Anyone choosing NOT to use HRT?

[WandaWomblesaurus73]

Does anyone feel that HRT isn't for them or feel happier without it?

Last time I looked NICE did not recommend HRT for disease prevention , only for relief of menopause symptoms .

The argument here seems to have moved on to ‘ you are harming yourself if you don’t take HRT’. That is very different and really this is not the place for such a debate - posters should please seek a range of medical opinion . If anyone here is a dr please say so .
These menopause boards are an unfriendly place for any woman who prefers not to take medication and feels well and says so.

Thanks to the posters who have taken the time to come on here and share their knowledge here.

NICE guidelines re Osteoporosis

Yes @missfliss, if you see my previous post , ( currently) osteoporosis and premature menopause are the exceptions.
I was referring to the heart disease dementia etc which were mentioned on this and the previous page

@bulletjournalfail

Last time I looked NICE did not recommend HRT for disease prevention , only for relief of menopause symptoms .

The argument here seems to have moved on to ‘ you are harming yourself if you don’t take HRT’. That is very different and really this is not the place for such a debate - posters should please seek a range of medical opinion . If anyone here is a dr please say so .
These menopause boards are an unfriendly place for any woman who prefers not to take medication and feels well and says so.

Osteo medication is a type of HRT. That’s over simplifying it but NICE do recommend similar medications for health reasons.

I do think more research needs to happen. Also women being given anti depressants for menopause is alarming. That took far too long to be updated on NICE.

Research is happening in dementia and oestrogen. It takes ages as women need to get old! I wish it had happened years ago.

58, never taken HRT (prior breast cancer though wouldn’t have wanted to anyway). Only real problem was heavy night sweats, which are very successfully dealt with with another prescription. Other symptoms went away by themselves over time.

@bulletjournalfail i wasn't actually sharing in response to your post ( although I can see why it would look that way).
Hopefully it's just helpful for any users here who wanted to know what NICE do say on HRT in their current guidelines.

FWIW whilst NICE is obviously a really good source of information as it's 'rubber stamped' and validated - I would encourage further medical sources. The British Menopause Society for example has lots of helpful information / fact sheets on their patient facing pages under 'Women’s Health Concern'.

I am not. The only menopausal symptom that bugs me is vaginal dryness and NO libido. Cutting out caffeine reduced my flushed.

I am in my 60s so well past it but I don't know anyone who has taken HRT, we've all just 'got on with it'. To my mind you are just delaying it, unless you plan to take it until you die? There was an article I spotted this week that said when it is stopped the symptoms can be worse. I don't know, but taking it certainly isn't inevitable.

Personally I see no reason to not take it till I die

I’m with you @Theeyeballsinthesky
This is a forum where mums have the chance to learn the positive benefits of taking HRT at the point where it could (if appropriate) change their life in their old age yet there are a number of people who get aggressive and resort to personal attacks.

I went through the Menopause fine without HRT. The doctor never even suggested it.

@Esspee

I’m with you *@Theeyeballsinthesky* This is a forum where mums have the chance to learn the positive benefits of taking HRT at the point where it could (if appropriate) change their life in their old age yet there are a number of people who get aggressive and resort to personal attacks.

You're missing the point, again. Fine talk about the benefits. I'm very interested in hearing them.

The problem was your 'I look like my friends daughter I'm so young looking! They are full of ailments plus their husbands run off with sexy younger models'.

Just absolutely tone deaf and weird tbh. Pointing that out is not a personal attack.

NHs talks about the usual symptoms associated with menopause and there is no mention of using HRT as a preventative medication for anything other than osteo issues.

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

Also talks about the risks of breast cancer, which seem to be worth a mention.

There are numerous recent studies that show HRT protects against cognitive decline, osteoporosis, and heart disease.

Slightly elevated risk of breast cancer is up to each woman to evaluate according to her own family history.

NHS says 'HRT does not significantly increase the risk of cardiovascular disease (including heart disease and strokes) when started before 60 years of age, and may reduce your risk.'

(emphasis mine)

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

Is that reduction not known for sure, then?

For some reason my GP always put me off HRT even when I asked for it, despite prescribing it to lots of my friends. As a result I crawled through peri menopause feeling liek death warmed up. But, as soon as I hit actual menopause I felt fantastic. I mean absolutely bloody fantastic. Loads of energy, upbeat attitude to life, getting very fit, losing lots of weight without dieting, starting to complete prohjects Id put off for a decade due to lethargy and depression.

