Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => Personal Experiences => Topic started by: Dandelion on April 23, 2015, 10:35:41 AM
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My GP, not my regular GP, phoned me up yesterday, regarding my HRT as I need some new patches.
Fair do's to her, I had forgotten to attend my appointment, so she rang me, which I was pleased about, but she asked me how long I wanted to stay on HRT for and I told her I would like to stay on it for life.
My reason is that lack of oestrogen causes me to have un-manageable anxiety and depression, very bad IBS, massive weight gain, and puts me at risk of osteoporosis)
I said that my life was just not worth living without HRT.
She said, that this was not possible.
She said women go through menopause naturally, when they come off HRT, (bullsh!t)
I said I had no quality of life without HRT but she said that although she did not want to make my life bad, she said it is too risky and went on to describe cancer.
Call me morbid, but I would rather have my life cut short by cancer than live with depression.
I would even consider taking my own life early, so as not to have to go through old age etc. I also have non meno anxiety and depression and a lot of crap in my life, some self-caused and some insoluble practical and personal problems, so, menopause induced anxiety and depression, on top of this, would lead me to the decision to bring my life to an early end before any real shit sets in)
(not suicidal at the moment by the way:) ) but, if I had no HRT, I would euthanise myself for deffo.
Anyway, I respectfully asked her, "As it's my own body, would I not be able to make a choice to run that risk of cancer and stay on HRT?" and she firmly said "no"
She said that when I turn 50, they will be sending for me to review my HRT, due to me starting perimenopause at 42, which she said was quite early.
This is just a rant really, and I hope that Dr Currie is still on hand so that she can help me, at the time, because it was her that helped me get HRT in the first place as the GP's were funny due to me being a migraine sufferer (non headache migraine with aura)
Anyway, I cannot believe that professional knowledgeable GP's are still basing their knowledge on that sh!te study of 2002, from WHI.
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Dandelion - maybe your GP should read this!
http://www.menopausematters.co.uk/newsitem.php?recordID=159/In-response-to-the-paper-RE-Duration-of-Menopause
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Dandelion - maybe your GP should read this!
http://www.menopausematters.co.uk/newsitem.php?recordID=159/In-response-to-the-paper-RE-Duration-of-Menopause
Hi Jenna
Thank you for that link, I have bookmarked it.
One GP wouldn't even read the email from Dr Currie, saying it was complicated, but luckily, I went to another one, after having bought a private box of hrt patches and she read the email and prescribed me the hrt I needed. Sadly it is really difficult to get an appointment with a specific GP, so, before my 50th birthday, approx 6 weeks in advance, I will make an appointment with that kind GP and show her the link plus any letter I may need from Dr Currie.
I have been having meno symptoms for 6 years now, but I know a woman who started hers at 40 and although she is now 53 and on hrt, she would still get bad flushes if she came off, and has been getting them for 13 years.
I have no clue why some women have long lasting meno symptoms while others get off with just a few flushes.
I took for granted that I would have no problems in meno, as I was really lucky with my periods, no PMS or gynaecological problems at all, just a little period pain which was sorted with a paracetamol.
I was wrong to take for granted my meno would be uneventful, it's been really rough. Thank God for evorel though.
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Hi Dandelion
I'm so angry just reading how your being treated there. I'm going outside soon to take my frustration out on the garden.
"I said that my life was just not worth living without HRT.
She said, that this was not possible.
She said women go through menopause naturally, when they come off HRT, (bullsh!t)
I said I had no quality of life without HRT but she said that although she did not want to make my life bad, she said it is too risky and went on to describe cancer."
This almost seems to be like an abuse of your rights to be left along in peace!
This was exactly what I was trying to explain in regards to the almost abusive way that people like your doc use the "NATURAL" card against us.
This has to stop. If other people on the forum can't see your plight then that is part of the problem too.
As doctor currie said in the magazine 38 page 10.
http://www.menopausematters.co.uk/issue38/#p=11
"It should be your choice and certainly not being told you have to stop"
Not sure if you need to get Dr Currie involved as others have but someone needs to take that doc you've got to task.
Fuming with you >:(
:-*
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Hi Dandelion
I'm so angry just reading how your being treated there. I'm going outside soon to take my frustration out on the garden.
"I said that my life was just not worth living without HRT.
She said, that this was not possible.
She said women go through menopause naturally, when they come off HRT, (bullsh!t)
I said I had no quality of life without HRT but she said that although she did not want to make my life bad, she said it is too risky and went on to describe cancer."
