A month off HRT and I feel really well. Am I out the other side of menopause?

[Bryonyshcmyony]

I am not anti HRT, far from it.

I ran out a month ago and my BP was high, so the gp asked me to keep a BP diary before filling my prescription. I just didn't get round to it. Now it's been a month since I took my last HRT tablet and I feel well. Plenty of energy, sleeping well, mood seems very stable.

Is menopause going to come back and bite me on the bum or am I out the other side?

I'm thinking of not bothering getting my prescription filled again.

Basically noone knows.

@PlanDeRaccordement I know it's no comfort, but there are no more deaths from women using HRT who develop BC compared to women not using it. I know that is not the whole picture - no one wants BC- but compared to other diseases which do kill women (listen to the video) it's way down the list.

I wouldn’t say no one knows. We do know a lot about HRT benefits and risks. It wouldn’t be a choice if it didn’t actually help multitudes of women at tiny risk that they’re willing to accept.

There is nothing on this Earth that we know everything there is to know about it. Don’t let that stop you from making a decision and reading the studies to see how that information affects your personal benefit/risk profile.

[quote JinglingHellsBells]@PlanDeRaccordement I know it's no comfort, but there are no more deaths from women using HRT who develop BC compared to women not using it. I know that is not the whole picture - no one wants BC- but compared to other diseases which do kill women (listen to the video) it's way down the list.[/quote]
Do you have a study supporting that all the women who get HRT caused breast cancer survive it? Because I can’t find one.

I do wonder how women managed to survive into good old age before HRT was handed out to nearly everyone. I never took HRT I weathered the menopause naturally - I have no arthritus, my bones are fine, my family has a history of BC but I am OK so far, my heart is fine - and I am in my 70s.
nothing is inevitable in life, taking something is no guarantee that you will be healthier and live longer than someone who does not.

The original motive for HRT prescribing was to alleviate symptons I believe. Some of us have these worse but many of us cope quite well.

I worked in the pharma industry and have read lots of peer-reviewed papers and as @PlanDeRaccordement says, it's really important to look at the actual numbers, rather than the scaremongering headlines.

Of course I'm not minimising the agony of cancer - I've also had family members die from it too. However we all make decisions and take risks everyday by drinking alcohol, having less-than-perfect diets, not exercising, doing things which cause us stress etc. All these things increase our risk for cancers or heart disease. For me personally a very low dose of HRT has allowed me to regain some balance in my life, giving me the energy and mental ability to exercise, eat properly, feel in control of my life, so it feels as if what I 'risk' in terms of HRT is counterbalanced by what I gain in a better lifestyle.
Before HRT I was taking daily painkillers for leg and back pain and I was overweight as I was tired, never sleeping for more than about 4 hours a night, my relationships were fractious and stressful and I simply couldn't see any sort of happy future in anything.
If menopause isn't affecting you in this way and you can cope without HRT then that's great, but for those of us who if does affect, it is literally a lifesaver.

@PlanDeRaccordement I don't have time to look but I have read it many times, from many sources, and my menopause consultant told me the same thing.

You may well find it on one of the fact sheets or the interviews on the website of Dr Louise Newson or the blog of Dr Currie on Menopause Matters.

@NormaSnorks

I worked in the pharma industry and have read lots of peer-reviewed papers and as *@PlanDeRaccordement* says, it's really important to look at the actual numbers, rather than the scaremongering headlines.

Of course I'm not minimising the agony of cancer - I've also had family members die from it too. However we all make decisions and take risks everyday by drinking alcohol, having less-than-perfect diets, not exercising, doing things which cause us stress etc. All these things increase our risk for cancers or heart disease. For me personally a very low dose of HRT has allowed me to regain some balance in my life, giving me the energy and mental ability to exercise, eat properly, feel in control of my life, so it feels as if what I 'risk' in terms of HRT is counterbalanced by what I gain in a better lifestyle.
Before HRT I was taking daily painkillers for leg and back pain and I was overweight as I was tired, never sleeping for more than about 4 hours a night, my relationships were fractious and stressful and I simply couldn't see any sort of happy future in anything.
If menopause isn't affecting you in this way and you can cope without HRT then that's great, but for those of us who if does affect, it is literally a lifesaver.

I felt terrible before I started taking HRT. It was very helpful. I just don't feel as if I need it now but it's only been a month.

@PlanDeRaccordement I quickly looked and here is one fact sheet- right down near the end of the article.

d2931px9t312xa.cloudfront.net/menopausedoctor/files/information/454/Breast%20Cancer%20and%20HRT%20v21-02.pdf

@Bryonyshcmyony Yes, and in your case I would definitely continue to see if you can manage without it. In my case whenever I try to come off it my life-limiting symptoms come back with a vengeance, so I'm obviously in a different place from you.

I just get a bit sick of all the comments about "how did women manage before HRT etc" because I think probably a lot of women didn't manage, but they suffered in silence and pain. I'm vaguely aware of my own mum having problems and having to give up work and then being terribly depressed for a long period of time. Of course in those days it wasn't talked about like it is now and just dismissed as 'normal'.
People are now realising that just because something is normal and 'natural' it doesn't mean that we shouldn't try to address it if it is causing severe problems.

