When will the menopause ever end?

[Mermaidinthesea]

I started it at 45 and it was like a baseball bat round the back of the head. I had to go on HRT it was either that or everyone dies.
Over the years i have weaned myself off it gradually on GP advice several times and back it comes with a vengeance and back I go onto HRT.
Being on HRT is like sitting in a nice comfy sitting room reading a good book with the apocalypse raging outside the window. You don't like to go and open the door again anytime soon yet it would be quite nice to be able to go back outside again someday.
I'm 55 now and there is no sign at all of the symptoms abating so I remain on HRT lowest dose possible.
My mum doesn't help, she says I'll age 10 years once I come off it :-/
Surely it can't go on forever?

My mother still gets hot flushes and she is now 80, her menopause was when she was 51.
I have struggled with VA for 5 years, now under control most of the time, but I won't be giving my systemic HRT and topical oestrogen up in a hurry.
If it makes you feel able to cope, why give up?
I don't get the ageing thing, once you stop as by taking it now you are protecting yourself against a host of problems.

There is no time limit on using HRT. I know of women (friends of friends) who have gone back on it in their late 70s after trying to come off it (for 6 months) after 30 years on it.

You are very young in some ways to be trying to come off it. I didn't start HRT till I was almost your age. The risks of using it under age 60 are minimal .

I'd forget about coming off it and just carry on as long as you are healthy and your risk factors don't increase.

Oh and yes- my mum is 80s and swears she still has flushes, and her sleep patterns are terrible- she's often exhausted through lack of sleep.

Menopause is just the moment in time when your periods stop. In reality, they don't just stop. There is the process before where your ovaries are all over the place stopping and starting and trying to work, then after your periods mostly stop, but your hormones are still going up and down to some extent. Then there is the process where you are no longer producing much oestrogen, so all the parts of you that used it deteriorate (like bones, bladder and pelvic organs, and the vag. at.)

Since everyone is different, you have no idea where you are going. If you are ok on hrt, stick with it. For most women, the benefits outweigh the risks until they are over 60. Then you need to asses your personal risk and if it is worth it to you.

Your breast cancer risk will continue to increase in the same way that a pre-menopausal woman's will. When you stop taking it, it will slow for a while, then continue to increase at the same rate, but in line with post-menopausal women. So it will increase whatever. You just have to go for the mammograms (which are flawed but it is what we have got).

Use the calm to make sure you are doing all the things you need to do to stay fit and healthy and enjoy them.

You should also OP not give in to pressure from your GP to stop.
You had an early menopause if your periods stopped before 50 (not sure if they have stopped) but for any woman who in post meno before 52 the risks of using HRT don't really count anyway (52 is average age of meno) as you're just supplementing what you ought to have.
So although you've been using HRT for 10 years, you should only really count the last three if that makes sense, in terms of risks.

There are many types of HRT so anyone using it long term should make sure they know all about the risks associated with different kinds and choose the best for their own risk /benefit profile.

Yes my periods stopped years ago, my GP is constantly needling me about coming off but I really don't want to. i can't see the point.
In fact quite honestly I'd rather have a shorter life than the awful symptoms that flood back when I try and come off it.

Maybe you ought to inform your GP of the NICE guidelines which came out Nov 2015?
They state there are no time limits and each woman should make up her own mind having been informed of the risk /benefit profile for her.

Unless your GP can say why they think you have an elevated risk, then it's not their decision over whether you stay on it till you are 90, or not.

I don't like GPs bullying women in this way when they don't back up their opinions with real science and it comes down to no more than scaremongering and prejudice on HRT.

Hi, in an absolute panic here.
I'm 47 never had children and never been on the pill.
December 2015 i had an ultrasound and blood tests as I was having pain in my side. All results came back fine. Then from February 2016 periods started to become very irregular, missing them and very short periods etc. Went to docs, they said perimenopause and as I had recently had a scan and blood work to not worry about it. Irregular periods have continued, but now I've had a period for nearly a month and now getting a bit of back ache and period pain - which is what I used to get with periods. Doc is sending me for another scan and blood tests. Anxiety levels through the roof .

Why are you so worried? Have a good read about peri menopause. Heavy or long cycles are the norm for many women due to low progesterone (which is only produced after ovulation.So if you don't ovulate the lining builds up and eventually results in a heavy period.) It's all normal though not nice. mini pill, Mirena or HRT may help, your GP ought to know this.

Thanks, PollyPerky.

GP was good in that he's sending me for a scan and blood tests, but also said a prolonged period wasn't 'normal'. I've read lots on the perimenopause and yes, lots of women give similar descriptions to mine. But (probably) because of peri I have heightened anxiety.

Also, my sister had Uterine cancer (post menopause). I should be thankful I'm being sent for a scan etc. x