This almost seems to be like an abuse of your rights to be left along in peace!
This was exactly what I was trying to explain in regards to the almost abusive way that people like your doc use the "NATURAL" card against us.
This has to stop. If other people on the forum can't see your plight then that is part of the problem too.
As doctor currie said in the magazine 38 page 10.
http://www.menopausematters.co.uk/issue38/#p=11
"It should be your choice and certainly not being told you have to stop"
Not sure if you need to get Dr Currie involved as others have but someone needs to take that doc you've got to task.
Fuming with you >:(
:-*
Thank you, I really like this post.
The tragic thing, is that our GP's really believe that all women have to "go through the menopause".
I'm not sure if it's a form of social engineering. Get as many ill-pissed off women is society as possible, just like they are raising the fear-energy level with austerity and financial insecurity for the futurer, in the general population, what better way of inducing more fear than stopping hrt for women and the knock-on negative infinitely multiplying negativity from the ill oestrogen lacking women, to everyone they come into contatct with, and everyone these people come into contact with and so on ad infinitum.
The GP's would not listen to me, I had to show evidence of Dr Curries email saying it was ok to give me HRT. Otherwise I might not have got it, and to be quite frank, I may not be here today, to write this post, as I was collecting an overodse cocktail at the time.
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Many doctors are scared of being held accountable for prescribing something that might cause cancer, but they won't be held accountable for you having poor quality of life. After years of poor health I sought help from a private gynaecologist at the age of 60, who tells me I can take the low dose HRT 'forever' if I so wish. This is my body, my decision; I know there is risk, but I have gone for quality over quantity of life. The thought of living another 30 years of extreme exhaustion was unthinkable. It is amazing how much difference a small amount of oestrogen has made and I have been given expertise help in finding the best progesterone regime for me. Life is good.
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I am still waiting for my gp to acknowledge that my symptoms are menopause related. Each time I go I ask if the 'symptom of the day' could be caused by the menopause and they say no. I know that they can be as I have searched online before I go there, but it leaves me worrying that my symptom is something else. To be honest I don't want HRT and would rather take supplements etc for as long as I can, but it would make so much difference to my mental health to be told that it is all related to the menopause and not some undiagnosed illness.
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I am still waiting for my gp to acknowledge that my symptoms are menopause related. Each time I go I ask if the 'symptom of the day' could be caused by the menopause and they say no. I know that they can be as I have searched online before I go there, but it leaves me worrying that my symptom is something else. To be honest I don't want HRT and would rather take supplements etc for as long as I can, but it would make so much difference to my mental health to be told that it is all related to the menopause and not some undiagnosed illness.
I'm speechless, and so sorry but all your sx could be meno.
My little patch sorted my bowels, flushes etc right out.
I've just gone up in dose for my evorel, and my bowels are playing up a little, but I expect this to settle down in a few weeks, as hrt seems to take about five weeks for me to fully kick in.
My sister is not quite a year older than me, and is just starting to get the first flushes of meno, and she has chosen not to use hrt.
I did choose and i am glad I did, but I respect others choices to do what they wish.
My meno sx were just too rough for me to cope and I don't think the GP's fully acknowledge my sx are meno related.
I got medication for my bowels, beta blockeras and phenergan for mental symptoms, but only one GP in our surgery has prescribed me the hrt that is soooooooo helping me have a life worth livng.
I agree that when it comes to life, quality over quantity every time.
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I was told that I would be limited to 5 years on hrt because of the risk of breast cancer, by the doctor who first prescribed it. This seems nonsensical to me as I am perimenopausal and may well still be at the end of 5 years, never mind what happens afterwards.
I am hoping that a. New NICE guidelines will change this view
and b. that this was just the view of the doctor that prescribed it who retired immediately after, as the others in the practice have been a lot more helpful so far.
I don't suppose the GPs pay towards the incontinence pads.
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It's such a shame that your GP has taken this line Dandelion, and she sounds so unsympathetic - not a great bedside manner! She may be thinking about the advice which says that if you begin HRT before the age of 50 then, when you do get to around 50/51, it is usual practice to have a break just to see where your body actually is as regards menopause. This has happened to two of my friends who were both hysterectomised in their thirties. One had her break at 50 and found she no longer needed any HRT and has sailed through menopause for the last ten years with no symptoms and the other found she was hot flushing within a few weeks and re-started HRT after a two month break.
