Menopause without HRT?

[twoheaped]

Is it possible to go through the menopause without HRT?

I have never taken the contraceptive pill, or used a chemical device as I just didn't really fancy the idea of taking hormones.
Now I guess the menopause will be coming in the next few years and I have found little information on going it alone, as such.
Can it be done? I'm still not keen on the thought of taking hormones.

The thing is Furry not all women come out the other end (ever.)!
My mum had flushes and insomnia into her 80s. I've tried reducing my HRT ( am over 60) and feel rubbish.

I'll just say what I have said before which is until relatively recently in terms of evolution, women did not have to ensure life after the menopause for up to 40 years. They died by 50 by the plague, or starvation, or all kinds of illnesses we now cure, or were eaten by a woolly mammoth :)

We don't endure all kinds of things any more in western society -
smallpox, typhoid, TB, polio, headaches! Science has provided us with solutions.

I'd rather have strong bones than empathy!

I really dislike the 'it's natural so you must suffer and endure as I have' narrative too.

Lots of naturally occurring health issues and no one suggests we all just suffer through them and come out the other side martyred.

This natural bollox seems to be particularly directed at issues that affect women, their hormones, their reproductive lives and their biology and I find it deeply misogynistic.

No one has to put up with feeling crap for 10 years in this day and age.

HRT doesn't and won't suit everyone and there are so many myths around the perceived dangers.

When the dangers of the Pill are way greater. But that's OK isn't it cos the Menz can shag us with impunity then.

Ahem. Soz, was a bit ranty.

I agree totally Deux

I'm not menopausal yet but I would certainly use it if needed. I know several women in their 70's who didn't use it and now wish they had as their spines are crumbling and HRT might have prevented this.

We forgive you Deux.
This forum's very busy today. Is it the weather - everyone indoors?

I agree that HRT is not for everyone. If you have no symptoms, great. I am the only one of my friends using HRT . I don't go on at them and they don't go on at me.

I was trying to put menopause into a longer term context. We've been around for 0.5 million years or so. It's only in the last 150- 200 years that women have had life expectancy [on average] beyond menopause.

I just want to ask if women who 'endure' menopause, also endure things like headaches, hay fever, infections, depression, all manner of other illnesses, that can be relieved by drugs, because THEY ARE NATURAL. Putting up with something for 10, 20, 30 or 40 years because it's 'natural' seems to say someone enjoys being a martyr.
I mean, why? Just why?

Polly. 😂 It's like the middle of winter here. Raining all day. I think it's just stopped. Kids on devices so I decided to join them.

Hear hear Polly

I had a full hysterectomy (ovarian cancer) aged 48 and tried to go cold turkey. I ended up at my doctors 6 weeks later ready to kill any human being that crossed my path ..... He started asking me what he should tell my DH and child when I'd had a stroke by using HRT. I went away without it. Went back a month later and told him it would be irrelevant as either they'd have killed me or I'd have killed them before then. I'm on patches - really low dose but enough to take the edge off and help me live !

For me it was the restless legs and the 'fat joints'

Not sure about HRT. I'm 50, haven't had a period for over a year. Do have some night sweats and sweat at work sometimes.

Does anyone take supplements like those menocare products?

Notapizzaeater, what are 'fat joints ' ? Sounds scary ! I suffer myself from nasty joint aches (not arthritis) which are the main symptoms i am going through, was put on hrt Femoston 1/10mg 2 weeks ago, and
praying for a miracle.

Oh don't get me started on supplements.

I know posters sometimes talk about the power of Big Pharma, but the power of vitamin companies is the same.

Sorry I know this is not what you wanted to hear!

I just feel strongly that companies who offer these sort of products prey on vulnerable women. Diet plays a HUGE part in managing menopausal symptoms, but eat the real food. You will see that the meno products usually contain isoflavones which may help flushes but they are from soya, so just eat soya products or lentils a few times a week.

Likewise, try sage tea, sage tincture, red clover etc and see if it helps. But 99% of what is in a supplement is what you will already get enough of in your diet, or could get with a few tweaks.

These supplements tend to be expensive .

When the night sweats and overwhelming flushes started, i started taking 500mg of chelated Macca Powder (available on Amazon) and all disappeared in 10 days. I am kinda suspicious normally so i stopped the Macca powder, the hot flushes and night sweats came back with a vengeance. So i started it again and it has kept them at bay, completely. Works for me. Doesn't help for joint aches though.

Woodhill, in the last 3 years i have also tried Turmeric, red gingseng, bucket loads of soya every day, Jointcare, Menopace, Meno this and Meno that for various perimenopause symptoms, and nothing worked except for Macca powder, we are all unique, different from each other, it is a trial and error and yes Polly, Mega expensive.

So playing devil's advocate why not eat the food that has these things in it?
Loaded with thiamin, riboflavin, vitamin B6, calcium and iron (from a site selling it.)

Thanks

I haven't bought any but wondered if they were another option rather than HRT

Another vote for Macca: I too took macca powder for 2 years and it stopped my symptoms, but gradually the symptoms came back, so that's when I started on HRT.

notapizzaeater by fat joints do you mean when you retain fluid so your joints feel inflated? Before my thyroid meds got sorted out my elbows and knees felt stiff and puffy. I could feel my forearm pressing on my upper arm when I bent my elbow if that makes any sense.

Any super flashers here? Sorry ladies. well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/07/25/meet-the-super-flasher-some-menopausal-women-suffer-years-of-hot-flashes/?_r=0

I take Promensil and I can't see myself eating kilos of red clover like some kind of bovine every day instead to get enough of the benefits. Not when I can take one tablet.

Equally I also eat flaxseed but would need sack loads a day to get enough benefit. It is quite laxative.

90 Promensil, so nearly three months' supply, is £35.

How much would HRT be on the NHS if you need the two prescriptions?

Abra1d do you eat ground flax or whole? Apparently freshly ground seeds allow more benefits to be absorbed and stick a bit better instead of just whooshing through you like the whole seeds. The problem is that I think it tastes foul whereas the seeds you can swallow whole. I have in the past added a spoonful of ground flax to my porridge which isn't too bad but if you expose it to heat it gets a terrible fishy/seaweed taste.

Abra1d i agree with you, this is why supplements are there, it would be impossible for anyone to ingest enough macca root to make any difference or i couldn't see myself eating 10 teaspoons of Turmeric a day to alleviate aches and pains, i started HRT 2 weeks ago and had to pay the 'double' prescription which came down to £17 for 3 months worth, apparently because in the pack i am taking (Femoston 1/1mg), there are 14 pills of oestrogens, then 14 pills of oestrogens/progesterone, so the chemist told me it counts as 2 prescriptions.

Unsurmuntable, whole flaxseeds cannot be digested as they are too hard, the shell remains intact after digestion (you can see them down the toilet, i've checked !!) so they need to either be crushed or bought ground, also they should be kept in the fridge at all times or they'll get rancid and lose their beneficial properties,

Discoisabelle yes, sorry, is that not what I just said?

The whole ones are, imo, less revolting than ground but have a laxative effect (pointed out by Abra1d) because they're not absorbed. Freshly ground seeds (because as you say they get rancid quickly) have more of a taste (which I personally don't like) but are more nutritionally accessible and have a less severe laxative affect (though I imagine this may be somewhat variable depending on the individual).

I've used them for the dreaded travellers' constipation and can't bring myself to use them ground because I can't bear the taste.