Ok funny_tern
I would say, hrt is a quick fix. I panicked when I first started getting hot flushes and rushed onto hrt, without giving it much thought. I just wanted the hot flushes to go.
They did go, but, I then got all sorts of other horrible anxiety and breathing problems. I had to come off it immediately and only took it for 2.5 months. The hot flushes did come back, but they have been getting less and less over the course of the last year.
Doing it naturally is not easy, but, I think in the long run it's better to get it over with now.
Do bear in mind ( which is something I didn't) that hrt just raises your naturally declining hormones. To get that balance right is months and years of trial and error, hence the other side effects it can bring. When you come off the hrt, you will be faced with the same symptoms to start all over with. Hrt also causes fibroids to grow. So, my point is, it doesn't come without problems.
Everyone is different and some will have many years of symptoms, others don't. If you take hrt, you won't know if you were one who would have naturally only had a couple of years to deal with..
Doing it naturally isn't easy, but, from my experience, the flushes started off quite intense and they have become less and less over the last months..
Keep posted how you get on! X