Hi BJC60
I presume from your questions that you are still taking cyclical HRT. If so what preparation are you taking? The good news is that if you want to you can have a no-bleed HRT - continuous combined, but this means you take a progestogen every day and some women don't get on with this.
Whoever told you that you need to stop HRT is wrong - if you don't have any risk factors (bad diet, no exercise, too much excess fat/obese/high BMI, smoker, excess alcohol) and no other medical reason to stop, then you can continue as long as you want to, according to current guidelines and recommendations. However at this age patches are preferred if you are currently taking tablets - although many women continue with tablets well into their 60's and 70's - we just don't hear about them because they are happy and settled on their regime. If the bleeds are the only reason you want to stop and not your doc, then try the conti HRT. There is always a Mirena coil and patch/gel oestrogen too.
To answer your questions:
1) No-one can tell you if flushes will return - they do for some women, and don't for others, and in some they return for a time and then abate. How you withdraw from HRT probably has no bearing on whether they will return or not - but if you stop suddenly they will be likely to return quicker and more dramatically - there is some research on this.
2) You have gone through menopause so you should not bleed after you stop HRT especially if you stop taking it at the end of the combi part of your preparation (usually the end of the packet). Any abnormal bleeding after a suitable time has elapsed after stopping is counted as post-menopausal bleeding and should be investigated.
3) Unfortunately low oestrogen as in post-menopause is one factor contributing to low mood and depression which seems to affect some women more than others and if you are one of them - you may well experience this. What you don't want to happen is to stop HRT (because the doc says so) and then feel so depressed that it is too late to start again and nothing else will help so that you have to take anti-depressants (possibly for the rest of your life) for something that has an established hormonal cause . If you are going to take something then better to stick with what you have.
Do tell us a bit more - the type/dose of HRT you are taking and any comments on the above.
Hurdity x