[quote JinglingHellsBells]@PlanDeRaccordement I don't have time to look but I have read it many times, from many sources, and my menopause consultant told me the same thing.

You may well find it on one of the fact sheets or the interviews on the website of Dr Louise Newson or the blog of Dr Currie on Menopause Matters.[/quote]
Your statement just makes no sense. If a woman gets BC, then surely her risk of survival is the same no matter why/how she developed BC in the first place?(all other factors like health care being equal).

I can’t understand how HRT which is known to increase the risk of developing BC can then simultaneously give her BC but then protect her from the real risk of the BC killing her?

It’s too good to be true. It’s like saying certain sun creams can ensure that if you get skin cancer, it won’t actually kill you....so go on and sit in the sun.

@PlanDeRaccordement It's not my statement, I am quoting what's online by drs and what other drs have said to me as a patient.

Does it mean that even if there is a higher risk of developing BC if you are taking HRT, you don't have a higher chance of dying from it?

Which then suggests thst something about HRT protects against BC death?.??

[quote JinglingHellsBells]**@PlanDeRaccordement* It's not my* statement, I am quoting what's online by drs and what other drs have said to me as a patient.[/quote]
Yet you can’t link me to a reputable source from which you got your paraphrased quote.

Yet you can’t link me to a reputable source from which you got your paraphrased quote.

I linked to a fact sheet on the website of Dr Louise Newson. Have you not read it?

Maybe also look at the statements of the BMS/ IMS and other leading menopause experts.

Sorry but I feel you are being rather aggressive in your tone and I won't be pursuing our 'conversation'. I'm the messenger- don't shoot me!

@Bryonyshcmyony

Does it mean that even if there is a higher risk of developing BC if you are taking HRT, you don't have a higher chance of dying from it?

Which then suggests thst something about HRT protects against BC death?.??

@Bryonyshcmyony You might find it interesting to listen to this podcast between Dr Newson and a US expert on HRT.

It's a podcast of around 35 mins. The relevant section about your question here (it all is, but if you want to skip the first part) is around 25 mins into the interview.

www.menopausedoctor.co.uk/menopause/052-the-benefits-of-body-identical-progesterone-professor-james-simon-dr-louise-newson

I think the point about hrt and death in breast cancer is that although hrt can increase your breast cancer risk, breast cancer isn't necessarily fatal. So people read the stats and think that they have a higher risk of death if they take hrt but this isn't true. Breast cancer is relatively more treatable if caught early enough than osteoporosis, heart attack and dementia- conditions which hrt offers some degree of protection from.

You can’t stay on hrt forever though can you?

www.nhs.uk/conditions/hormone-replacement-therapy-hrt/

It says there is no limit to how long you can stay in hrt.

I thought menopause was a stage to go through. I’m 50 and peri as far as spaced out cycles go but otherwise fine. Won’t take hrt as DM and GM died of breast cancer and DM took it for 10 years and it was an oestrogen fed cancer so that worries me.

@flippit81 and @Bryonyshcmyony

DO listen to the link I left a couple of posts down, where Prof Jim Simons talks about this in far more expert ways than I could!

It's VERY informative and he talks about how HRT impacts on BC and the outcome.

In a nutshell (and this is exactly what my own consultant told me) estrogen does NOT cause cancer.

Estrogen is a growth factor for a cancer already present.

So in some women, their cancer is accelerated by a few years so it's found earlier than if they had not used estrogen. (He says it would have been found anyway later or if they are very old they may have died before it was found.)

He specifically says estrogen does not cause cancer.

He also says that all the research so far that shows a link with BC was NOT using micronised progesterone.

@PlanDeRaccordement

I agree wait 3 months and see how you feel. I agree that menopause is a life stage and you can and do come out the other end of it.

But I do disagree with a barista wanting to call it “oestrogen deficiency syndrome” as human woman are by nature supposed to not have the same level of oestrogen their entire lives. It’s supposed to be a bell curve. That’s normal. What does a barista know anyway about basic biology?

Excess oestrogen also is the #1 cause of cancer in women. And HRT does increase cancer risk for ALL women. It might be a tiny increase for one, but larger for another. And the longer you take it, the more risk there is. For myself, HRT is not even an option due to my family history of breast and womb cancers. Obviously menopause is uncomfortable and a detriment to my life right now, but it won’t kill me.

Yes, my MIL has just been diagnosed with this and told to stop HRT, which she was extremely reluctant to do. She's mid-70s, so I do wonder how long she was planning to stay on it. I suspect she wanted to stay on it for life.

Let us know how you get on, Bryony. Great to hear you are feeling well now & long may it continue.

@GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal DO listen to this interview with Prof Jim Simons.
www.menopausedoctor.co.uk/menopause/052-the-benefits-of-body-identical-progesterone-professor-james-simon-dr-louise-newson

If you only do one thing today listen to this.
It covers all the points in the quote you have commented on (and blows them out of the water.)

He's an expert and it is really worth listening to his expertise on menopause, women's life expectancy now compared to the past, estrogen, HRT and BC.

Thanks @JinglingHellsBells I will listen too.