HRT pros and cons please?

[yogafailure]

I'm 49, definitely menopausal as confirmed by blood tests. Long story short, managed to get an emergency doctors appointment this morning and he has prescribed Femoston 1/10mg which from reading on this forum is the continuous variety.

He's left it with me to take or not take. I've another appointment in a months time to check my high bloody pressure again and he wants to check how the HRT is going then if I choose to start now. He spoke a lot about increased breast cancer risks but apparently that's not an issue with this initial 3 month trial?

I'm pretty clueless about HRT and despite working in a building full of women of a similar age I don't know anyone who is on it 🤷🏼‍♀️ so any information, pros and cons or articles you could direct me to wpilsk be great.

Thanks in advance

Hi guys - just over a week now since I started HRT patches and I have to say I’m not feeling that much different yet. It’s probably way too soon but the tiredness, aches and pains hasn’t changed but I do think there is a change in my emotions.....I feel a little more controlled.

Any thoughts ladies x

It takes time. I started to feel relieved almost immediately but I realized the difference after 6 months.

Thanks Emerald x

Since reaching mid 40s I seem to have piled on the weight despite no real changes to diet or exercise .
Is HRT likely to help or exacerbate my weight?

HRT (oestrogel and utrogestan) hasn't affected my weight.

Anyone know how the dose is worked out?

@user68435567 I've been on HRT for a couple of years and it hasn't affected my weight at all. I log everything I eat daily on My Fitness Pal and stick to around 1700 calories daily so I kind of watch what I eat anyway.

Am dosage isn’t so much worked out as tweaked based on symptoms, basically if you’re not getting relief then you can up the dose. But if you’re on patches you’ll need to go back to your go and get a new prescription for the higher dose ones.

Cheers hell bent x

@Am2015 The dose is whatever you need to clear up most symptoms (don't expect 100%- might be or you might get 80%.)

There isn't that much choice really. Most pills are 1mg or 2mgs estrogen, with patches there's a bit more choice- from 25mcg through to 100mcgs, and with gel you can alter it from almost zero ( 1 pump is the same as 25mcg patch, ) 0.75mcg estrogen) upwards.

A week is nothing- drs advise 3 months before reviewing.

Just came on to say if you going to take HRT and are over 50 be more viligent with breast health don't wait three years between mammagrams and regularly check for lumps.
I went on hrt at 53 it was great a life changer but got breast cancer at 56. Now on the opposite regime of oestrogen strippers

So I went to see the well-woman practitioner at our surgery who suggested a blood test.
Had it done yesterday and received a call this morning saying "congrats Dorset, the blood test has confirmed you are menopausal. Shall I make an appointment for you to come in and discuss HRT?"

Not unexpected but still feel a bit wobbly as 'only' 47, end of an era and all that.
Think I def do need to consider HRT, if for nothing else than The Rage!!! Also total absence of libido and weight gain.

Aussie I am sorry for your breast cancer but are you sure that it is caused by hrt? Maybe it was a coincidence?

Hi
No I don't know and to be honest when I was diagnosed I was feeling really well and don't have any of the other risk factors
but my breast surgeon told me she believed it did and that the hrt was feeding it
Hindsight is s wonderful thing and I would never have taken it if I had known.
The cancer came 14 months after a clear mammogram so that's why I think three years is too long to wait

Thank you for replying Aussie!💐

I'm really sorry for your diagnosis @aussiegonewrong.

At the moment there is no real proof that hrt causes BC but they do think it accelerates the growth of a cancer if already there ( so assume it would grow anyway but not as fast.)

In the UK mammos are every 3 years and for anyone to get one more often they would need to do that privately- the NHS doesn't provide more frequent screening for women on HRT.

I do have them more often and pay but not everyone can do this.

I've been trying to persuade my (female) GP to prescribe HRT to me for years, you would think I was asking for intravaenous morphine. I was always talked out of it due to my blood pressure which remained high in spite of the medication I was being prescribed.

