Hi Perinowpost and Marchlove,
Lets face it most medical professionals don't know all about the research and facts, so there is not much hope for the average person being clued up! Most of us here have spent hours trawling the internet and researching.
We used to pop our clogs around 50 to 60 not that long ago. We are living longer due to " artificial" medical intervention. Men died earlier ( as they do not have the protective estrogen).
Apparently testosterone has anti inflammatory properties too! So that declines also as men get older. As we are living longer due to medical advances it makes sense to me to try to top up what we have lost. We are unfortunately not designed to last after menopause.
Sometimes looking at the elderly - and I have extensive experience with this in both men and women- once the GP takes them off HRT usually around 70 years ( that is if you are lucky to get it that long) the health declines - but the women just keep silent and every one has said to me " my body started to go wrong once I stopped HRT, - but I just put up with it.
If you were to look at me , you would not think I had any symptoms . Women and men do not usually talk about pain, exhaustion, anxiety, vaginal atrophy , wetting themselves, stiffness, to others. We do not know what goes on behind closed doors. We just put up with it and blame it on getting older.
There are lots of side effects with most medications.
But the interestingly, there are no recorded contraindications with taking trans-dermal estrogen in women without a womb . It is the progesterone component that slightly raises any risk and that is less than drinking , smoking and being over weight.
A positive attitude and good gut health also goes a long way to a happy longer healthier life.
Incidentally the thyriod can cause all the same symptoms of perimenopause too - so ladies look into your T3 as the medical profession can be a little behind on this generally too - only treating when we are completely out of range and not on symptoms etc
PMxx
