Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Fionabee]

I'm sorry if this is dumb, but despite reading I'm still not clear,
Does HRT just postpone your menopause, ie is it a sort of reprieve & when you stop taking it do symptoms all return, and you experience it at a more "convenient" age, OR can you find you have come through the menopause & out the other side & its over? I hope that makes sense!
I remember my mum constantly stopping and starting it, I think sweating was the main prob, eventually she seems to have dried out. My poor Aunt used to smell like a wet sheep when it was bad.
Thanks, I shall now try and go back to sleep!

[Taz2]

Hi Fiona - it used to be thought that HRT helped us through the menopause but we are now told that HRT delays it - which is to be expected really as we are just continuing to put hormones into our body which we no longer make ourselves. It is the depletion of the hormones which brings on menopause so if we continue to top ourselves up then when we stop HRT the menopause will still be there. Not everyone experiences this though. I have stopped after 6 years and my symptoms are now, after three months, exactly as they were six years ago. I remember my doc asking me carefully whether I felt I would be able to deal better with it at the age of 60 rather than 54. I thought that at 60 I would be able to retire so said yes but now I have to work till 65 I'm not so sure. What I do know is that I have lost a few friends of my age over the last six years due to various life events and I could have been one of them and had a miserable last few years of life but, instead, for the most part HRT made my life much better.


Taz x

[Dancinggirl]

My view: If your meno symptoms are having a real impact on the quality of your life and HRT suits you, then take for as long as possible to get the best out of life while you can.  Taz is right - live for the day.  Yes you may have to come off at some stage and the symptoms may be fairly bad when you do but your 40s,50s and 60s are often stressful times (we are the in-betweeners) and having meno symptoms can make it worse.  It's a personal choice.
I think, for some, the peri stage can be particularly tough as the hormones are fluctuating all the time and HRT can help.  Once out the other side the body has to adjust but there may not be the fluctuation.  It could take months or years for things to settle and for some it never does - so worrying about the withdrawal is pointless.
What may be more important to consider is Vaginal Atrophy and the effects this has on bladder etc. EVen on full HRT I have these problems so I dread to think what it would be like without HRT.
If there is osteoporosis in the family, protect your bones while you can. REad up everything on this site - dip into some of the posts and make your own informed decisions.
DG x

[Hurdity]

 Aaargh ...
I have just typed a long reply and pressed the wrong button and it's all gone. (maybe backspace twice or something....)

I just agreed mainly with Taz and dancing girl but saying that what is different about stopping HRT is that your hormones are no longer fluctuating so you don't have the mood changes. However because your oestrogen will decline considerably then you may have constant lower mood due to low oestrogen - so in that sense you are delaying that aspect. Also the change from taking HRT to stopping when you are well post-meno is much less then from being a fertile menstruating woman to post-meno - since by the time most women stop the oestrogen levels are already very low.

Also there is no point in being miserable for 10 years to avoid possibly being miserable (through return of flushes and sweats) for one or two - and especially if your life may be cut short anyway due to other things as Taz says... And yes it's a long term thing. Oestrogen deficiency is forever - so think of making that forever shorter through oestrogen replacement.

If you want to know more about what happens to hormones there is an interesting paper - Stages in Reproductive Ageing - workshops mainly in the US - N American Menopoause Soc and Internatonial Meno Soc http://www.imsociety.org/downloads/email_downloads/2012_02_16_1773491/straw10.pdf

Sorry if this sounds rushed - It's difficult to type it all again

Hurdity x