Each case should be dealt with individually I believe. You may find that you don't need HRT but I appreciate you feel worried about stopping it for a while.
Taz x
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Hi Taz / Dandelion
if you want "so unsympathetic" then try and watch Kim Cattrall's rework of the "Sensitive Skin" dark'ish comedy.
I won't spoil the first episode, but the "attitude" of younger unknowing women just about made me wet myself.
There is a sneak peak on youtube that doesnt give too much away on the scene I'm talking about.
You have to see the full "interference busy body" at work.
I think they showed the full clip on the recent the Graham Norton Show.
Hope you get the chance to see it on Sky Arts Channel :) Not sure on the series in general but it has some bits that definitely you'll get and say that's me, him or us :) :)
Hope that helps cheer you up too.
:-*
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I was only 42 when my peri symptoms started. On my darkest days when my anxiety & depression was at its worst, the thought of having to spend the next 15-20 years suffering many, many more such dark days was absolutely terrifying and soul destroying. It would be no life. Certainly not one worth living.
If you haven't been in that very dark place, then you won't understand how terrifying it is.
I am on Day 15 of HRT, and touch wood have felt so much better for the last week. I feel so much more like the 'old me' again. Sleeping much better. Diarrhoea disappeared. Feel optimistic about life in general.
If I could look into the future and see that:
A) by taking HRT I would continue to feel as good as this for the next 20 years but would then die of cancer (probably caused by HRT) when I was 70.
OR
B) I didn't take HRT because of the health risks, and lived to the grand old age of 85 but suffered with dreadful anxiety/depression for 20 years during menopause.
Then I would ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS take option A) any day of the week and twice on a Sunday.
My really dark days and those nasty wretched 'in between' days I was having wasn't 'living'. Inside I felt like I was dying.
Quality over quantity every time.
My 40s/50s and 60s are meant to be my golden time. Children more independent. More free time. More disposable income. Working less hours. I want to embrace it openly and enjoy it all.
I want to actual 'live' before I die. I don't want to keep dying another day, and another day, and another day because I feel so anxious and low inside. Only to then die in the end anyway.
The Spanish have a proverb "A life lived in fear, is a life half lived".
Well, I am not going to live in fear/anxiety anymore. And I'm not going to only have half a life. I am going to live as a full a life as possible, thanks to HRT - and if I end up with cancer then I will never look back and I will never have any regrets.
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if you want "so unsympathetic" then try and watch Kim Cattrall's rework of the "Sensitive Skin" dark'ish comedy.
Er - This appears to be drama, a play, i.e. fiction.
It's not real. :-\
Perhaps the unsympathetic bit is supposed to be part of the comedy. The author may assume nobody could possibly take it seriously.
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Totally agree Limpy, can't really take that seriously at all, as you say ....comedy, fiction but I suppose some would think otherwise. :-*
I think I have said before, but my mum aged nearly 93 had a troublesome menopause. There were not that many options in her time so she spent a good few years doing the best she could. But...she did come out the other side and had a very full life before extreme old age took over.
So there is hope for the natural way of dealing with menopause...my mother is living...moaning...sorry breathing proof ::)
For me, I'm greedy, I want both quality and quantity. Not sure if that willl happen but I can but hope.
Dandelion...I hope with help from Dr Currie you will be able to continue on a regime that gives you quality of life.
After all it's your choice, and you should be the one that has ultimate control of your body.
Honeybun
X
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Honeybun - was your mum ever offered HRT? Just curious as my mum would have been 96 this year and took HRT for a year while in her fifties. It really helped her and I remember her friends thinking she was very daring to try it!!
Taz x
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I think this is quite funny Taz because she gets things a bit mixed up now.....her words when I asked a few years ago...
The doctor gave me a big green pill....I only took one because it bloody near killed me.
Heaven only knows what the big green pill was, but she took nothing and all things considered apart from mild dementia, she has never had any aches or pains, a very little osteoporosis, and she started meno in 1965 when she was 43.
They just got on in those days, they had lived through a war, and rationing and for my mum living in not great conditions for many years. When my sister was born her and my dad were in one rented room in a tenement. They were made of tough stuff in those days.
Maybe the green pill was HRT, who knows....not her these days that's for sure. Oh and her sister is 91 and although she now has dementia, physically she was great up until a couple of years ago.
Just shows it can be done....they did it.
