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[Jacksfullofaces]

Juju
Your Gp sounds quite astute 
        Jacksfullofaces

[Forgetful]

Hi TinaK

 

Just wanted to give the other side of the story re HRT.

I am also surgically menopausal (Hysterectomy 2006 for fibroids/endo and BSO 2007 for continuing endo) I have tried HRT twice and both times had to stop because it affected my liver function adversely however because of the endo I had to take progestogen as well and inspite of meno symptoms I do feel better without it than with it, as Taz said the progestogen is the hormone that gives the worst side effects.

The only way to find out if it agrees with you is to try it, however I have found that when stopping it again the symptoms seem to be worse for a few weeks before coming back to a bearable level, the other thing to keep in mind is that if you take HRT you are only putting off what will happen eventually , your body will at some point have to get used to a low level of estrogen whether you do it now or do it later. Doctors tend to gloss over this fact when prescribing HRT.

I personally would rather get it over with now than have it hanging over my head in the future.

Symptoms are supposed to peak at  two years post meno, and then tail off to nothing, but it is a personal decision and it is  certainly not easy to go without HRT when surgically meno because it is all speeded up and a big shock to the body when compared with natural menopause.

My main symptoms are hot flushes  ocasional palpitations tiredness and dry eyes, but I am being tested to see if I have sjogrens syndrome which could be a cause of the tiredness and dry eyes.

Anyway good luck with whatever you decide

Forgetful x

[dando]

I've never taken HRT but have friends who are currently on it.  They've found it beneficial for the most part but have had problems either when they;ve attempted to come off it or found that over a period of time, the initial effects kind of "wore off" and they started to have problems on it.

I've been in the meno for 20 months now (since April 07) and am trying hard not to resort to HRT.  I get hot flushes, night sweats and sadly the vagina is now a 'sand paper tunnel' to quote one person on this board and I think my libido is lowering.  That could be down to the sand paper effect I guess.  Anyhow I'm trying to view the meno as a natural event that at some stage we all have to get through and come to terms with.  I guess I'd be more interested in HRT if I felt I could see an expert who'd prescribe the best bioidentical hormones for my situation. I am very put off by approaching my GP as in my view, most of them have a hit and miss idea to prescribing HRT and that can lead to all kinds of problems. 

[useless]

quoteI've been in the meno for 20 months now (since April 07)
this is what i am trying so hard to get my head round when you say "been in the meno" do you mean symptoms or finished having periods?

[useless]

got answer in other post

[Forgetful]

Hi

Dando you are at about the same stage  as me then, I had my BSO in May 2007.

Forgetful x

[Jacksfullofaces]

Dando
There is bio identical hormone therapy in the Uk -but not on the NHS. If you want details I have them
         Jacksfullofaces

[lillybee]

Hi not been in for a while. Just to let you know I am 5 months on with Premique and it is amazing, changed my life. Fingers crossed it stays like this for a while at least. When I read my old posts I can't believe it's the same person. I just feel so normal now. The hot sweats have gone, I am sleeping through and not constantly dripping wet.

I do have terrible mood swings and rages from nowhere, will be discussing on my next check up but am trying to work through these. Just need to sort my weight now, joining slimming world after christmas.

So I would highly recommend trying HRT if you are suffering like I did. It has given me  my life back. I am well aware I could have problems if the doctor decides I should come off, but will cross that one when it comes

[miagran]

BEST THING SINCE SLICED BREAD! If I thought that I could stay on HRT until the end of my days I would be over the moon, but after 5 years doc reccommended I come off it and it has been horrendous, 4 years down the line I'm still sweating albeit it was a lot more severe when I came off it at first, and I also had a lot more horrible extra symptoms e.g. sore joints & lots and lots of wind!!! Although sweats have eased off a little (or I've just became immune to them), I would maybe think twice about starting HRT if I thought that it would result in all this craziness when you're taken off it! 
Sorry to be so crabbie it's this bl***y menopause. 

[Hermione49]

A few weeks shy of 50, I have been on HRT for 3 years and believe it has made a huge difference to my life. However, I am now in a state of panic as I have just been to a male doctor (my usual doctor is female and very sympathetic but is away) to renew my prescription. The male doctor has stated that I must come off HRT as the risks are too high. As a single female who has to support myself, I would sooner continue on HRT than run the risks associated with coming off it. In the current climate if my perfomance drops due to emotional swings and insomnia, the symptons which were most problematic before, I could very easily find myself out of work. Surely the decision to continue should be mine?

Help.

[milly]

Yes I agree it should.

I think I would rebook with the female GP when she returns, at the very least to ask her opinion of this decision.

Three years is within the guidelines I'm sure.

Good luck!

[Taz2]

Hi Hermione - welcome to the forum - sorry that you have been treated like this. The guidelines seem to be that five years is a good amount of time to be on HRT - after this time it is recommended that you should gradually come off it - over three to six months - to see how many of your symptoms return. If you are still experiencing bad symptoms then you can restart it provided that your overall health is good.

Is your blood pressure high as this could have scared the doc into not prescribing you your next batch of HRT. I'm not sure what risks he is talking about - did he actually say which ones?

Taz x 

[Meg]

Just a few thoughts on this five years business with HRT.  I have been going through all of the menopause misery for over four years.  My doctor is very negative about HRT.  I have had three goes with it but came off because of side-effects.  There has been no advice as to how to taper HRT to individual need as seems to happen in the U.S.  To me it feels as if we are light years away from finding solutions to really help women and in fact we may have gone backwards in the NHS and I dont know if any research is going on to find any answers because if the cash strapped NHS cant afford the drugs what incentive is there for drug companies to do any research.  I do wonder if men were going through all this whether more of a ruckus would have been kicked up.  It seems to me very cruel to say that a woman cannot have HRT for as long as she wishes if she is feeling better on it than off it because for many women the symptoms just seem to come back without the HRT.

[Taz2]

Meg - what side effects did you get from the HRT you were given and were you offered pills or patches.

I agree that it seems as if the meno is trailing behind in the research stakes and if it was men then maybe things would be moving along faster but I think in this day and age we expect a "cure" for everything and for some things this just isn't possible without some risk being involved.

I think that as women we have taken more control of our lives, we have good careers, own our own homes and expect that our health will also change with time. Things that our mothers went through we feel we shouldn't have to because we have changed in so many other ways. At the end of the day, though, nature seems to have decreed that loss of egg production equals loss of a lot of ourselves and we are a long way off evolving into women who can produce babies naturally into our 70's and 80's.

I hope that makes sense!

Taz x

[Meg]

Taz

If I remember correctly the first HRT I tried was about 18 months after my last period.  It was a patch, Femapak 40 with 10 mg progestogen which was duphaston.  Felt a bit better on the oestrogen patch for the first two weeks though I did have one experience where I felt a bit outside of myself, sort of as if I was out of my body, a sensation I did not like.  Like lots of ladies I felt progressively worse on the progestin.  Like very bad PMS, low backache, bad temper.  Then I had a bleed which seemed to go on for about two weeks so I thought that I wouldn't be able to tolerate that month after month and packed it in.  I also tried Evorel Conti but had pretty constant PMS with that plus pains in the uterus and really bad wind so it was intolerable.  Would never try the continuous combined again as I couldn't tolerate the progestin all of the time.  At present am slogging things out and struggling on.

Regards

Meg