This is something that I have been wondering for a while. I have bothersom symptoms now but they were on and off for a good while before I even thought of seeking help. I've been reading the forum and see that some women are waiting until their periods stop or years with symptoms while others jump in and start HRT pretty early. Does anyone know what is best? Does starting earlier help to preserve what you have better i.e. collagen levels, bone density, vascular health, cognative function and so on at a more youthful level (before estrogen drops too much) or does it just up your risk factor for the negative aspects of hrt as you will potentially be on it much longer starting at 40 or 45 than a woman starting at 52?
If you go on it younger is it likely that you will have to come off it much sooner and so experiance a more dramatic decline in health once you are off hrt? If it is indeed ok as some specialist say that most women can take HRT forever if they want to, is there an argument that all women over 40 or 45 should be offered hrt to protect their health long term even if they don't have troublesome symptoms. I would guess that even women who do not have noticable symptoms might still have declining estrogen years before they stop having periods and if thats the case they could be missing out on years of protection?
On the other hand perhaps it is safer to just use it for as short a time as possible? I really don't know the answer but I am very curious as to what you all think!
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Topic: Is it best to start HRT as soon as you start getting peri/menopause symptoms? (Read 633 times)