Honeybun
X
I probably should have said too, that she did not just exist but thoroughly enjoyed her life after meno. She took up bowling and went dancing every Saurday night.....she spent more time in front of the mirror than I did......it was not just an existence but after meno, a life very well lived.
Gives me hope I have to say.
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I just wondered whether my mum's doc was a bit forward thinking. I can remember that my mum got her prescription in 1970 when she was 51 - I remember it because she went one day and got HRT and I went the next and got the bcp!! Things might have changed a lot I suppose in the five years between our respective mums needing it. I remember my mum being given green sleeping pills once - she didn't take them.
Taz x
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I do wonder what that big green pill that nearly killed her was ;D
It was such early days for HRT though.
Still she managed. Just glad things have moved on a bit from big green pills.
Honeybun
X
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Wonder if it was a suppository.... ;D
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Hi GypsyRoseLee
good post on how we should take life and make the most of it.
Glad your finding your new way forward.
Go out there and enjoy it.
I'll keep your spanish saying to mind.
:-*
ps just some info on the "mid life crisis comedy" with the original uk series with Joanna Lumley :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensitive_Skin_%28UK_TV_series%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensitive_Skin_%28Canadian_TV_series%29#Cast
These may not be to everyone's taste in humour 8)
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I've a feeling I should remember the UK series Peegeetip - which one do you recommend? I like Joanna Lumley and would check out the series on DVD but it's quite pricey on that website that sells everything...
The only big green tablets I've ever encountered are Temazepam - they made me feel terrible!
Dandelion we're hijacking your thread a bit - sorry - I think your GP needs to go back to med school! :hug:
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PeriMeno School :)
The new series on Sky Arts is different to the original with our dear old Joanna :) (not that she looks old)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Z_Evh_U9IE
Just a taster from the old one I found.
I think a lot of us can relate to this on this Well Titled Post.
A similar interaction happens in the Kim Cattrall reworking of the comedy but I'd say the new version goes further in its approach and the interaction is improved with a bit of US Gusto replacing English Politeness ;)
Please doc's leave us be. We'll shout if we need you :o
And word of advise doc's "never ask a lady her age, especially when its right in front of you in her notes!" :P
:-*
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Many doctors are scared of being held accountable for prescribing something that might cause cancer, but they won't be held accountable for you having poor quality of life. After years of poor health I sought help from a private gynaecologist at the age of 60, who tells me I can take the low dose HRT 'forever' if I so wish. This is my body, my decision; I know there is risk, but I have gone for quality over quantity of life. The thought of living another 30 years of extreme exhaustion was unthinkable. It is amazing how much difference a small amount of oestrogen has made and I have been given expertise help in finding the best progesterone regime for me. Life is good.
I'm sorry that you had to suffer till age 60 but glad you have been given oestrogen.
I agree, quality over quenitiy every time.
Sod the risk, it's based on a flawed study anyway.
Sod cancer, I have anxiety but cancer-fear is not a worry of mine, a bigger worry is vulnerability, dying while still alive, soul separating from the body, for example, the poor people in care homes who cannot walk, talk or feed/toilet/bathe themselves. I don't want that, I want my body to die before my soul, or at the same time like it's supposed to, I don't want to be a walking corpse.
Yes, doctors have their own body and it should be our choice, but I cannot get any GP's to agree that quality of life is most imperative.
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I am really pleased about the contributions from members on this thread.
I don't want a break in my hrt, because I want it for life. I stopped producing oestrogen at 42 years, I am going to need it for the rest of my life for optimal physical and mental health and a life worth living. I doubt if I will have any qualms about taking my own life, if I don't get a terminal illness/ticket out, I just don't want to live the way I was living, as i also have suspected ADHD and mental health problems, I just cannot take meno problems on top.
Once I wet my self, I was sober, I got up to use the loo and it all just came out. I haven't bothered telling any doctors, I forgot, and I doubt they will care, and I don't know if nhs provide incontinence pads, they should, same with tampons.
I feel abused by my GP's, they have taken over my body, they have each got a body of thier own, which they can make choices on and they should let me, sod cancer I don't care about it, I have relatives who died of it.
@GypsyRoseLee, I would always take choice A. Even if I was unlucky enough to get cancer at fifty. It's a horrrible world this, beautiful earth, but shit world, so much fear, hatred and suffering.
My mum had a hysterectomy at 47 and a surgical meno, she took premarin for five years and she said it helped her anxiety, and when she came off, all meno symptoms had gone.
