HRT is a lifestyle medication

[HeyJackKerouac]

This was said to me by a GP this week and I've been thinking about it ever since. I wanted to discuss HRT as I've been having some distressing symptoms: anxiety, insomnia, aches, hot flushes, night sweats. I really don't feel like myself.

Anyway, I know I have some contraindications to HRT so I'm in 2 minds about it. There is a history of breast cancer in close family plus hormonal contraception triggers bad migraines for me.

GP felt HRT was not right for me due to this and then finished the consultation with the cheery sign off that "HRT is really a lifestyle medication" The more I think about this the angrier I get. I am really affected by symptoms right now; this is not a lifestyle choice!

Advice was to give up coffee, booze, lose some weight. Yawn!

Anyone got any other suggestions??

There is a very useful website menopause matters which also has a forum. There are preparations that can be fine even if you didn't do well on hormonal contraception, that could well be down to an intolerance to synthetic progesterone - there is natural progesterone available for HRT. It made all the difference to me.

I'm gobsmacked at her "lifestyle" comment. I'm presuming she's quite young? Cheeky mare!

@jinglingbells

She was on HRT a long time - long enough for it to be suggested as a potential cause for her breast cancer. She does have some sort of scans but don't know the full details. Tee-total and non smoker, gym member and decent diet.
The point I was making tho is that HRT is no guarantee that it will protect against these osteoporosis and dementia. and there are associated risks. People can pick and choose research by experts to support which ever point of view they wish to evidence. GPs have differing views too.

Thanks everyone. I know it's not a straightforward decision and I'm still in 2 minds about it. I may be suffering from a lot of symptoms but at least my migraines have stopped since my periods have become less regular. I did not suffer from migraines at all until I started taking the pill when I was around 19/20. Then the migraines began so I stopped the pill after 3 months. However the migraines did not stop and I continued to get them around the first day of my period most months through my 20s and 30s. I once took the MAP and had a migraine that lasted 2 days. I don't want them back.

I mentioned some family history of breast cancer and the GP seemed to fixate on that without really exploring the detail. My half-sister and 2 maternal aunts had it.

What I'm certain of however, is that the consultation was unsatisfactory and I felt a bit fobbed off. I think I will try to improve my lifestyle and if no better I'll go back in a couple of months and ask for a different GP. Although it took 3 months to get that appointment 😂

BTW, according to t'internet, a "lifestyle medication " is one you take for lifestyle reasons rather than to treat or cure an illness. Examples given were Viagra and cures for baldness 😂. I can't see how HRT meets that definition.

This annoys me. I feel like I am heading into menopause and with a family history of osteoporosis I really want to know how to deal with it, so to hear that this is what GPS think is discouraging.

I heard a great edition of Sam Baker's podcast The Shift, with Meg Matthews. MM is now a menopause expert. She has written a book, and has a website: megsmenopause.com/

Here is her section on HRT: megsmenopause.com/hrt-abc

FFS! Are cancer drugs also 'lifestyle' medication? Anti-depressants? Anti-psychotics? Ritalin?

That's really wound me up! Any medication surely improves your lifestyle!

Get a new GP.

Or the GP could have said - really I’ve got more important things to do with my time, menopause, periods - I’m a woman and I have no issues - so you shouldn’t either.

Good lordly in 2021.

Almost as ding dong as the female GP I had when I was 17 years old who thought I was exaggerating needing a tampon and a towel and having to change them both every 1-3 hours, feeling faint and in tremendous pain was me being a ‘teenager and exaggerating’. I suffered for 2 years unable to move for 4 days a month for 2 years because of her and her ‘periods don’t cause pain - go for a brisk walk’. It was a male GP who I went to at uni in floods of tears who told me - it wasn’t normal, it needed further investigation but in the meantime there were options ; the pill, various medications to shorten and lighten everything etc. The female GP is still at my local surgery and I would still not see her.

Get glued up and find a different GP. Mine was supportive I’ve been in hrt for 3 years. Game changer.

@hallamoo

FFS! Are cancer drugs also 'lifestyle' medication? Anti-depressants? Anti-psychotics? Ritalin?

That's really wound me up! Any medication surely improves your lifestyle!

Get a new GP.

This

See another GP.
I’ve been treated far more sympathetically in this regard by male GPs than by female, though I’m aware that others’ experience is different.

@mrsalfstewart

I spoke to my GP yesterday as I have been having night sweats, feeling anxious, emotional, not sleeping etc (I'm 47) and she agreed that my symptoms are all classic peri menopausal symptoms - however she suggested I make 'lifestyle' changes before she will consider prescribing HRT and to go back in 2-3 months if I'm still feeling the same way! I cannot go on feeling like this for much longer so I tried to make an appointment at the Newson Clinic but the waiting list is 3 months!

