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[elliebean]

I haven't been on this site for a few years now, as I managed to convince my GP that I'd done enough research myself to appreciate any risks involved in staying on HRT a bit longer. I was in a very stressful job at the time with a bully of a boss and couldn't face coming off HRT too. I'd been on Premarin 1.25mgs for 25 years as I'd had a total hysterectomy including both ovaries.

At the end of last year my GP persuaded me to come off my Premarin, so I reluctantly agreed to start reducing my Premarin and finally stop it all together. Within a few months I was feeling it. I felt depressed, anxious, moody, tired all the time, dry skin, dry vagina, no libido, unable to sleep, feeling hot when everyone else was cool etc. I'd actually had a few of these symptoms for a while but not to the degree that coming off HRT gave me them. My GP suggested I take Venlafaxine as they 'help menopausal symptoms'. I don't want to take antidepressants so decided to take things into my own hands and make an appointment with Professor Studd, having heard good things about him.

I went to see him last week and really liked him - I know not everybody does. He knew exactly how I felt and said I shouldn't have been on Premarin all those years anyway, as it's not a good form of HRT and that I should have been given testosterone too. I had a bone scan and although I was in the 'increased risk' section he said he was surprised that my bones were not worse. My oestrogen levels were at the very low end of normal and my testosterone level was almost non-existent.

Anyway, long story short, I'm now on 3 pumps of Estrogel daily and a pea-sized blob of Testrim daily too. I'm 59 tomorrow and when I asked Professor Studd how much longer he felt it would be ok for me to take HRT he said 'at least 10 years'. I'm looking forward to feeling more myself again soon, although not sure how my GP will react.

One thing that did alarm me slightly was that I noticed on my blood test results my HDL Cholesterol was marked in red with an asterisk. It was 1.9 when the optimum seems to be 1.2 - 1.7. Should I be concerned?  I don't smoke, I only drink a few glasses of wine a week and I'm slightly underweight.

[Dyan]

Hi elliebean welcome back,
Glad to see you've now got the right hrt for you.
I'm having blood tests done on Friday, one being for cholesterol. I don't even know what it should be so can't advice you I'm afraid.
Someone will be along soon who can.
Hope you soon feel better on your new regime. X

[CLKD]

Welcome back and thanks for the update.  We tend to stick with what suits over the years but maybe your GP should have looked at your history and suggested other forms of HRT. However.

You could speak with a Pharmacist about the result? 

[Dyan]

 :thankyou:CLKD. Why didn't I think of that?

[CLKD]

Maybe Prof Studd will have sent the result to Elliebean's GP?

[Lizab]

Do you know how your ratio of hdl and ldl are? I know my hdl has always been a little high, and my total cholesterol on the upper border, but my ratio is good. My doctor said not to worry about it. He did check c reactive protein the first time my hdl showed high, as that protein is an indicator for inflammation and risk of plaque in the arteries. That all checked out fine and my cholesterol hasn't really changed in 10 years.

[Cassie]

You cannot just go by one reading, you have to  as Lizab says take the ratio and if your so called good cholesterol is ok and more importantly than anything else, your tryglycerides, this is what they should be looking at, then you can relax.

[CLKD]

My cholesterol reading was 'high' but my Life-style OK so my GP wan'st particularly worried.  Maybe a repeat blood test?

[Mary G]

elliebean, I am so pleased that Professor Studd has put you on the right type of HRT, he did exactly the same for me, he really is brilliant. 

My cholesterol levels always reduce down with increased oestrogen so you might find the same thing happens to you. 

Thank goodness you took action when you did and did not make ADs your first port of call. 

Great stuff and very uplifting, I hope start to feel better very soon. 

[Hurdity]

Hi elliebean

Good news that you are continuing with HRT - and interesting to hear about the 70 thing. This bears out the info on this site that risks and benefits of HRT are approx equal between the age of 60 and 70 - so this give me hope!! (Bleeding at 70 won't be fun though - if I live that long!). I know there are women in your position who take HRT into their 80's as you don't have to worry about progestogen or womb/ovarian cancer.

Re the cholesterol - don't worry about that. HDL is the good one and it's the ratio of HDL to total cholesterol that's important as well as a lot of other risk factors. Also your stroke risk is worked out as ?Q value here: http://www.qrisk.org/index.php . It takes into account your age, blood pressure, height weight etc as well as cholesterol and then calculates your 10 year stroke/heart attack risk.  Try it if you have the percentage value as well as BP.

I know this because mine was done recently as part of overall blood tests and in my case it was LDL that was flagged as well as the total but the ratio was fine. Also the doc said not to worry due to my other factors and having good diet and low alcohol etc ( which isn't taken into account). They did my Q risk at docs and despite the cholesterol my 10 year risk was 7 % which is really small.  When you say a few glasses of wine I presume you mean small glasses and well within the guidelines max? GP just said some have readings outside the range for genetic reasons - eg my liver just makes more cholesterol.

Hope this helps

Hurdity x

PS I typed this a while ago and then went to eat and since then there have been lots of replies - but hopefully I've added something to it!

[elliebean]

Oh wow, thank you for all your replies and messages of support :It's great to know that so many of you favour Estrogel. I, like many others, value my quality of life more than a slightly increased health risk.

I feel a little more reassured about my cholesterol now too. I will have a look at that website Hurdity, but yes my alcohol consumption is well within current guidelines for women.
My results were as follows:
Triglycerides   1.6
Cholesterol    4.3
HDL cholesterol   *1.9 (in red)
HDL % of total 44
LDL cholesterol   1.7

I'm sure you're right, Stellajane, that my bones would have been a lot worse without Premarin!

Mary G - great  to hear that Professor Studd was able to help you too. I'm a little wary of ADs, I must admit, due to past experience. Good to hear that the extra oestrogen may help my cholesterol anyway.

Thanks again everyone.

[Bridget]

Im going to see Prof Studd who I have just been reading about!..do you see him personally or one of his team I wonder?

[Hurdity]

Hi again elliebean

What my results gave was the Total cholesterol/HDL ration - which in my case was 3.82 - it should be less than 4, even though my total ch was 6.5 (should be less than 5) and my LDL was 4.2 ( should less than 3) - both of which were flagged

So in your case this ratio is 4.3/1.9 = 2.26 much less than mine and I'm not worried!!!

The positive effect of Oestrogen in reducing cardio-vascular disease risk is well known, and oral and transdermal oestrogen differentially affect HDL and LDL.

3 pumps of oestrogel is quite a lot at your age though - but maybe because you've been on the high dose of Premarin which I think is stronger than estradiol.

Hope you continue to feel better

Hurdity x

[Tempest]

Hi Elliebean. I'm so glad you have a good outcome from your consultation with Professor Studd. I'm new to MM and to Professor Studd's work - I'm very impressed by what I've heard about him so far and if I have need at any point, I would definitely arrange a consultation with him myself (I'm even happy to fly down from Scotland)!

I am using 2 pumps of Estrogel at the moment (just started 1 year post op. I've had TAH & BSO), and will be talking about adding in the Testosterone as offered at my 3 month review. I would be very interested to see how this combo. suits you. Good luck!

[skkb]

Interesting thread. Looked out my last cholesterol test results which were : total 4.9, HDL 2.1, LDL 2.4, tri 0.94 so think that's ok. Elliebean, once you've settled on the gel you will be able to tweet it to suit you, I only have estrogen three days each week, 0.5mg and all the awful symptoms have gone. Now 66 been on hrt since I was 52 and as such a low dose my doctor seems happy. Although I would be interested to know what Prof Studd would say. Is he expensive?