My two sisters, age 49, and 50 are just getting the first flushes. One of them is using 'mind over matter' to get through her meno, my mum told me, but I said mind over matter doesn't work when you have three liquid sh!ts per day, can't control bladder sometimes and other bollocks symptoms. My mum said it sounds like I am having a dreadful menopause.
I am so unstable mentally, that if I stopped my hrt to see how I go, I dunno if I would survive it, because, like I said earlier, I was collecting a cocktail of drugs, to take one day, when things got too bad, in the hope that these drugs would euthanise me. I even went on those dreadful suicide web sites. I don't want to go there again, I will always need oestrogen.
If I had been in the war, or the death camps, I would have been one of the first to die.
My will to live is hanging by a thread. Viktor Frankl a holocaust survivor said that those who lost the will to live in the death camps, were the first to die, that would have been me. I was brought up to be weak, docile and dependent, even though I am intelligent, I have no cahoneys or commmon sense.
I was brought up to be dependant on my parents, as they were mentally unhealthy and insecure, I have been trying all my life to act my age, but feel stunted emotionally and broken mentally due to the way I was brought up.
I don't need hormone bollocks on top of this.
I'm fragile, broken, stunted.
I am just not a survivor, I admire survivors, but I just don't have it in me to get through tough times., full stop, I wish I did.
Don't worry about the hijack thread, discussions sometimes do branch off, it's ok.
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I try to sympathize Dandelion but I find all the talk of taking your own life very distressing to be honest and I'm not at all sure this forum is the appropriate place for it.
I do however wish you all the best.
Honeyb
x
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I think more carefully consideration and tact might be order of the day here.
People can talk as they wish to in regards to there "personal experiences" on this part of the forum.
It might help them see where they've been, where they are and where they want to go.
If estrogen does help dandelion then good for her and she's becoming a survivor however she might not yet know it.
I've read quite a few distressing threads caused by the double speak, confusion, interference and inaction of others we should be able to trust in the last few days.
I just hope with our support and by sharing with Dandelion and others, that a lot of us have been at our wits end with this often ignored path we follow.
If some don't like it then please don't read the thread.
However please don't make others feel that they are somehow unwelcome and this is not an appropriate place to air their personal experiences.
This maybe the only outlet to their emotions they have.
Thanks
:-X
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Of course I want to support Danelion, it just upsets me and like everyone else I am allowed to voice a concern.
I have been on this forum a long time and everyone is made to feel welcome and supported I hope.
I also don't think I will be alone in feeling distressed in reading of someone's plan to possible take their own life. I also feel very unsure of what response I could possibly make.
I did say I sympathised but that's all I can say as I am not qualified and have no personal experience of this situation.
Honeyb
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If I have to take HRT for the rest of my life to sustain a general overall sense of well-being, then I am happy to. But my medium term plan is to stay on it for the next couple of years, and then trial a break.
Very early menopause (a cousin was 29, an aunt was 38, another cousin was 43) runs very strongly in my family. So, there's every chance that by the time I am 46/47 I would be the other side of the menopause. But I won't know unless I stop the HRT for a while. It might well be that I will feel absolutely fine if my hormones have settled down post menopause?
My Mum took HRT for 3 years in her early 40s after a hysterectomy. It cured her previously unsuspected peri symptoms of anxiety/low mood almost overnight. But after 3 years she stopped taking it, and felt absolutely fine. No meno symptoms. That was nearly 30 years ago.
There's no reason to believe I have to take HRT forever, or even for 10 years. But if I have to then that's fine. I just can't bear the thought of going back to how frightened and low I felt for most of the time over these last 16 months. It doesn't bear thinking about.
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If you are feeling upset about your GPs' words then ask for a referral to a Meno Clinic or Gynaecologist who 'deals' with menopause. No One should be made to feel suicidal, in fact, in your shoes I would go back to the GP in question and tell her she has a choice - be more sympathetic about the HRT and my requirements or refer me to a Psychiatrist …….. because worrying about what will happen as you approach 50 is going to impact on daily living!!!
Are you good at stamping your feet? I am, theoretically ;). When very ill with depression I went and sat in the waiting room as it was the only place I felt 'safe' - as DH was at work. No neighbours. I was never turned away. More recently when DH as away I was overcome with panic, again I wandered down to the waiting room and sat ……. until a GP could see me. It was obvious that I wasn't going anywhere else anytime soon ::).
