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[ANGEL66]

Hi Everyone,

Had an interesting chat with one of my friends at lunchtime.  She's just turned 50 and went to doctor for HRT.  Been on it about 9 months and saw a different doctor for hrt review/repeat prescription.  Apparently she was told that HRT can "mask" menopause symptoms and as it is recommended that you stop it at some point, you are only really delaying the inevitable and will just end up with menopause symptoms when you have to stop taking it which could be in later years.  Not sure if I believe this or not but then I am quite new to HRT.

I did wonder myself though will my periods just cease naturally whilst I'm on hrt.  I know we get the "dummy" withdrawal bleeds on sequential hrt but I guess natural cycles have to stop at some point even with hrt.

Would be interested to hear what other members on here think about this.  Needless to say I advised my friend to see another doctor! :-)  I take Femoston 2/10 and have a lot more energy and just feel better in myself.

[dahliagirl]

You hear this a lot.........

To my mind, you are further down the line, and your menopause symptoms may well have changed or be a lot less severe once you reach the stage of stopping taking hrt.  You might also be in a better place to cope with the changes.  Anyway, most of these changes are still taking place, hrt or not.  It is just a more manageable slope instead of a sheer drop into choppy waters.

Also, I think osteoporosis is worth delaying for 5 years, if that is all you can get.  I don't think - 'Oh, I will get osteoporosis anyway, so I might as well have it now' 

I think you told your friend the right thing 

(I am also on Femoston 2/10  1 1/2 years now, and am feeling better than I have done for years)

[ancient runner]

I had this conversation with myself - but surely the point is that you have a further however many years without the meno symptoms which as Dahliagirl says may well be different further down the line. Can't see the issue myself with delaying the inevitable for five years or so - you might get hit by that bus in 4.5 years time and will have had better quality of life in that time!!

[CLKD]

Does it matter if 1 benefits from HRT now?  We might not live long enough to find out whether menopause might be over when we eventually stop and by the way, even if your GP suggests that after 5 years 1 needs to stop, if you are getting benefit and a Quality of Life, ignore him/her ;-).

[Hurdity]

There was a thread on this recently a few days ago and I made a long post here so don't want to repeat it - as it takes so long to write!!

Have a read:

https://www.menopausematters.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,35341.0.html

Hurdity x

[ANGEL66]

Thanks for all your replies ladies. 

I definitely think I told my friend the right thing.

Dahliagirl it's nice to meet another Femoston 2/10 user.  I'm also using this quite happily and feeling very well and a lot more energy x

Thanks for the link to your post Hurdity.  I have given my friend a link to this forum and will tell her to read this x

CLKD, Stellajane and ancient runner, I agree with all your comments as that's my feeling on this too :-) x

[Tempest]

Interestingly, I have a copy of the letter Dr Perera sent to my GP (he's a senior Menopause Consultant here in Scotland) in which he states that 'the patient understands that upon ceasing HRT she will have to experience her menopause symptoms again' so from a professional point of view, it seems that yes - HRT does delay menopause symptoms. I was also informed that initially the symptoms may appear more severely than before if HRT is stopped abruptly.

I'm now 2 months off HRT and waiting to see Professor Lumsden again in 2 weeks time to discuss my situation. My symptoms now are few (they were before HRT), so I will see what she advises. I couldn't settle on any of the HRT's I tried unfortunately - I wasn't absorbing transdermals and Tibolone was a nightmare!

I think everyone should be prepared that there will be a return of symptoms to some degree at least initially when they stop HRT, and to prepare for this time to be as stress free as possible (tapering higher dose HRT is a must as per the guidelines published in the MM info. pages).

[ANGEL66]

Thanks Tempest.  That's is interesting and something to definitely bear in mind.  Forewarned is definitely forearmed!    I'm sorry to hear you couldn't settle on any of the HRTs.  That's a shame.  Did you ever try Femoston?  That's the one I take (Femoston 2/10).  The progresterone in it is very gentle.  A lot of women on here take it.  That's where I heard about it. Hope things go well for you with Professor Lumsden and he is able to offer some help/treatment advice.  From what I've read on here sometimes hrt doseages/treatments can be tweaked to suit individual patients (under specialist advice) so hopefully he will be able to help. Fingers crossed.  Take Care x

[Tempest]

Thank you so much for your kindness, Angel66!

As I've had a hysterectomy, I won't be prescribed a progesterone. I'm thinking more about future bone protection if anything, so I may try the lowest dose estrogen that's effective for this. I have been offered implants previously, but given my poor track record with HRT so far, I'm rather scared to try as they can't be removed if I can't tolerate it! 

Professor Lumsden has previously suggested that we try just a half of an implant, but she's never done this before - I think I'll need to have a good chat with her and see what we can come up with. xxxxx

[ANGEL66]

You are more than welcome Tempest 

Didn't realize you had a hysterectomy (Tired eyes - I missed that bit!).  Bone protection is definitely important.  I'm sure Professor Lumsden will be able to help on this.  I didn't know they did estrogen implants.  Guess you learn something new every day.  Sounds like Professor Lumsden is very clued up on everything and you're in good hands.

Hope everything goes well for you.

Take Care
ANGEL xxx

[walking the dog]

Im totally confused even reading the link to hurditys thread
Can someone explain
Right if you have a natural menopause you basically run out of estrogen
You have a,surgical menopause you basically have your estrogen removed
So in both cases no estrogen , then you can use hrt to replace this lost estrogen. But this is where im lost off, your body is never going to make estrogen naturally itself again so won't it be necessary to use estrogen hrt forever otherwise when you stop all the symptoms will return due to no estrogen ?
As you can tell im really confused and having recently had a surgical menopause and currently using hrt it would be great if someone could explain it simply 😊

[Mbrown001]

I think in peri it's the big fluctuations that cause the problems.
The further you get into menopause then your own natural hormones level out and symptoms become less. I guess the body becomes accustomed to this and eventually settles.
You never really get past the menopause and its something that lasts all your life.


Mrs Brown

[dahliagirl]

I think that if you are naturally menopausal, you gradually (in an up and down way  ) stop producing oestrogen in the ovaries and the ovaries limp along for a while after menopause.  Some is made in the place it is used from your fat cells (oestrone rather than oestrodiol).  Everyone is different, so some will limp along for longer than others.

If you have a surgical menopause, then it all happens at once and you go straight to the making it stage.  Same end, but you get there all at once.

A lot of symptoms are due to the ups and downs of perimenopause (or the sudden down of surgical menopause).  HRT gives you less oestrogen than you would have naturally so it is less of a steep cliff, and you can reduce gradually over time.  So if your problem was flushes, these can be managed more gradually.

Long term effects are calcium loss from the bones (which is on a slow downward trend,  happens more rapidly over menopause, then returns to a more gradual downward trend, and you can't get it back by eating more calcium) and atrophy of the reproductive bits which are not needed any more  (which can have knock on effects of the uro- bits which are part of the -genital bits).  Both these are well worth delaying, especially if you are starting them early on    If these effects kick in early at 45, and you live to 85, that is 40 years with thinner bones for your age, and incontinence meds/antibiotics/pads.

[CLKD]

If one is hungry one needs to eat  - if the body doesn't make enough oestrogen for us to feel well, then one needs to replace it  ?  Bugga whether it delays menopause symptoms let's deal in the NOW?!?  One might not live to find out if symptoms return when a lady stops HRT and actually, there is no need to stop treatment anyway ..... that suggestion is due to GPs not being up to date! 

Why would you want to return to feeling unwell if you have been lucky enough to find an HRT which eases symptoms anymore that I would want to return to deep depression if I stopped my medication!