Is it too early to think that HRT may have changed my life?

[oggbogg]

Hello everybody. I am 48 and started taking HRT about four weeks ago. I think it might just have changed my life.

I have so much more energy but it's also like this fog has lifted from my brain and I can see everything in sort of sharp focus again. I honestly thought that I had fibromyalgia or something, I just felt really terrible for about half of every month. Weak, terrible headaches, sore, a bit weepy, all that stuff. I carried on but everything felt like such an enormous effort. Now that has gone and I just feel .. really well?!

But I'm also slightly terrified - it is only four weeks. Could I be imagining it? I'm so worried that this is some sort of placebo effect and the symptoms are going to come rushing back. Anyone else had this?

I'm reading this thread while my neck fan blows a gentle breeze on my hot-flushed face! .

I'm 46 and became perimenopausal at about 40. I've had the coil fitted, so I have no idea where I am in the whole transition, but have the usual symptoms - sleeplessness, overheating, hot flushes and brain fog. I've always been a bit narky, but I live alone so there's noone to tell me whether its got worse or not

There are issues with various cancers in my family, so I'm not keen to go down the HRT route, but I've found that taking folic acid and vitamin d greatly improves my symptoms, to the point that if I don't take folic acid, my sister can tell within two days, as I struggle to find words and am visibly anxious. My sister found menopace worked for her, and for my mum it was black cohosh. So to anyone like @Babymamamama who's worried about HRT, my advice would be that everyone is different - give the herbal and homeopathic remedies a good shot and find what works for you. Oh yes, and buy yourself a neck fan - it makes zoom meetings so much more interesting when you watch everyone looking around to see where the gentle humming noise is coming from x

Just come back to this thread after a busy day! So glad other people have found the same. I feel as though I need to spread the news far and wide (while recognising of course that other women have different experiences and expectations)!

It took about 3 weeks to really kick in for me. The relief after months of brain fog, tiredness and debilitating joint and muscle pain was indescribable.

I had a few months off it last year after 5 years of treatment as a trial but the symptoms were back within a few weeks. I'm now back on it and the plan is to continue indefinitely.

Without taking anything away from how hrt helps menopause it can also help other symptoms too
www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/feb/28/if-oestrogen-can-save-women-from-the-worst-of-covid-they-should-be-given-it

My GP was wonderful. I originally went because I had become so immobile and was in such joint pain that I couldn’t change gears when driving.

He ran a load of blood tests to exclude RA etc and then suggested HRT himself. Oddly it’s the younger female GP at the practice who is a lot more resistant. She really didn’t like the regime the consultant at the menopause clinic put me on last year one bit but couldn’t argue with the specialist. If I’d seen her first off I doubt she’d have put me on it at all

I am getting increasingly cross about the medical profession's dismissal of these debilitating symptoms. It's outrageous and I am really concerned that there are many women out there suffering needlessly. I feel as though I am becoming a bit evangelical about this, I just can't describe the relief I feel having started HRT. It's like a bloody new dawn or something!

over the past couple of months be decided myself to come off hrt as I've been on it for 6years , I'm 56 , just to see if menopause has stopped for me but after 4weeks Of being drug free I feel absolutely dreadful , my joints ache , I can't sleep , hot sweats are back and my head has gone .
Back on Hrt tomorrow I'm too young to feel so old 😁

Thank you OP, this is a really interesting thread. I'm mid 40s but feel like peri is definitely upon me and today has been an awful AF day too!! Very heavy, clots, flooding etc - it's at the point now where there's always one day that I can't leave the house for long (not ideal when you have small DC!). The GP prescribed tranexamic acid but I haven't taken it as I'm not regular enough any more to know when 'a couple of days before AF' would be

I already take a multivitamin, iron tablet & cod liver oil but might switch to Menopace and see if that helps, thank you for the tip @LibranTigger.

Really I just want something to take away the absolute exhaustion I often have, joint pain, terrible mood swings and tendency to cry at the slightest thing . My last GP trip wasn't very productive but maybe it's worth going back soon!

@claraTheImpossibleGirl- that sounds really difficult.

I must admit that I have never had problematic periods so have been very fortunate. My periods had also stopped as about two years ago I had the Mirena for contraception.

I wish I had sought out HRT earlier though. I had a suspicion that my symptoms could be peri-menopause but in my mid-40s thought I was too 'young' so I tried lots of other things first. I had great hope that my thyroid would be dodgy or Vit D low as then I would have an answer. It sounds ridiculous to say but I was always quite disappointed to find that I was absolutely fine. (And I hope that doesn't sound insensitive to people with those problems).

I also think I have an image of myself as a healthy person and so was in some sort of denial although at the same time part of me had started to accept how shit I felt. I even started thinking about how I would adjust my lifestyle. Work was non-negotiable but I was thinking I would have to tell DH that I simply couldn't handle much of a social life.

Anyway, I realise now that I was dragging myself through those really debilitating symptoms when they could have been relieved much sooner. I hope you can get help with your symptoms soon.

it was a game changer for me too. It was like the fog cleared within a day

I started HRT in February this year and I feel so much better.

I have always been able to sleep very well and so when I stopped sleeping, that was it, I went straight to the doctors. She did a blood test and then prescribed HRT.

It really has been life changing. No more aching, hot sweats, insomnia or anxiety.

