder))) to convince myself not to!  Talk about caught between a rock and a hard place ...

My concern is/was at some stage when older coming up against a GP(s) who would refuse the HRT prescription - this has recently happened to a friend of a friend in her 80s.

Think I may have posted this link before:

https://healinghistamine.com/the-menopause-histamine-connection/#

[Alua197]

Nightowl i was wondering how you were doing. Glad to see you have managed to stay off.

I am now 6 months off and i think i might just make it. Have some rough days but overall sliggtly better off it all. And only one migraine in that 6 months instead of one every two weeks on the hrt.

[Kathleen]

Hello again ladies.

Night_Owl and Alua - It's good to hear the experiences of other ladies who are coming off HRT.  I stopped all HRT in July last year and sometimes I feel I'm doing okay and sometimes I don't! I wish there was some way of predicting how long it will take for things to settle down and indeed a guarantee that they will settle down!  In the meantime onward and upward.

Wishing you well ladies.

K.

[Night_Owl]

Hi ladies

I plan to stay off - in it for the long haul - realise it could take *decades* but so be it.  I accept it and have had to adjust my lifestyle accordingly.

The biggest deciding factor:  I now know HRT made my migraines worse.  The reality is that for some women, HRT - in whatever form - simply does not work for their particular biochemistry.

K, I'm the same, sometimes I'll have a run of feeling good then it all goes wrong again (eg. I can be peeling potatoes and suddenly feel like it's the end of the world, crying, dramatic mood swings - this did also happen whilst on HRT though) then I'll bounce back, it feels like 'emotional instability'.   However I know within myself I'm better off it. 

I do believe that there is still some sort of background 'cycle' going on for the rest of our lives.  A friend in her 80s is convinced of it.

Alua, good to hear your migs are improved, just goes to show.

SJ, I'm wondering if you pushed through with the 'withdrawal', the urticaria may recede ... 

I've also seen an Acupuncturist and a Homeopath to get me through - both treatments were 'somewhat' helpful.

[Jari]

Night owl, I am so much better off it too. Only took it for 3 months with hideous side effects. Stopped and now concentrate on an improved diet /exercise and supplements and feel really good. X

[Kathleen]

Hello again ladies.

Night_Owl -  Emotional instability perfectly describes my situation.  I will continue to struggle on for the time being.  My pre HRT daily headaches lasted for six months then stopped completely and I'm hopeful that my current symptoms will soon burn themselves out.

Wishing everyone well.

K.

[Alua197]

Nightowl, Jari and Kathleen...very proud of you ladies managing without hrt. I still feel like i am dying some days but to be honest I felt worse on the hrt. I was just so petrified to come off it as had tried a couple of times in the past and was ready to jump off a building.

I weaned over 3 months this time and it was somewhat easier. I definitely had quite intense withdrawal even though I weaned off. I guess like all drugs the brain gets accustomed to it and goes into withdrawal mode when its removed.

After several near death experiences with western medicines I am done with hrt too. It 100 percent gave me chronic migraine and affected my vision adversley. It also made my anxiety and depression worse. I actually feel being off it I may return to normal one day.

I am practising radical acceptance of this crazy, challenging passage. On those days i feel like bawling my eyes out I just remind myself this will pass one day and its just crazy chemicals in my brain doing this and its not me. This has been going on 6 years now and I am still peri so I have quite a lot of practice at calling out the bullshit lies my compromised brain is telling me.

Hrt helped me initially and quite possibly saved my life but then it turned on me in a big way. My body had been telling me for a couple of years I needed to get off and I am so glad I finally listened.

To all woman out there suffering due to menopause I am sending you a big hug and hoping you get relief someday soon, from hrt or whatever method you choose.
Xxx

[Jari]

Nightowl, Jari and Kathleen...very proud of you ladies managing without hrt. I still feel like i am dying some days but to be honest I felt worse on the hrt. I was just so petrified to come off it as had tried a couple of times in the past and was ready to jump off a building.

I weaned over 3 months this time and it was somewhat easier. I definitely had quite intense withdrawal even though I weaned off. I guess like all drugs the brain gets accustomed to it and goes into withdrawal mode when its removed.

Alua, I am really pleased you are off it too, although you mention withdrawal and weaning off. I have heard other ladies speaking about this and can not help but wonder if hrt is addictive. ?!

I was not on it long enough to wean off and came off cold turkey, overnight. I had no trouble at all coming off it and was so relieved to see the back of it after all the different side effects, one being terrible anxiety, it gave me.

