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[Emm225]

Hi all...I am new to the forum and despite saying I would not let the big M affect me it has and am desperate for answers I can't seem to find despite searching Dr Google. Can any of you wise people help me?
Doctor has prescribed HRT (25 mg 24 hour estrodot patches and micronized progesterone 100mg) now I no longer have the Mirena in because all of sudden I am having hot sweats ..at least 1 an hour and many in the night. I have reduced caffeine, alcohol, am not overweight and am pretty fit. Doctor (young female) didn't really discuss options so now I have a bag of treatment glowering at me from the corner.  Terrified of the cancer risks as know/have known friends who have endured ovarian/breast cancer


1. I don't know anyone who has been on HRT ?.or at least nobody I have talked to .  IF I take it (and am worried about taking it because of the negative information, and the more I read the more confused I become) will I get the symptoms all back once I come off it?
2. The pill never really agreed with me...is HRT the same sort of hormonal mix?
3. Will it make me put on weight? (really don't want this ..put some on anyway, mid life and all that....don't judge me!)
4. I have been getting migraines for the past 4 years and think they are hormonal, I can control with triptans as only once a month or so...am worried they will increase [/li]

5. Why couldn't I just have another Mirena in and take oestrogen too to offset the progeterone ? I am 54 and it was removed because of spotting..and was near the end of its life.

I was worse symptom wise, except for the hot sweats which have only just started, a year or so ago although they still come back and floor me I am not bad all the time, - depression, crying, tiredness..although I still get tired but doesn't everyone.  Anxiety is the worst but it is a little better than it was. Sometimes I feel I have nothing to look forward to but again, better than it was.

I  have had recent scans and my womb lining is thin, and had the blood test and the nurse said my FSH showed I was post menopause ...but then the doctor said the test was unreliable, which I did know.  I take Red clover complex, which did work but doesn't seem to be now...still sweating it out!

Can anyone help ?

[Paz23]

Try this link.
https://www.menopausedoctor.co.uk/menopause/busting-myths-around-hrt
The whole website is brilliant and explains all sorts of things.
They say that if you stop taking HRT and get symptoms it means you would have been getting symptoms anyway if you'd have never taken it, HRT doesn't slow the process down.
I can't personally answer a lot of your questions but I've found answers to a lot of my questions  on the menopause dr website. X

[Dotty]

Hi welcome to the forum.  I'll try an answer your questions:
1. if your symptoms come back after stopping hrt it means that you are still going through the menopause and still need hrt as Paz23 has said.

2. Hrt is different to the pill in the way that the pill has much larger amounts of synthetic oestrogen.  I couldn't take the combined pill but am fine on hrt.

3. it shouldn't make you put on weight.

4. Hrt can help migraines .

5. You can have another Marina coil.

The patches you have been prescribed are a very low dose and might not contain enough oestrogen.

xxx

[Hurdity]

Hi Emm25

 

Great answers from the other two.

Also to add that you cannot determine whether you are post-menopause from blood tests as these can be inaccurate. Cyclical changes would be more indicative,  although at 54,  80 % of women are thought to be have gone through menopause. Therefore if you were going to start HRT using those products prescribed then in my view it woul dbe better to start taking them cyclically, to see if the progesterone part suits you, before taking it daily as you would when post-menopause.

Also just to re-iterate as Dotty says, of course you can have another Mirena and if it suits you then this would be a better option than starting something completely new, because much of the progestogen is delivered directly to your womb, whereas oral progestogens always have the potential to cause more side effects if you are susceptible.

Bravo to your doc though for prescribing that combo of patches and progesterone, because that is the combo that many women would like but encounter resistance (due to ignorance from their doc)!

Finallyif you decide to start, either using the Utrogestan as your progesterone or getting another Mirena fitted,- then I would start with a higher dose of oestrogen at your age and stage (25 mcg is a very low dose) though you could ease yourself in gently by starting on this dose for a couple of weeks and then increase. 50 mcg is the standard post-menopause dose.

Hope this  helps

Hurdity x

[Emm225]

Thank you for your replies and help.  I am thrown by all this as I'd thought I'd managed to get "through it" (probably with the Mirena help) and now am pole axed by hot flushes, anxiety and immense sadness and flatness.  If I'd ever thought about the menopause before I'd just thought it was cessation of bleeding every month..which I didn't have anyway...and a few hot moments..which I thought would be quite fun (?!!!) as I tend to run on the chilly side!

I didn't see your answers until today and hadn't dared to start the HRT as was so very, very anxious about the cancer risks,(partly because I am getting so much more anxious these days and catastrophise more than I ever have before..so not in th best mind set decision wise!)  Also the fact that it might just be putting off the inevitable?  One doctor told me I'd be on HRT until 60 years old(54 at them moment)  and then symptoms would re occur when I came off but perhaps not as badly)

 Long story short, I went back to see the only doctor I could get in with....who incidentally before I have trusted and think is a very good one , and someone whom I trust...to discuss the matter as last Monday I had tears literally leaking out of my eyes all day as I was so very sad.   I've never been like it at work /managed to disguise it/get out of it but scarily last Monday I had no control., so phoned the doctors barely able to speak for crying.  Anyway, he saw me and  has prescribed Sertraline for me, as he said a lower risk and the depression and anxiety are what are really affecting me...although would like to be rid of the almost hourly hot flushes, abeit I am lucky as I don't go red so they aren't obvious , and don't look over sweaty..but omg my wet neck under my hair!

To be honest I don't want to take anything as don't like to but am going to have to as I am fed up of trying to cope.  When I look back over the last few years I've been trying to cope with it all in various ways for a while, and I am tired of it all.  Tired of trying to cheer myself up, tired of feeling anxious , and more recently tired of waking in the night literally on fire!

[Dotty]

Hi the Nice guidelines state that anti depressants should not be used as first line treatment for menopausal symptoms. You should have been offered HRT by your doctor. The doctor is wrong to say that there are less risks with Sertraline. X

[Emm225]

But isn't there a lot more risk cancer wise with HRT? He also said when I stopped taking it the symptoms may return, although probably not as severe, as I still wouldn't have the hormones naturally.

[Dotty]

Hi the risk of cancer with HRT is minimal. You are far more likely to get cancer from being overweight or from drinking alcohol . The reports about HRT and cancer were proved to be incorrect.

Your symptoms do not return just because you've stopped HRT .

Side effects of anti depressants are much worse .

Look up Dr Louise Newson... my menopause doctor . You?ll get all the up to date information there. X