Please help me decide about HRT

[LLJETO]

I’m posting in here for traffic as the meno forum is often quiet.

I’m toying with trying HRT as I think it would be helpful but I have some reservations. I know a lot of people love it but I have also read some people struggle. I thought I’d list my concerns and if anyone has any experiences related to any aspect of it to share, I would be most grateful.

I could never tolerate hormonal birth control as it used to make me projectile vomit. I did manage the mini pill but stopped after a while as I was bleeding more often than not (though not heavily). I wonder if this would make a difference at all.

I have suffered with OCD and significant general and health anxiety on and off since I was 20 (I’m 50 soon) and I worry that it will be worsened. It’s currently stable but I’m on the highest dose of Citalopram after a major anxiety increase a couple of years ago (which I think was peri related). I would ideally like to reduce or come off the Citalopram eventually and was hoping if I did try HRT it might ‘support’ that because I do believe that the increase in anxiety I had a couple of years ago was hormone related.

I have recently lost 3.5 stone through diet (no exercise as I have M.E.) and I’m worried that it might make me regain.

Obviously I’ll only know if I try but if anyone does have any experience to share that might be relevant, I really would appreciate it.

Thank you.

HRT is nothing like hormonal birth control. Your mental health is probably worse because of the lack of oestrogen and HRT doesn't make you fat. HRT goes some way towards restoring your optimal hormonal profile.

Listen to the "unPaused" podcast by Mary Clare Haver. There are a lot of benefits of HRT.

Thank you. I’ll give it a go.

If you go on it and it doesn’t work out then you can easily stop. HRT works brilliantly for me. It’s just amazing. I can sleep, I don’t feel like I have something crawling under my skin, I don’t get hot, I feel less anxious (even though I didn’t feel much anxiety before and I get far fewer migraines. I also am much less achey but I don’t know if that’s the HRT or the increased sleep. Basically I feel much more comfortable in my body.

I tried coming off it for four months and all the symptoms returned.

Thanks. Anecdotally people have said they have gained weight, so wanted to double check.

I’ve been on it over ten years. Never gained weight as a result

If some women have gained weight it will be completely coincidental.

No weight gain for me. I did have very sore breasts for a few months. But that settled.

I have oestrogen patch, mirena coil, testosterone + vaginal oestrogen cream.

I was a sobbing mess before I started HRT. two weeks every month would be spent on the edge of tears. I would go for a walk on my lunch break and sob on a bench.

I'm like a different, balanced person now.

I'm three full years in and apart from the odd hot flush/night sweat, I'm pretty symptom free.

I was very intolerant to birth control hormones, but they made me suicidal, not physically sick. I couldn't therefore tolerate utrogestan.

My doctor advised that it might help me with weight loss as we couldn’t work out why I wasn’t losing any despite exercising and hardly eating anything.. they thought it might be hormonal. I haven’t weighed myself, but at Xmas my sister asked if I’m on WLI because she thought I looked like I’d lost weight! So maybe it is helping as I haven’t changed my diet and definitely not on the injections as too expensive.

It’s interesting that you’re ok with the mirena..I wasn’t sure if it would have the same effect as the utrogestan in terms of mental health effects. Glad it works for you.

Try Gina first to get over the anxiety. It’s OTC if you do a screen with pharmacist.

Then try and get a private GP who will support you though.
I used Health Hero through sovereign health. That meant I had time to explain my concerns as I was very hesitant and long suspected I was progesterone intolerant. GP took more time to listen and used more appropriately selected drugs for someone who may be progesterone intolerant (rather than the usual approach, coil and patches in My surgery) and once I was happy and later reviewed by the HealthHero GP (BP weight readings etc), I made an apt with my NHS GP who agreed to carry on with NHS scripts.

I should have done it beside but I was terrified as I had a bad time with contraception and had suffered with PMDD

For me, using bioidentical, it was like having an instant chill pill. Suddenly these rages I’ve been feeling, and anxious slightly irrational reactions to things, completely disappeared.