Interesting you are still in peri, I am 2 years post meno. How old are you and what are your cycles like?

I found by making some changes to my diet has really helped and I can really say that I feel much healthier because of this.

Take care and I hope all continues to improve. X

[Jari]

There's no right or wrong in all this.

Absolutely stellajane. Very much an individual thing and we must do what we feel is right for our own bodies.
Glad you have found the right solution for you. X

[Kathleen]

Hello again ladies.

I've heard the menopause described as oestrogen withdrawal which is certainly what it feels like!

Incidentally when males go through puberty and experience surges of hormones it is known as 'testosterone poisoning'. Sounds about right lol.

Take care ladies.

K.

[Jari]

Ok stellajane... i did not say there was a problem if addicted. I was just curious. Like many things I guess. I was drinking a lot of coffee and also was curious about caffeine being addictive, but I have reduced by half and have not found it a problem at all. Can not imagine stopping coffee altogether though..
Over the years I have known some people who smoke. I did smoke socially many years ago too. A couple of people I know absolutely can not quit smoking no matter how hard they have tried, whereas I stopped many years ago without thinking. I think I just grew out of it. I did not feel addicted or have any trouble stopping.
I am just curious if some of us have different elements within us that makes us more addictive to things?! Just wondering.

[Alua197]

I am 46. This shite started when i was 40, about 6 months after i weaned my daughter.

I have been through hell. The drugs they put me on for menopause symptoms made me very suicidal and i nearly lost my life. The internet saved my life. I didnt know what was happening until i came across tonnes of others online who had the same experience. Thus mynintense dislike of doctors and many western medicines. They have their place though of course.

My cycles are all over the place. Since being off hrt they have come in the following rough sequence of days apart..28, 15, 21, 26, 28, 26. I sometimes ovulate and other times not. Last two months i havent. Periods are a splutter for a couple of days and i dont use tampons or anything. Just a bit of loo paper....too much info i know lol. Hope the bloody things are petering out.

How did yours wind down jari?

Xxx

[Jari]

I started to get similar cycle mix as you say around 3-4 years before my last period which was when I was 47.5 yrs.

No hot flushes or night sweats at all until a month or two after last period. Then a gap of a few months with nothing and then it heated up! Literally! Lol

I started to get very intense hot flushes combined with sweating a lot. Really horrible. Plus night sweats where I just could not sleep much as always so very hot and sweaty.

I started with hrt after a few months of these horrible flushes. The hrt brought with it, very bad anxiety, fibroid growth, weight gain, but worst of all breathlessness that became frighteningly bad. I had to come off hrt overnight. I think the difficulty breathing was linked to a potential blood clot being caused but I do not have that from the meno specialist. I read that somewhere. Possibly on the leaflet that came with the hrt.

Anyway, all those side effects calmed down and went but the hot flushes came back. I was determined to find a solution. So I started researching and read a lot about natural menopause. I changed my diet and increased exercise. My hot flushes started to decrease. I still get them, now nearly 3 years since last period, but they are not bad now. Far fewer and much milder. Night sweats are rare now.
I just do not know if this would have happened naturally anyway ( as 90% of women's symptoms pass within 4 years of last period) or whether it is the lifestyle change?! Or maybe a bit of both. X

[Alua197]

I also had breathlessness on the hrt, i called it air hunger. Come to think of it I have not had it since going off hrt either.

I think i have had every symptom i have ever read about, its been incredibly cruel. My mum had sudden onset insomnia and that and hot flushes were her worst symptoms. She was on hrt 7 years stopped cold and was fine but still has flushes twenty plus years later. I even have cold flushes.

I believe diet and exercise would make a difference but hard to determine whats what. I need to increase my exercise and also tidy my diet. I went strict vegan last year for 5 months and did feel much better but it was hard going. The weight loss was great i was the slimmest i had been in years.

Since going off hrt i have gained weight. I had severe anxiety on the hrt, felt like i was always on speed so maybe my metabolism has taken a hit. Nothing some clean eating wont fix.

I absolutely believe our brains are addicted to estrogen. An er doctor treating me for a suspected heart episode told me that menopause is like a drug withdrawal for some woman. She said over the years she had seen many ladies reduced to a blithering wrecks because of meno and i dont doubt it as i was one of them.

I think so many ladies symptoms are made worse by all the unnecassary off label drugs they are prescribed which all have side effects, when most of the time hrt solves many meno issues.

It did make me better but i think it also added just as many weird side effects. Like nightowl said, some of our chemical makeups cannot tolerate synthetic drugs.

Xxx