Do you have a Practice Manager you could talk with? Could you chat withe a local Pharmacist about treatments and which Surgeries support menopause?
We really shouldn't have to fight for a proper discussion about *our* needs :bang: :bang: :bang: and GPs shouldn't be spouting off about 'research' that is years out of date :cuss:
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I try to sympathize Dandelion but I find all the talk of taking your own life very distressing to be honest and I'm not at all sure this forum is the appropriate place for it.
I do however wish you all the best.
Honeyb
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Hi Honeybun
I am really sorry my post distressed you.
I know you sympathise and I appreciate that.
From a menopause point of view, I am just glad I got my HRT but probably wouldnt have if it were not for this site.
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I think more carefully consideration and tact might be order of the day here.
People can talk as they wish to in regards to there "personal experiences" on this part of the forum.
It might help them see where they've been, where they are and where they want to go.
If estrogen does help dandelion then good for her and she's becoming a survivor however she might not yet know it.
I've read quite a few distressing threads caused by the double speak, confusion, interference and inaction of others we should be able to trust in the last few days.
I just hope with our support and by sharing with Dandelion and others, that a lot of us have been at our wits end with this often ignored path we follow.
If some don't like it then please don't read the thread.
However please don't make others feel that they are somehow unwelcome and this is not an appropriate place to air their personal experiences.
This maybe the only outlet to their emotions they have.
Thanks
:-X
Hi peegeetip
I know some of my depression is not meno related but circumstantial and unsolvable.
When I get a problem, I say "what can i do about it" and if I can do something I will, but some problems, I cannot do anything about, so I have to shelve them, and get on with my everyday life but I still get affected by them.
Meno induced depression on top of these was just too much for me to take.
I do get comfort from talking online, writing was always easier than talking for me.
Im not heard when I talk but I am when i write, and I really appreciate the ladies on here.
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How are you feeling today Dandelion?
Taz x :)
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How are you feeling today Dandelion?
Taz x :)
I'm fine thanks Taz.
I was thinking of all the trouble you went through because your GP forced you off HRT.
I'm not curious about how I will be without it, as I know i will always need oestrogen.
Even if I was ok without, i still think I would take it, as it seems like the life blood for us women when we get beyond a certain age.
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What surprised me was that the decision really came from the menopause clinic first. I then transferred back to my GP who did give me a wry smile and commented on the fact that originally I asked to be referred because I felt the menopause clinic would give me better advice but then, when I disagreed with that advice, I returned to her for my treatment. I had to admit she had a point ;D
Taz x
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Hi dandelion,
It is in the middle of the night and I am wide awake, so I have had the opportunity to catch up. I was saddened to read your post, written, I presume when you were feeling particularly low? I suffered from depression as a child, which in hindsight was caused by circumstances, but then compounded by raging hormones in puberty. I do remember flashes of suicidal thoughts, so I can empathise.
I wonder whether sharing some things I have learnt and believe through the help I have been given will help.
We come into this world as perfect, beautiful beings. That is our soul, the essence of ourselves. Our personality/ ego/ behaviour is shaped by life experience. Many of us do not experience unconditional love. That is being loved just as we are. Most of us experience conditional love eg being loved for what we do, how we behave, what we achieve, what we look like etc.. Then we can end up feeling not good enough, not worthy. This makes us vulnerable to fear and depression. Which I believe lays us open to physical problems.
What I am trying to say is whatever you believe about yourself, however badly you may behave, the beautiful essence of you is intact. You can't destroy it. (Yes, I know this can lead to philosophical arguments about the awful acts some people commit.)
In other words, there is nothing wrong with who are. You're OK! I hope you understand what I am trying to say! I'll leave you with the words of Macrina Wiederkehr.
"O God, help me to believe the truth about myself- no matter how beautiful it is!"
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That was so nice to read this morning :)
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What surprised me was that the decision really came from the menopause clinic first. I then transferred back to my GP who did give me a wry smile and commented on the fact that originally I asked to be referred because I felt the menopause clinic would give me better advice but then, when I disagreed with that advice, I returned to her for my treatment. I had to admit she had a point ;D
Taz x
Blimey, the so called experts took you off.
I cannnot see any point in women coming off hrt, but that's just me.
Some of my GP's wouldnt give me patches due to migraines, until Dr Currie said patches are better for migraines.
I haven't had a migraine for a while, sometimes I would get two on successive days, but luckily no headaches, just visual disturbance.
