HRT Scaredy Cat - Please help ?

[Flossie0204]

So, I am 58 later this year and am 8yrs post last period so well on my wy through the menopause.
I feel I am in a bit of a mess & having rejected HRT for so long I am thinking whether it'd help with my escalating feeling of crapness:

• Stiffness & joint pains
• Walk like I've pooed myself after sitting down for any length of time as my body just doesn't want to work
• As soon as I get into bed, i start to feel hot & uncomfy so sleep with a fan on and window open - can't wear PJ's/ nightwear as I feel too hot
• Have an 18mth old meniscus tear in my knee which Physio has not really helped so my mobility is more limited nowadays
• Anxiety. especially at night time - I have never ever suffered so it's come as a massive shock to start being anxious and worrying about certain things
• Always tired/ Can't wake up in mornings as I wake seveal times during the night
• Weight gain (about 2st since starting menopause)

Traditionl (synthetic ?) HRT terrifies me due to side affects so is there a safer option ? I have no idea as I just get confused.
I must add that I have fibromyalgia which I think was triggered by the menopause so difficult to decipher just how much join pain/ stiffness is ALL fibro or combo of this and hormonal.
I had some blood tests a few years ago and my cortisol levels were off the scale.

I've tried the magnets, Menopace , Sage and other off the shelf self-help products, but to no avail.

Are hormone tests worth asking for at my GP ?
Should I find a Hormone clinic - Berkshire, Oxfordshire ?

Any help and advice would be great, I feel like an old lady, my quality of life is really being affected as I don't feel like me and I have always been a very much glass more than half full type of gal.

What side effects are you worried about? Improved bone strength or protection against heart disease? Seriously, talk to your doctor. I think your “terror” is misplaced!

I’d be asking myself “what have you got to lose?”

@BitOutOfPractice

What side effects are you worried about? Improved bone strength or protection against heart disease? Seriously, talk to your doctor. I think your “terror” is misplaced!

I’d be asking myself “what have you got to lose?”

I guess I am worried about blood clots, breast cancer .. albeit a small risk

Have you watched the davina mccall programme on 4OD?
It talks about the research that caused alarm.

The fear of those small risks have put do many women off the chance to feel so much better and have made doctors reluctant to prescribe. But the risks (with no family history - talk to your doctor!) are not only small but imo massively outweighed by the actual benefits.

As a op said, what h that programme, talk to your doctor. Why should you put up with feeling so crap when the solution is so simple?

Spend a day reading the online sites of Menopause Matters and that of Dr Louise Newson (Balance app.)

You can put words into the search boxes or use the drop down menu to read about the concerns you have.

Whatever you decide, I hope you update.

So if you decide no HRT -- did you get better anyway? Or did you get more poorly?

Or if you decide yes HRT -- did you start feeling better?

class="underline">scienceand_nutrition.captivate.fm/listen?utm_source=Email+%2F+newsletter

This link should take you to a good podcast by ZOE and Dr Louise Newson which is very interesting and might help.

I'm more than a decade younger and had most of those symptoms.

You won't regret transdermal hrt.

Joint/ body pain, which was pms linked but always there in the background was reduced within a few hours of first patch for me.

Transdermal is made from yams.

It doesn't go through liver which lots of other things do.

I started when breastfeeding and the evidence is that oral contraceptive pill and vaginal oestrogen had more of an effect, the pill having more risks, than transdermal hrt in that situation.

The misinformation around hrt has been v damaging to women.

It can take a while to tweak etc but work with a Gp and it's only really going to be positive.

When you say your cortisol levels were off the scale - do you mean high? If so before you go down the HRT route you need to get a referral to an endocrinologist and be tested for Cushings disease. That may explain some of your symptoms. You don’t want to start HRT before that’s investigated as the oestrogen in HRT is essentially a steroid which can raise cortisol levels further- I have the opposite issue in that I have Addison’s disease which is that I don’t produce cortisol at all. When I take HRT I need to stop taking it for 6 weeks prior to any cortisol testing as it can falsely elevate cortisol levels and give an inaccurate result.

Sounds like you definitely need an endocrinologist.

HRT is life-changing. I wouldn't hesitate to take it if I were you.

It took me ages to get hrt and then another 4mths before I got the courage to start taking it as was so anxious but I just thought I feel so crap and so unlike myself and no energy and not sleeping and just lost my mojo completely and everything an effort to do. Only on hrt a month and feel the benefits already. Please talk to somebody and it will help with your bones and in a few months you will feel better. The risks are so low and you will feel more like yourself in a few months once your hormones get a boost. In simple terms we just need hormones we have lost and can help with brain fog etc

Thank you so much, I'm seeing my GP next week so will update then. Lots of food for thought