So I am very pleased not to be taking HRT. A friend who had similar peri symptoms to mine did take HRT and is still lethargic, anxious, far less upbeat and driven than she used to be. I would never put people off trying it, but I do feel quite glad that I didn't, because the natural rebalancing of the body is quite a lovely thing to experience after the shit show of perimenopause.

I would add that ‘low risk’ is not the same as ‘benefit’ .
In some posts I sense an almost cavalier attitude re the risks of HRT and it worries me a bit .
Of course it’s just a discussion forum but it feels very one sided here .

I don’t know the actual figures but I believe HRT use is still only a choice for a minority of women .
Perhaps like me they tried it and found it wasn’t the magic wand they’d been led to believe .

[quote missfliss]**@Esspee* and @JinglingHellsBells* Thankyou for your posts x[/quote]
A thanks from me too!

The problem with think that if you have no symptoms you shouldn't get it, is that in many cases symptoms creep up so slowly that before you know it your frog is boiled. Also, my doctor was always trying to get me on antidepressants, when in actual fact HRT was what I needed.

I am evangelical about HRT. And particularly testosterone. IF YOU HAVE LOW LIBIDO TRY TESTOSTERONE!!!!!

Arabella - NHS might be slightly behind the times on this issue. If you search scholar.google.com you will find many papers such as this one:

Review Article

The timing hypothesis for coronary heart disease prevention with hormone therapy: past, present and future in perspective

H. N. Hodis, P. Collins, W. J. Mack & L. Lind Schierbeck
Pages 217-228 | Received 28 Oct 2011, Accepted 02 Jan 2012, Published online: 22 May 2012

ABSTRACT
Over the past decade, two informative events in primary prevention of coronary heart disease (CHD) have occurred for women's health. The first concerns hormone replacement therapy (HRT) where data have come full circle from presumed harm to consistency with observational data that HRT initiation in close proximity to menopause significantly reduces CHD and overall mortality. The other concerns sex-specific efficacy of CHD primary prevention therapies where lipid-lowering and aspirin therapy have not been conclusively shown to significantly reduce CHD and, more importantly, where there is lack of evidence that either therapy reduces overall mortality in women. Cumulated data support a ‘window-of-opportunity’ for maximal reduction of CHD and overall mortality and minimization of risks with HRT initiation before 60 years of age and/or within 10 years of menopause and continued for 6 years or more. There is a substantial increase in quality-adjusted life-years over a 5–30-year period in women who initiate HRT in close proximity to menopause, supporting HRT as a highly cost-effective strategy for improving quality-adjusted life. Although primary prevention therapies and HRT contrast in their efficacy to significantly reduce CHD and especially overall mortality in postmenopausal women, the magnitude and types of risks associated with HRT are similar to those associated with other medications commonly used in women's health. The cumulated data highlight the importance of studying the HRT cardioprotective hypothesis in women representative of those from whom the hypothesis was generated.

@bulletjournalfail

I would add that ‘low risk’ is not the same as ‘benefit’ . In some posts I sense an almost cavalier attitude re the risks of HRT and it worries me a bit . Of course it’s just a discussion forum but it feels very one sided here .

I don’t know the actual figures but I believe HRT use is still only a choice for a minority of women .
Perhaps like me they tried it and found it wasn’t the magic wand they’d been led to believe .

Same. I am open to reading evidence and sound research-based information. I am not very keen on 'evangelical' posts about anything, nor scare mongering, and I'm very wary when people suggest one substance is going to be blanketly suitable, beneficial and/or advisable/necessary for the majority.

I am going to look into the whole subject further.

• Thanks for the link, CoteDAzur, sadly it's not accessible without a subscription.

I always intended going through the menopause naturally but it wasn't to be.

The only thing I would say is we talk about previous generations just getting on with it and coming out the other side, but I know quite a few women who would claim to be fine and yet are struggling with what are probably menopausal issues. For example, my Mum appears fit and well (and she is very fit), she's 73, but she hasn't had a smear test for donkey's years as they are far too painful for her, she never strays that far from a loo, has no sex life and she is so, so anxious. But she claims the menopause was nothing but a few hot flushes, I think things don't always become apparent until later on in life.

But you're not supposed to need smear tests post age 65.

'You'll usually stop being invited for screening once you turn 65. This is because it's very unlikely that you'll get cervical cancer.

You'll only be invited again if 1 of your last 3 tests was abnormal.

If you're 65 or older and have never been for cervical screening, or have not had cervical screening since the age of 50, you can ask your GP for a test.'

www.nhs.uk/conditions/cervical-screening/when-youll-be-invited/