Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => Postmenopause => Topic started by: KarineT on February 07, 2021, 03:59:27 PM
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Hi,
For those of you who've never on HRT and reached postmeno, do you feel better or worse? Have your existing symptoms improved or worsened? Have new symptoms appeared?
Thanks
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Hi there,I'm 57 and not been on HRT I think my flushes aren't so severe but I still get very hot,worse in summer of course, I still get anxiety but not on the scale I used to,I'm hoping things keep getting better :)
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Hi Jaypo,
How long have you been postmeno for?
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I'm 64 and never been on any medication. Last period 60/61 and only just getting Meno symptoms nearly 4 years later! Digestive Distress is the worse :O( plus now my breastbone seems to ache.......what have we all done to deserve this sh*te?
Someone please tell me!
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Difficult to say karine,hysterectomy with ovaries left 13 years ago but I was still getting all the pms symptoms,sore boobs etc up until about 3 years ago,so I'm guessing when they stopped thats when I'd be classed as post meno
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Whereas I haven't had a hysterectomy or anything like that.
Menopausealways, I also get digestive issues and feel nauseous nearly every morning now. But my main worry is anxiety. I don't want to take HRT because I'm worried of any side-effects and I don't want to become dependent on it. I hear a lot that when you stop, the symptoms come back. If I am postmeno then the symptoms should diminish and then eventually go away. I don't fancy 10 years of being in that state. Why should'nt the body adjust to a lower level of Oestrogen? Surely, this crap can't last forever. I hope.
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Hi my symptoms got a lot worse 3 years post menopause. Iwent onto HRT and it changed my life. I don’t have any side effects at all. There is no need to stop taking HRT now. You can take it for as long as you need it. X
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Hello Karine T
I didn't want to try HRT and when my symptoms started I thought I could battle through and I did. Unfortunately three years post meno the internal shaking and anxiety began and was constant. After putting up with this for six months I threw in the towel and asked for HRT. I tried a few preparations with varying degrees of success and even stopped taking it for over a year however now I am trying it again.
I'm sorry to say this but it appears that for some women lower oestrogen levels in post menopause leave them feeling awful. Louise Newson has said that she couldn't carry on working as a GP without her HRT.
There are women who never seem to need HRT and you may be one of them, the only way to know is to continue without it and see how you feel.
Wishing you well.
K.
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Thanks Kathleen,
It's a tough one isn't it. That's strange that some women feel awful after meno and others don't. This goes to show that's it's an individual thing.
Karine
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Hi Dotty,
Thanks for your reply.
Was it your existing symptoms that got worse and which ones did you get or did you get additional ones that made the all thing worse?
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Hi KarineT
It was a mixture of both. The hot flushes and night sweats really increased and I began to feel very ill with a multitude of symptoms....heart palpitations, horrific nausea, total exhaustion, internal shaking, insomnia, crying, . I’d had these symptoms 5 years previously but they’d gone away. 3 years after my last period they came back awfully. I was so ill. I realised that all the horrific symptoms were due to oestrogen deficiency. HRT gradually got rid of the symptoms and I’m now doing well on Oestrogel, Utrogestan and Testosterone. X
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Hi KarineT, I'm 4 years postmenopause, no HRT. Feel much better than during perimenopause. Symptoms have improved (hot flushes, bloating, itching, intrusive thoughts, brain fog, migraines), others have stopped (hopefully) like the dreadful anxiety,low mood and tearfulness. New symptoms are tricky, can't say they're from low oestrogen, ageing or another condition, maybe all of them contribute. One thing I'm really happy with is the lack of periods and everything that goes along with them (PMT, tampons, pads, flooding, cramps).
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I think only you can decide karine,it depends what you can put up with,if my depression hadn't gone, I think I might have tried hrt but thankfully it went,thing is,hormones can fluctuate for many years and it can take quite a while for oestrogen to diminish,I'm definitely post meno now,I'd say my sweats etc started 7 years ago,so it can be a long journey
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Thanks Uptick,
In my menstrual years I used to get tearful and anxious but it would only last a day or two and I would be ok for the rest of the month. With the menopause I seem to get like this before getting up and it seems worse at the weekend for some unknown reason. Let's hope this will pass. It could be because I've just gone over one year without a period and I still have a bit of a way to go before it all settle down. When I had an hormone level test 2 weeks ago, my oestradiol was 586 pmol/l and I was told it's a bit high for someone on postmenopause. But maybe for some some women it's higher than the norm in postmeno and that's just the way it is or maybe this level will drop to less than 120 pmol/l over the next few years. What I hate most about the menopause is not knowing what might or might not happen and it makes me feel uncertain.
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One more thing. To me it seems almost incomprehensible that a low level of oestrogen has the capacity to cause so much havoc on the body. This is because we didn't produce it before puberty and the body was unaffected. Could this all be due to the fact that our bodies relied on this hormone for, say, 35 years and now it has to cope with less of it? I wonder if there are other hormones that decline due go ageing.
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One single estradiol blood test result is not indicative of any issues and, as you say, still early menopause 'days'. Yes, I believe it's a huge change to rely on monthly cycles of relatively high levels of oestrogen and progesterone for 35-40 years and suddenly having to cope with random fluctuations and then declining levels. It's going to take time to adapt to the new biological status. Hopefully not another 35-40 years!
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Karine T - the whole point about menopause oestrogen and HRT is that it is not just about the obvious symptoms - of flushes, sweats, low mood etc. There are other consequences of reduced oestrogen that are less obvious and only become apparent after several years post-menopause. We now live maybe 40 years post menopause, even longer so this is a considerable time to be in an oestrogen deficient state.
If you do have the classic symptoms then it makes obvious sense to replace the oestrogen and relief will happen relatively quickly once you;ve found the right preparation.
However things like vaginal atrophy (now abbreviated to GSM), cardio-vascular issues and osteoporosis - may occur after several years and replacing oestrogen will help protect against some conditions. That's not to say that everyone who does not take HRT will encounter problems but there is plenty of research to demonstrate the beneficial effects and indeed that an early menopause without replacing oestrogen can result in increased mortaility (reduced longevity?) (not sure of the exact research without looking it up).
There is never an argument to say don't take HRT because you may get symptoms later when you stop - because you cannot take away the quality of life you have experienced during the years of taking it and anyway you don't know how long the classic symptoms might last.
Measuring oestrogen levels is really not productive and doctors do not normally carry out these because they are so unpredictable. Symptoms are key and you can also assume that approx 2 years following your last period that your oestrogen levels on average will have declined pretty much to theyr lowest level and will remain low for the rest of your life.
Hurdity x