Thought I'd share my meno journey to maybe give hope to others in my position. (Sorry for long post)
I started having symptoms at about 40 and went on HRT at 41ish had a migraine at 43 and was told I had to stop HRT due to increased risk of stroke. What followed was 18 months of hell, not sleeping cos of 8+ flushes during the night (never mind the day) basically nodding off...flushing...nodding off.....blah blah. Tried Prozac, clonidine...spent a fortune on OTC/online stuff NOTHING helped! Referred to local meno clinic and got fed up waiting for appointment (put on waiting list from when they sent letter August, rather than when referred in May so in effect had to wait extra three months) luckily I was able to self fund a private appt with same specialist that I would of seen next January via NHS (by this time I was hardly functioning between working and caring for family,not sleeping and having major loss of confidence at times feeling suicdal despite anti depressants) Any way upshot was consultant didn't feel that migraine was related to HRT as I'd had them on and off over the years and also that as the HRT gel he's prescribed is identical to what body makes and no one was concerned re risk of stroke to block my own oestrogen when I was making it naturally he couldn't see any reason why I couldn't restart HRT!! (Wish I'd paid to see specialist 18mths ago as I've prob spent more than this in stuff that didn't work) Been using oestrogel (£7.20 private script for first one then back to regular GP for further ones and a progesterone every 3 months) for a week and already seeing benefits less intense/frequent flushes, lost a bit of weight, been piling pounds on steadily despite exercising more/eating less skin less spotty and feel like me again!!