I just thought I'd put this out there to encourage (probably not the right word, give information to by sharing my journey is probably more appropriate) others that are considering starting/stopping/switching hrt.
After trying numerous things over the last few years - conti patches, both everol and fem7, oestrogen only patches, gel and latterly Lenzetto, all in various doses - I have stopped HRT totally.
Looking back, I don't really know why I started it if I'm totally honest. Maybe I'd persuaded myself that every single little thing I thought was wrong with me was due to lack of hormones. Maybe I was overthinking things ‘wishing myself ill’. Maybe in the hope that I could possibly reduce or even stop using local treatments. Silly I know but it was all over the media about how good HRT is and how much it protects you from all sorts of things later in life. There was no mention of negatives anywhere.
Anyway, I began my HRT journey and for the last couple of years I have just not been me. I have been anxious, worried, snappy, bad tempered, miserable, down, bloated with huge solid cannonball like sore boobs. Not to mention the weight gain even though my diet hasn't changed. And my get-up-and-go……..got-up-and-went.
I think my body just doesn't like oestrogen. For the last year or so I've even been having issues with vagifem/Estriol/estradiol causing bloating and aching.
Now I've been HRT free for coming up to a month and I've just started to reintroduce small, teeny tiny, blobs of Estriol. I even had some adult fun the other evening with my husband - first time in over 12 months.
My mood is better, I'm not as anxious, I'm happy in myself, I'm doing things again and the cannonballs on my chest have now become nice squishy comfortable pillows. Oh, and the itchy nipples are no more.
I just thought I'd post this as I know a lot of ladies go through hell trying to find the right thing to use due to side effects/negative effects. Sometimes the right thing to do is to use nothing. And that's OK.
I don't usually put much on here as there are certain posters who dish out dubious information repeatedly. Sometimes it's because they think they know best. Sometimes it's because they just don't bother to read things properly. Sometimes it just seems like they want to feel important. Sometimes it just seems like one-upmanship. Sometimes it's even about things they have absolutely no knowledge of. Sometimes it's just plain wrong information.
If this post is to be my swan song on here, if it gets reported for this last paragraph of truths and warnings to new members, I hope that the first part is left as a story and encouragement to others who are struggling with HRT.
💓🤗