I did up the dose the other week though when the insomnia stated creeping back in and I started becoming unreasonably anxious that we would run out of spread

I have just turned 50 and suspect that I have been slowing getting worse for about 3 years.

@FunnysInLaJardin
Do you mind me asking how long it took for your sleep to improve and whether it was variable depending if you were on the estrogen only or progesterone/estrogen mix part of the month? I have been on evorel sequi for just over 3 weeks now and whilst taking the estrogen only complex i felt my sleep improving ( or maybe just my anxiety reducing- my mood was definitely better) but now I'm on the progesterone session I seem to have bad sleep again which is ironic as google tells me progesterone is the hormone that helps sleep? I'm hoping I just havent given the patches enough time to do their thing fully, although I am definitely feeling some benefit.

lady don't mind you asking at all!

I am on the mini pill plus the gel and so take the pill all the time.

I think it took about a week, although I was on amitriptyline for the first week as my sleeping was so awful.

How strong are the patches? I am on 3 pumps of gel which seems to work. I think that's a fairly lowish dose

Thanks for replying. I'm on 50 I believe the doses on evorel patches come in 25 50 75 or 100. I'll give them 3 months and maybe I'll be upped to 75. I definitely am feeling other benefits but maybe when my gp does a review if certain symptoms aren't improved I'll be increased. I have a suspicion I don't get on with progesterone, my experience on the mini pill and mirena were not good. I'm now sterilised.

@ladygindiva

Thanks for replying. I'm on 50 I believe the doses on evorel patches come in 25 50 75 or 100. I'll give them 3 months and maybe I'll be upped to 75. I definitely am feeling other benefits but maybe when my gp does a review if certain symptoms aren't improved I'll be increased. I have a suspicion I don't get on with progesterone, my experience on the mini pill and mirena were not good. I'm now sterilised.

Hi, Lady do you think it’s the progesterone that causes problems on the pill /mirena? I got on spectacularly badly with both-really severe emotional problems. I wonder if HRT can /will do the same...

The impact on my sleeping was immediate and amazing. That was such a big boost.

This was followed over next couple if weeks by easing off of joint pain - started to feel less old and decrepit.

It took maybe a month for it to have an impact on rest of life, but when it did my anxiety almost completely disappeared, my mood swings and crazy was turned off and I felt just more confident.

@MrsWooster
Yes I very much struggled emotionally on mirena and mini pill back in my 30s and I'm feeling a bit down during the progesterone phase of hrt. I've heard that there is a progesterone intolerance among some people, that is an intolerance of the artificial form of progesterone not the naturally occurring type, and I'm fairly sure I may be one of these people. Mind you I've not been on the hrt a month yet. Mini pill and mirena made me so emotional and verging on suicidal. I'm going to keep an eye on it. Anyone know if the progesterone dose can be lowered if there's any problems? I still have a womb etc so need some progesterone I gather but I'd like to keep the side effects to a minimum.

I started HRT aged 44, and it gave me “me” back. I feel like I’m evangelical at times telling other women to not accept feeling utterly crap but to do some research and that HRT isn’t the evil it was made out to be a few years ago but for some like me it’s felt like a wonder drug. I’ve spent this year really slowly starting to struggle again as my mirena coil had run out (it now turns out it was last year!) but I’m now on back up progesterone tablets whilst I wait to have the coil replaced and within 24hrs of taking the tablets I literally felt like a different person again! It’s been flipping amazing . I would urge anyone that’s struggling to do a peri menopausal check list and go in educated on their options to see their GP.

Thanks @SSwimCycle21, it's good to know that HRT can be so transformative! I can't tell whether my symptoms are peri menopause or just general knackeredness after years of looking after small DC I'm currently losing weight and getting back into exercise after a few years out, but I'd like to lose a bit more before going to the GP, in case that's what they suggest in the first instance...

I've ordered some Menopace and will give that a try anyway. I can remember my DM having hot flushes back when I was a stroppy teenager and opening every single window in the house, much to everyone's dismay - our house was not warm to begin with! - and imagine she was going through the same issues. HRT had a very bad press back then but it seems to have improved a lot!

@Aquamarine1029

My GP said I could have anti depressants 😬.

This absolutely infuriates me and it is so, so common. GP's are notoriously ignorant about peri and ignore women and their suffering. AD'S are not recommended for peri/menopause, don't work for hormonal issues, and can make things worse.

SSRI antidepressants are in NICE guidance as a non-hormonal treatment for hot flushes for those who cannot or do not want to take HRT

[quote CrystalTits]@gamerchick the magic words you need are ‘NICE guidance’ 😀

www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng23[/quote]
Thankyou

That's great that you have your life back I asked to go on HRT 2 years ago buy my blood pressure was too high. I'm now on 2 meds each day for it so it's mostly fine,unless mu anxiety is high. But I've had anxiety and depression, lack of energy all my adult life. I haven't idea of they are peri symptoms or just me. I do also have zero motivation and shit sleeps though. Does anyone else take BP meds and HRT?

Just found this thread. Started HRT - gel and utrogestan - ten days ago. Totally amazing . Am 48 with regular periods but was anxious , foggy and so tired. Feel
amazing . Gp been brilliant! All I can say is WOW

@Endofether

Just found this thread. Started HRT - gel and utrogestan - ten days ago. Totally amazing . Am 48 with regular periods but was anxious , foggy and so tired. Feel amazing . Gp been brilliant! All I can say is WOW

Did you have any side effects?