Stellajane,
Actually there are many physicians who feel that the very best thing you can do is get on HRT and still on it indefinitely. One of those is an endocrinologist from California by the name of Diana Schwarzbein. She does a lot of lecturing and has written many books on the subject. She feels that when our minor hormone system goes belly up (our estrogen, testosterone and progesterone) then other hormone systems in the body fail. She also believes that this is the way to prevent the degenerative diseases of aging. You can google her name. She also has a DVD/Book called Menopause Power.
So not all physicians feel that HRT is a bad thing. I think this is about quality of life! If you feel better with some hormones in your body, why not? It's not like these things are from outer space. We've had estrogen, testosterone and progesterone our whole adult life. Just a thought.
I've read a number of books suggesting the same stance, both for oestrogen, progesterone etc but also for our other hormones that decline, such as DHEA. If our insulin levels declined to levels that were endangering our lives we'd supplement without a second thought, unfortunately there's an overriding sense that it's natural for us to become muddled, anxious, suffer from UTIs ...and all the other problems the menopause can bring.
Dr Jonathan Wright is another doctor who suggests supplementing our hormones as long as we need to, the difference is though the principle "copy nature, no more, no less". He advocated bio identical hormones (note - this isn't witchery, they are also available from the NHS in the form of oestrogel and utrogestan amongst others), but he does recommend much smaller doses than are usually given in boxed drugs, doses that mimic our natural levels more closely (apparently). I'm trying to stick to as low a dose as possible and seem to have found a level that suits me without any side effects, I guess it's trial and error.
Which HRT were you using before you stopped? Have you considered switching to lower doses of natural hormones as an alternative? (There are apparently no studies that show that bio identical hormones induce cancer, and in fact there are reports that show they can be beneficial in some cases, particularly osteoporosis).
GG X