The major benefit, and one that I hadn’t realised was anything to do with menopause was the gradual leakiness I was getting down below - little wees if I jumped too hard, or struggling to make it to the loo and always having to wear a Tena pad - has completely disappeared. It turns out the menopause impacts the bladder too. Apparently a lot of women get to 70, and are incontinent, and just think it’s a normal part of aging but in fact if they had had HRT could’ve prevented that.

I was prescribed vaginal oestrogen just before Christmas as I was experiencing vaginal dryness and some itching. Haven’t started yet though as only just picked it up.

I was getting night sweats and chin hairs, have neither now since being on HRT since November. I’m delighted by this and from knowing I’m preventing Osteoporosis in future years to come. No weight gain so far.

I have urinary frequency and I think this is definitely related. It’s one reason I want to try the HRT.

Haha, I have had chin hairs since my early 20’s as I have PCOS (potentially should have mentioned that in my OP), but if the HRT helps get rid then that’s definitely a reason to try.

I haven't gained any weight and I've got a very underactive thyroid too.

Still sprouting a little village of chin hairs on a daily basis though 😬🤣

Absolutely. They start thinning first and then disappear. I had a hunch it was hormonal so that’s why I wanted to go on HRT.

Hope it works for you too.

An you afford a private GP or meno nurse visit to properly talk about your concerns and look at you holistically

what do you hope the effect of hrt will be for you?

I resisted HRT for 8 years, I think. I thought I could do the menopause myself. I resisted Davina McCall, just did! I had hot sweats/flushes in public, brain fog, lost my dynamic energetic self, was depressed for the first time in my life. Woke up every morning with my first thought being, what is the point of life. That’s not me.

A friend one day said so simply to me, “give it a try, if it doesn’t work you come off it. What have you got to loose”. Simple words but profound. I made an GP appointment.

I have been on HRT for 3 years now, 59. I have seen on MN many variations on a theme. Pessaries, patches, gels, tablets, sprays, applied, ingested here, there and everywhere. Yes it is a minefield! Keep it simple!

I initially went with my GP, who was very supportive. After a year, I felt I needed a tweak. Had spoken to other women, some had gone private. I paid for an online consultation with a reputable company, the GP there explained so much to me and adjusted my dose. She Sent a summary email of my consultation to my GP, who adjusted my dose accordingly.

Since then, I feel so much better. Back to my pre menopausal self. I marvel everyday.

Give it a go, what have you got to loose. If it doesn’t work for you, you can come off it.

With weight gain, I initially thought it did make me gain weight, but now with clarity of mind, gone is the brain fog and all of the awful pre/ menopausal symptoms, I can make clearer decisions and have adjusted my diet and lifestyle choices and have lost the 3kg I gained.

My main symptom of menopause was anxiety which cleared up with HRT.

I didn’t put on weight (but was fat to start with!)

I think just a general improvement overall. As I mentioned, I have M.E. and a lot of the symptoms of that overlap with peri - things like brain fog, fatigue, joint pain and general. I’m not expecting a cure of these things but even a lift would be a boost.

I also have night sweats, frequent weeing, the increase in anxiety and then vaginal dryness.

Edited - I could potentially afford this but are there ongoing costs? Or can I transfer scripts to my NHS GP?

I've never looked back since starting HRT in peri 5 years ago. In fact since that time I've also upped my dose, because as I went on & my own oestrogen dropped even more I needed to increase my dose.

Biggest symptoms for me were horrendous anxiety and then later complete flatness. Increasing the dose enabled me to come off the Mirtazipine I'd been on for years & the flatness went. I got my mojo back.

HRT is body-identical now, so just like what you've had for the last 40 years-ish. It's when we stop producing it that everything starts to go wrong. And the hormonal birth control we used to take is NOT body-identical (and 10 x the amount as well) - therefore it didn't fit the receptors properly, hence why lots of side-effects came with it.

In addition there is overwhelming evidence now to show the risk reduction for Dementia Heart Disease and Osteoporosis to name a few. HRT is a licensed treatment for Osteoporosis and HRT has been shown to be more effective than statins at reducing heart disease and preventing cardiac events.

Have a look at the Balance Menopause website - loads of info, factsheets etc, and the podcasts are brilliant, full of up-to-date evidence-based advice.

Thanks for this! I will definitely have a look at Balance Menopause website.