NICE guidelines are if you're over 45 and symptomatic with no risk factors then HRT should be prescribed. Try to see a different GP and make that point. It makes me so angry that we have to push to get treatment that is readily available.

@Shrillharridan I think it might be wise to check you know who @JinglingHellsBells actually is (if that's who you were insulting) before being so gratuitously rude.

OP at 49 I was slim, took exercise, drank only a little wine. I also had teenagers, a full time job and husband working overseas a lot. Combine with night sweats (wringing out one's nightie and showering at 2am night sweats). HRT was wonderful for me and eased symptoms within 3 days. I took it for 5/6 years and had regular bp checks and regular mammograms.

Saw a different lady GP about 4 years in who said "I'll prescribe it, but if you were to cut down work you could probably manage without it". I responded along the lines of and why should I ask a professional woman cut down on work due to the menopause and why shouldn't every woman be able to have optimal treatment so they are as well as possible whether they work or not. She went bright red and stammered oh er I Don't think that was what I meant really. Unbelievable.

So yes, there is some claptrap out there that comes from the mouths of a profession who think they are an intellectual elite. They might be clever but they are equal to every other human.

Rude?
Merely pointing out that the advice she so freely gives is not applicable to all women.
And comparing menopause symptoms to cancer?
Fucking hell.
My advice?
Don't listen to some random on mn who has a private dr.
Do your own research, check out nice guidelines and crucially make sure you have no contra indications to hrt.

Perhaps just trying to make you feel better given you can’t go on it?

[quote RockingMyFiftiesNot]@jinglingbells

She was on HRT a long time - long enough for it to be suggested as a potential cause for her breast cancer. She does have some sort of scans but don't know the full details. Tee-total and non smoker, gym member and decent diet.
The point I was making tho is that HRT is no guarantee that it will protect against these osteoporosis and dementia. and there are associated risks. People can pick and choose research by experts to support which ever point of view they wish to evidence. GPs have differing views too. [/quote]
I'm not going to argue.

There are many reasons why someone on HRT could develop osteoporosis. I have spoken to women who were on it for years and did develop osteo. Mainly it was because they stopped at 60-ish under the then 'advice' of GPs, and 10, 15 or 20 years later found they had osteoporosis.

You say you don't know the full details, so perhaps that's the crux of this.

Estrogen as a treatment and preventative for bone loss is not an 'opinion' nor is it a 'view' - it's robust science and it's out there if you want to google.

@JinglingHellsBells Please take no notice.

You have helped thousands on here. With the fabulous advice and with care and knowledge.

[quote BillieSpain]@JinglingHellsBells Please take no notice.

You have helped thousands on here. With the fabulous advice and with care and knowledge.[/quote]
Thank you. That means a lot to me. having written for Patient (website) and women's mags and lots of publications which involve speaking to meno experts, I give time to share what I've learned. Everything I write on medical sites or for publications is read and okay-d by drs.

Most of us realise that @JinglingHellsBells and are so grateful for it.

If you disappeared and stopped posting it would be a disaster. (I'm all sorted now, because of you, like so many)

I do understand what your dr means. I asked the practice nurse (who can prescribe hrt) and she said similar - she suggested dietary changes, vitamins, lifestyle changes etc before introducing meds and I admit that they worked. I'm hoping to avoid hrt completely. She was menopausal herself and was following her own advice, she even suggested the weight loss group she personally attended. Hrt is an option but it does mask the normal life process, not always the right thing for everyone

@JinglingHellsBells can i ask, i went through the menopause a few years ago ( i am 52 now) i still get mild physical symptoms but not awful. However i have literally now sex drive at all. So my question is if you are through the menopause can you still start HRT?

[quote Ffsseriously]@JinglingHellsBells can i ask, i went through the menopause a few years ago ( i am 52 now) i still get mild physical symptoms but not awful. However i have literally now sex drive at all. So my question is if you are through the menopause can you still start HRT?[/quote]
I admit I'm not sure I want to carry on here after another personal attack- they crop up over the years and I'm getting tired of it.

But the answer is yes. No one is through the menopause. The term menopause = no more periods. The years before that are perimenopause.

Menopause is the transition and post menopause is for life.

I started HRT at your age. The guidance is that the long term health benefits are best if you start HRT before 60 or within 10 years of the last period.

I read the thread title and just thought WTF!

The state I was in pre HRT was most definitely not a lifestyle choice, nor is staying on it. I've recently changed GPs and had a review by phone before getting a repeat prescription. She asked me, now that I've been on HRT for 7/8 years, had I considered coming off?

With @JinglingHellsBells wise advice in mind, I was confident enough to speak up. Told her I'd had a hellish 2 year fight to get it in the first place, my meno specialist said I could stay on it indefinitely, I was aware the risk of BC increased slightly but I had no known risk factors and it was fine as per the NICE guidelines. Oh, and she'd have to kill me first