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[yorkshirerose]

Well it's officially 1 year and 1 day since I last had a period (I'm 53) so can I officially say I am menopausal - I'm having serious hot flushes at night and sometimes during the day, am trying sage tablets at the minute but too soon to say if it's improving my 'warm moments' - my sleep is atrocious, 2 hours at a time if I'm lucky then I wake up feeling like I've been steamrollered...please tell me this gets better and should I be making an appointment to see my gp?

Thanks

[Taz2]

Hi yorkshirerose - you are now post menopausal not menopausal - congratulations! 

I found the only thing that got rid of the hot sweats and lack of sleep, aches and pains etc. was HRT. Things will get better but sometimes it takes longer than you would like it to.

Taz x

[Mary G]

HRT is the only way to get rid of those symptoms which could go on for years.  To be honest, I couldn't put up with those symptoms in the short term let alone long term.  Why not see your doctor and ask for HRT? Transdermal is the best way to go, I use Oestrogel which is brilliant and changed my life. 

[Dancinggirl]

yorkshirerose - nobody can tell you how long the menopause symptoms all last.  From the start of the peri meno stage into post menopause (you are now considered post meno) I think there is an average time of between 2-7 years but each women will be different. I had an early menopause and had HRT from the age of 37; I tried being without HRt for 3 years in my early 50s and the symptoms never subsided over that time, so I gave in and went back on HRT.  I am now 60 and trying to do without HRT again but it is tough but the symptoms don't seem as bad now as I am is a quieter time of my life. If I were you I would give HRT a try to see if it helps - after all, 5 years of HRT in your 50s can protect your heart and bones for the longer term so you have everything to gain and nothing to loose.  DG x

[CLKD]

As an aside DG - why are you trying to go without 

Yorkshirerose : keep a mood/food diary?  Make a list of daily symptoms for 3/4 weeks.  Visit with your Practice Nurse or GP for advice?  You don't have to make immediate decisions but you will be informed.

Browse round here, make notes!  [I didn't stop carrying sanitary protection until 5 years after my last bleed ;-) ]

[Dana]

Welcome - you've finally joined the postie club. 

No one can say how long the symptoms will go on for. You might be lucky and it will all be over with very quickly, or it could go on for years. I've got friends who never experienced anything at all, and other friends who are in their 70s and still having hot flushes and insomnia.

Only you know if you need HRT, however it does help tremendously if you are finding your symptoms are not manageable. Things like insomnia are totally unacceptable to me, so for that reason alone I couldn't live without it. Don't believe anyone if they tell you to just "suck it up". Menopause can be the pits, and when you have something as convenient and safe as modern HRT, I do not understand why any woman wouldn't want to use it. Think of it as a simple supplement. We have no problems taking things like Vitamin D and calcium every day, so HRT is exactly the same thing.

[yorkshirerose]

Thanks everyone for your advice - I spoke to my sister in law yesterday, she too went 'cold turkey' without HRT and is still having hot flushes 13 years later so I have to weigh up my options, I will make an appointment to see my GP just so they know what's happening - fortunately I have a very understanding hubby who hasn't moved out into the shed just yet

Thanks again

[CLKD]

Let us know how you get on!

[Mary G]

Yorkshirerose, fortunately you are only 53 but I would suggest you get cracking with HRT asap.  I am sorry you have had to suffer so much and for so long without any help which is completely unnecessary in my opinion.

Reading some of the above post makes me feel angry for the millions of women who are receiving either no treatment at all or woefully inadequate treatment at menopause.  I don't include myself in this because I have had good treatment after being forced to seek advice privately with Professor Studd and I am now on HRT for life - a decision I made a long time ago. 

How can any right minded doctor sit in front of a woman and simply tell her to 'suck it up' when the treatment for menopause is so easy?  How can a doctor, who has refused a woman HRT in the past, look said woman in the eye 10 years down the line when she has suffered horrendous symptoms and effectively lost 10 years of her life?  I'm afraid I really don't get it.

Doctors should be reassuring women about HRT and encouraging them to take it not scaring them off with a load of outdated information collected from badly conducted and deeply flawed 'studies' using outdated forms of HRT.  Are doctors warning women about the risks of NOT taking HRT?

Unlike most MM members, I don't just take HRT for symptom control (dodgy thermostat), I take it because oestrogen works like a control centre for so many vital bodily functions and without it, short term and long term health is adversely affected. 

[Mary G]

Stellajane, I sincerely hope you are right and that GPs are not denying women HRT and equally women are not being scared off by outdated and seriously flawed HRT studies. 

I hope that those women who decide not to take HRT are doing it for all the right reasons and are not suffering unnecessarily. 

[zelda]

All of my women friends who have suffered with symptoms of menopause and decided not to suffer and not take it, made this decision because they believed HRT would cause cancer. Sad but true.

[Taz2]

It is sad that some women don't use HRT because of the slight cancer risk but happily drink a couple of glasses of wine a night which is much more likely to lead to breast cancer than HRT.

Taz x

[Mary G]

zelda, that is a huge pity.  Paradoxically, all the risks attached to HRT are in the synthetic component (high doses of synthetic progesterone in particular) and yet GPs often prescribe cheaper synthetic forms of HRT to women first and only prescribe the bio identical, transdermal forms of HRT if pushed.  Admittedly they are very small risks but nonetheless, it doesn't make any sense and also, from my own personal experience, synthetic forms of HRT are much less effective.

By the way, I'm pleased you are back on HRT and hope you start to feel better very soon!

[Dana]

It is sad that some women don't use HRT because of the slight cancer risk but happily drink a couple of glasses of wine a night which is much more likely to lead to breast cancer than HRT.

Taz x

They possibly also smoke or gain weight, or take ADs and/or benzos or zdrugs to help with their symptoms..... but they dare not use HRT because it's "dangerous".