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Hi dandelion,
It is in the middle of the night and I am wide awake, so I have had the opportunity to catch up. I was saddened to read your post, written, I presume when you were feeling particularly low? I suffered from depression as a child, which in hindsight was caused by circumstances, but then compounded by raging hormones in puberty. I do remember flashes of suicidal thoughts, so I can empathise.
I wonder whether sharing some things I have learnt and believe through the help I have been given will help.
We come into this world as perfect, beautiful beings. That is our soul, the essence of ourselves. Our personality/ ego/ behaviour is shaped by life experience. Many of us do not experience unconditional love. That is being loved just as we are. Most of us experience conditional love eg being loved for what we do, how we behave, what we achieve, what we look like etc.. Then we can end up feeling not good enough, not worthy. This makes us vulnerable to fear and depression. Which I believe lays us open to physical problems.
What I am trying to say is whatever you believe about yourself, however badly you may behave, the beautiful essence of you is intact. You can't destroy it. (Yes, I know this can lead to philosophical arguments about the awful acts some people commit.)
In other words, there is nothing wrong with who are. You're OK! I hope you understand what I am trying to say! I'll leave you with the words of Macrina Wiederkehr.
"O God, help me to believe the truth about myself- no matter how beautiful it is!"
Thank you Ju Ju
Your post was reallly nice.
I can't believe my doctor saying "I don't want to make your life bad", but that is what she will do if they take me off HRT. I want it for life, I mean that, even if my meno symptoms abate, I still need oestrogen for optimum health, we are not talking addictive drugs here, we are talking necessity.
I'm now going to change my patch.
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Mine was like this about staying on it, I said I was prepared to risk getting cancer as there is no history in my family and the fact that I felt so bad when off it, but was told that if I got cancer the nHs would then have to fund treatment for me!!!
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But you might get run over by a bus :bang:
Loulou - what a crass thing to say. I would go back and ask the GP if he/she really meant that comment …….. certainly not part of the hypercratic oath :cuss:
My problem is, when faced with a response like that, I don't have a flippant answer to hand :(. But I would go back and discuss it, making a double appt. and pointing out that actually, I know my body, I know what will happen if menopause symptoms (in my case anxiety) takes over and do they want to attend my funeral …….
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I agree with CLKD, your doc is being crass and narrow minded.
There is still no clear association with HRT and it being the "real cause" of BC or others cancers in older woman.
Statistically 4 out of 5 cancers will affect those over 50 before HRT is even considered.
So the dice are loaded even before we start down the HRT route.
As someone recently posted before often cancer is down to plain old bad luck.
To prove without doubt we'd have to run a test with ladies who are only on HRT and have no outside influence on them in relation to lifestyle.
As I've said before alcohol on its on is many times worse for our breast health than HRT.
And we don't have our doc's lecturing us on our use of alcohol in the same way though?
Perhaps we'd be able to treat far more cancers in general with far better drugs if more people reduced or stopped drinking.
Rather than a tiny amount that could be possibly associated to HRT use.
I would love to know what cost this doc thinks is associated with our use of HRT in comparison. Or even how much we HRT users save the NHS on the things they "dont" have to treat us for!!! ???
"The total annual cost to society of alcohol-related harm is estimated to be £21bn"
"The NHS incurs £3.5bn a year in costs related to alcohol."
"NHS increases budget for cancer drugs fund from £280 million"
Those are two stark comparisons on how futile and cruel doctors taking the "cant have hrt because it might give you cancer approach".
Perhaps if they paid more attention to the amount their patients drank first then we might have £3.5bn extra to treat cancer, menopause and any number of other health issues like the much touted "proton beam" therapy's.
Whether I smoke, drink, eat smoke meat or take HRT, its will always be my choice and I expect to be left alone and in piece to enjoy each one if I choose.
Hippocratic oath seems to be something they choose to use/quote/hide behind only when they feel like it.
:o
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:thankyou: …….. maybe our teenage daughters/neices should go into the GP and ask now how menopause is treated ;) - with the proviso "I WILL be back and I WILL expect sympathy and consideration and not have statistics thrown in my direction" ;)
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Just want to say that increased cancer risk wasn't mentioned to me by either the GP or the menopause clinic when I was being advised to stop at age 60. The increase in stroke and heart attack risk was the main concern although oestrogen only HRT carries less of a risk than combined HRT's apparently..
Taz x