I saw a different GP recently who prescribed a different type of BP med which brought it right down to normal, so I make an appt with my usual GP armed with this knowledge. She still tried to talk me out of it! I was able to state my case this time though, thanks to these threads! Thanks!

I started Elleste duet 1mg 3 days ago and have felt perhaps a bit odd in the head and achey around the hips - then again I had a back operation a few weeks ago and it could be that) Maybe a bit flat and unmotivated, have felt a bit like that since the surgery though.

at GPs trying to give menopausal women ADs though. At least mine didn't do that. Sadly it did happen to a friend of mine.

I've just been to the GP to start HRT. She said they're not allowed to prescribe HRT for low mood, only hot flushes and even then only if they have a severe impact on daily living. If it's just low mood, they prescribe ADs, even when they think it's peri menopause.

Luckily I had done my research and was prescribed oestrogel. I didn't have to insist or fight for it, not sure why as it went against what she'd just told me. But I was pretty shocked at the stance. I assume it's CCG policy, rather than medical advice.

But I was pretty shocked at the stance. I assume it's CCG policy, rather than medical advice.

There seems to be this myth going round GPs that HRT is only for hot flushes. I don't know where it's originated from- ignorance, bias, whatever - but it's complete nonsense. Nothing to do with the CCG. HRT is dirt cheap compared to other meds.

And they are supposed to be following NICE guidelines for prescribing.

Interesting about the NICE guidelines. DD has ME and doctors follow the NICE guidelines for that religiously, despite the known issues with them (they're been rewritten atm). So it's interesting that in other areas of medicine they're just ignored!

NICE guidelines for menopause were only written in 2015 and I think a lot of GPs - perhaps older ones - are just ignorant of them, or prefer to rely on outdated knowledge and practices. I went fully armed to mine and it was so nice to find how knowledgeable she was about it all.

Btw I've never had a hot flush - I take transdermal HRT more for bone health, plus its possible CVD benefits.

To anyone reading these posts, if you see your GP to discuss symptoms that might be menopause related, go informed, and if they say no to your request for HRT, ask why and what (exactly) are they basing this on. It should be an informed decision between you both, taking any other possible/actual health conditions into account. You can also ask to be referred, say, to a menopause clinic.

Yes jinglinghellsbells

I agree yes go private for mammagram in between but if that's not possible be really breast aware checking for lumps
In Australia they do send women every two years but it can appear so quickly
I found hrt really helped with all menopause
Symptoms hot flushes anxiety insomnia
I just felt me again and I had tried various natural things first but nothing worked like the hrt

@BonnesVacances how did you know to request oestrogel? Have been reading up but still totally flummoxed by the vast array of HRT and the fact that most GPs are clueless makes me worry about what I'd be prescribed

@DorsetCamping I looked at The Menopause Doctor website and spoke to a friend of mine about what she has. Then I had a thread on here which confirmed what I was thinking.

I have a Mirena so that sorted out the progesterone and meant I only needed to replace the oestrogen. The options were then tablet, gel or patch. I avoided the tablet because it has a higher risk of blood clots. I declined the patch as it's harder to adjust the dose, plus I'm allergic to plasters so thought I'd react to it. So that left the gel.

As my DD has ME, I've had to do a lot of my own research over the last 4 years so have probably just got really good at it! I definitely felt less overwhelmed than I might have otherwise.

Hi guys it’s a while since I posted but to give tot background I am prematurely menopausal having had no period for 18 moths and after suffering crippling anxiety and leg pains my doctor prescribed Everol Conti Combined. I started this mid Jan and I improved really quickly. March 26 I had a heavy bleed for exactly a week. Then from 26 April I haven’t stopped bleeding, it’s bright red!! I tried to get doctors appointments with no joy. I decided to just stop the patch (2 days ago) I’m still bleeding. I spoke to an out of hours doctor who was pleased I stopped the patch! She told me to go to my doctors for further investigation if ithd bleeding continues in 5 days. Feel so low and weak any words of encouragement would mean a lot xxxx