Just to follow up on Hurdity's slating of trying menopause the natural route following a hormone balancing diet/lifestyle... you can go on her website for free and get the info that you need.
Ooh Jari - I think if you read my post that is not the case at all - in fact quite the opposite! You will see that I am totally in favour of positive dietary and lifestyle changes and said so in my post! What I was slating in response to sap22's post asking for views, was a non-gynaecologist with Harley Street premises charging huge amounts for consultations, blood tests and supplements - which in my view is unnecessary - and as I said if you want any of this advice it is available through reading.
Personally hrt was awful for me. It makes sense to try at least to alter diet/lifestyle to balance hormones naturally. All I can say is it's working for me so far... hrt was disastrous. Various appointments with private gynaecologists at £180 per appointment not to mention the blood test and scan costs. They throw hrt at you without a care in the world. They are making a huge salary. Lucky them.
Some women spend decades on and off various hormones trialing different methods...all the time messing with the hormones in their body. No wonder they are causing havoc and delaying the menopause.
By replacing the hormones in your body, that should be naturally decreasing, we just delay the menopause, unless of course we want to stay on these drugs the rest of our lives.
Hrt is a quick fix and may suit many women but for me the natural route is healthier and cheaper.
I also disagree with private gynaecologists charging huge amounts for menopausal consultations about HRT! All of this advice and treatment is available on NHS - although I recognise that there are still some GPs not yet up to speed with current evidence-based thinking about HRT and the menopause.
The argument about HRT delaying the menopause has been put many times. Quite simply it doesn't. HRT replaces hormones that are decreasing and if taken during peri-menopause - eliminates those symptoms and often the mood swings occurring during this time so that the ovaries pack-up when they were going to pack up anyway - it (menopause = cessation of ovulation) happens in the background. If at sme time in the future a woman decided to stop HRT eg at 59 then her menopause will have happened. However for a proportion of women the unpleasant symptoms of flushes and sweats return. This is not going through the menopause again - there is research showing that some women ( in the absence of hRT) can continue with flushes and sweats well after menopause and for some even up to 14 years. So the women for whom flushes returned after cessation of HRT are likely to be the women who would still be flushing.
In any case HRT is not just about a quick fix for short term symptoms - adding oestrogen has other longer term health benefits too which are well documented - notably protection of heart/cardio-vascular system, and bone health. Some women live for over 40 years post-menopause and taking HRT can delay or prevent some of the worst consequences of oestrogen deficiency. Of course, it is a personal choice, and some women are also unable to take HRT - but one that should be made in full possession of current evidence.
For may women actually taking HRT is the healthier route - AS WELL AS not INSTEAD OF the natural route ( ie diet and lifestyle changes).
I am sorry that your consultation was wasted and that HRT did not work for you - so much depends on the type and dose you take and the menopausal stage, amongst other things. Also pleased that what you are doing is also working for you - this has to be positive. But don't rule out thinking about HRT in the future if symptoms become difficult or unbearable!
All the best
Hurdity x
