New report about HRT risks on BBC website

[Egghead68]

Menopausal hormone therapy risks 'bigger and last longer' than thought www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-49508671

Prof Janice Rymer , Gynaecologist on behalf of the RCOG in the Times today - significant majority of female gynaecologists and wives of male gynaecologists take HRT - unlikely that will change in the light of the Lancets article

I guess a question is do female oncologists take it though?

@swingofthings Statistically, 75% of women have moderate to severe menopause symptoms, sometimes lasting 15-20 years.
Statistically again, the majority of women using HRT are educated / professionals. These are facts not opinions.

@Egghead68
The added risk is between 1-2%, It increases risk not from a zero risk but from a population risk (no HRT) of 6%. There is no increase in death from HRT related BC compared to no HRT use /deaths. Yes, it is a concern, but so is driving a car, 3000 people die a year in a car. No one even thinks about that.

The risk goes up with age. It is always increasing. I don't know what the rate of increase is, but is not insignificant.

It’s really down to an individual woman to decide what works best for her re HRT . Prlonged exposure to oestrogen ie late menopause 55+ , being overweight , taking HRT all increase the risk of breast cancer . Increased risk doesn’t mean will happen and lower risk doesn’t equate to zero risk . Like all things in life we have to weigh up the risks , pros and cons and decide what will work best for us .

@Melroses The risk of ALL cancers goes up with age. Age is the biggest risk factor for cancer because the longer your cells are multiplying over a lifetime, the more risk there is of one cell mutating into an abnormal cell each time it 's renewed.

1:2 people will get some kind of cancer. The risk of BC over a lifetime for women is 1 in 8 (nothing to do with HRT) and risk increases with age as cells are not able to die off / grow normally.

Statistically, 75% of women have moderate to severe menopause symptoms, sometimes lasting 15-20 years
How do they know about women who only have mild symptoms. My close friend had very few symptoms and never been to the gp for it.

How was that sample selected?

And a 'majority' of women doesn't mean much. 50.1% is a majority.

I just couldn’t function without my HRT so I’m going to have to keep taking it
Mine is an informed choice but doesn’t really feel like much of a choice tbh.

How do they know about women who only have mild symptoms. My close friend had very few symptoms and never been to the gp for it

I don't understand your question.

If they survey hundreds and thousands of women via questionnaires, and 75% say they have moderate or severe symptoms, then that leaves 25% with mild symptoms.

If you read any books on menopause or any research, these are the figures given. The NHS puts the figure at 80% .
www.nhs.uk/conditions/menopause/symptoms/

It is well known that there are serious shortages of HRT. Not sure whether this is going to be worsened by Brexit.
Now they are telling us it causes cancer so women stop taking it or don't take it up. An exercise in demand and supply possibly?

I'm not usually one for conspiracy theories but I often ask myself why is it that the government (mostly men) don't want late 40's/ 50's+ women feeling better and empowered. Its like as if they don't want us functioning properly because we all know most 50+ women no longer take any shit off anyone.

I use her as working would be impossible without as I get severe symptoms.
I currently have a Mirena and oestrogen gel so ,If I understood correctly low risk.
If I need to I will take it until I retire,lack of sleep less of a problem at home as is throwing you clothes off during a hot flush and brain fog will not impact on others.

I'm with adrenaline on this one.

There is always a reason why 'they' don't want us to have HRT. And a news story backing this up, what could be better to disincline us to live a normal life?

@JinglingHellsBells, where does it say on the nhs that 80% of women have moderate or severe symptoms. I've only read 'addditional symptoms'.

A survey is rarely scientific. Depends very much on the size of the sample and where it was recruited. I've Sen one survey by the BMS who states that 50% said the menopause had a negative impact on their lives.

I expect different surveys will come up with different outcomes.

@swingofthings I don't see what your point has to do with t he original post?. It's well documented that around 80% of women have meno symptoms, 20% really badly and 10% lasting for 15+ years. The rest will be mild or moderate and 20% or so will not even notice the menopause. And what is mild and acceptable to one woman might not be to another. ie if someone is home based, or not working, has no responsibilities like teenagers or elderly parents to manage, they may be fine with loss of sleep or hot flushes, mood swings or whatever. Other women may find these impinge too much on quality of life. Not sure why you are arguing? :)

The nurse I saw this morning to take my BP said that the stories of HRT shortages were 'fake news.' Not so sure about that! I'm lucky that the one I'm on is not in short supply, however I remain to be convinced about it's effectiveness.

go.mumsnet.com/?xs=1&id=470X1554755&url=mobile.twitter.com/michaelbaum11/status/1167369672486006784
This is his response.

Anyone else get a scary email from
their GP this week summarising the new findings and telling them they can contact their practice nurse for advice on weaning off HRT? Seems to have been issued centrally.

Here is the email. Hope it’s legible!

Don’t panic . It is all fine .

I refer you to my previous post with link above .

I really don’t know what the motivation of the research is. I feel that it sounds very scaremongering and not scientific at all.
Again and again all these data about breast cancer and how dangerous the hrt is.
I am afraid that if our quality of our life is terrible without our female hormones we just don’t have any other choice.

@Egghead68 That advice you uploaded is really bad- some of it is incorrect anyway. I can't see the print here as it's too small but I did read it elsewhere and some of it is inaccurate re risks.

The reaction I've read from other people is that this was a knee jerk reaction and premature.

The only parts of the research worth noting ( and by the way these facts have been known for over 10 years - I was advised of them when I first started HRT) are..

1 Continuous HRT ( combined conti) has a higher rate of BC than estrogen alone or sequential.
2 There is a continued risk after stopping (new evidence says 10 not 5 years.)
3 The risks are very small....

6/100 NON HRT women will get BC each year.
7.4/100 women using sequential will get BC in a year (so 1.4 more woman.)
8.2 /100--women using combined HRT will get BC (2 more women than women not using HRT)

The research included stats from flawed studies (WHI and MW from 20 years ago.)

It did not report more deaths from BC in women using HRT and in fact the opposite is the case- I read something like 80% 10 year survival compared to 64% for non HRT women with BC.

Those women who develop BC on HRT tend to have a better differentiated cancer so have higher survival rates .