What are the benefits of NOT taking HRT?

[AlpacaThePicnic]

We obviously are wall to wall with the benefits of taking HRT

I just wondered if there are any benefits of not taking it as I weigh it up in my mind whether I wish to continue with it

I had a full hysterectomy in my early 40s, so had a full on surgical menopause. It was tough for a couple of years as my body adjusted but I feel better now at 58 than I ever did. No more acne, my hair and skin are better, no horrendous hormone induced panic attacks and PMT. For me it was better just to see it through without medication.

I agree Jingling. I was answering someone who'd decided that she didn't want to take HRT and wondered what else she could do to prevent osteoporosis. My list is probably the best you can do (short of specific medication) but it's still fighting an uphill battle against the forces of time. HRT or specific medication is the only way of pressing the pause button.

Falls and fractures are such a massive burden on women's health in their seventies and eighties. I personally take HRT partly because I'm so aware of these risks and the way they can destroy what could otherwise be a good final decade of life.

Hello again! 👋! Yes, it's very much an individual choice, but I got some very, very unpleasant messages so haven't admitted to not taking HRT for sometime. I had a terrible couple of years with the menopause, then it all stopped. Not having periods is bliss, isn't it?!

ps @Aslanplustwo - I don't know what the hell's going on with the other thread - folks move all the time!!

Thanks @RitaCrudgington - agreed.

I have seen so many women whose lives have been changed dramatically by fractures- spinal fractures at 60, wrist fractures at 80 (so can't drive very well any more), hip fractures, so they are unstable when walking and become immobile thereby increasing risk of heart disease, diabetes, etc. Everyone focuses on cancer (which is dreadful of course) but living with pain and immobility for 20-30 years isn't fun either.

I'm mildly overweight and do quite a lot of exercise including weight bearing 2 x per week.

As such I'm less concerned about my chances of getting osteoporosis than I am of HRT pushing my body into obesity with all the associated health issues and difficulties of exercising associated with that.

As a GP who spent years quoting the “million women study” to patients, about the breast cancer risks, I find it hard to forget all of that. Especially as my aunt had breast cancer, which also puts me off taking it.

I did try HRT and gained half a stone in a month, so I stopped. That was 7 years ago and I’m still having flushes and sweats, but they’re not unmanageable.

I take calcium and Vitamin D, I don’t smoke or drink, and I do weight-bearing exercise, so I think my bones should be OK.

But basically I just feel uncomfortable about taking something that artificially perpetuates a pre-menopausal state. It feels somehow wrong, and that it must be harmful in some way.

Why would you become obese on HRT?

If you don't want HRT that is fine. Completely your choice. But please don't imply that weight gain is a given, as it's not.

@KittyAlfred Did you read the criticism of that MW study? If not there is a very interesting response to it by Nick Panay where he doesn't mince his words at all! (For a start it was never £1M women, it was far fewer.) That research has been showed to be very flawed just like the WHI was/is.

I also dont understand the weight gain stuff, because since being in peri menopause its been incredibly hard to lose weight, I am losing weight but painfully slowly on around 900 cals a day, it should be dropping off and probably would have been many years ago but not now

But equally people say HRT makes them put on weight, this really worries me.

@KittyAlfred If you are a GP, read the latest research on taking calcium. It's not recommended as it is now implicated in causing arterial sclerosis. Taking large amounts of calcium as a supplement is bad. There is a LOT of evidence out there now on this including research from the US. No one should be taking calcium supplements unless they can't get at least 700mcgs a day in their diet.

[[https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/calcium-supplements-should-you-take-them

@KittyAlfred

I was a head gardener in the years between starting menopause and getting HRT.

I didn't stop lifting weights all day long! Still got osteoporosis.

Benefits of not taking HRT include not getting caught in headache rabbit holes of what form of HRT is best (individually or in terms of health risks), whether it's opposed or not, waiting for science to clarify if it causes uterine thickening or some other possible harm, trialing and erroring before deciding it doesn't work for you anyway, or feeling like it's a personal criticism if someone doesn't understand your choice to take HRT. All that gone, if you never bother to take it.

Osteoporosis and lots other bad things: greater benefits may arise from earlier adoption of healthy life style habits. I read a study about women being able to build the greatest bone density before the age of 30. We could do a lot of awareness raising about what to do when we're young to help set up a healthy old age. But risk reduction can happen at any age for most of us, based on choices we make when we learn about them.

There is commonly an 18m-2 year surge of increased physical activity among newly retired people, so what can be done to help sustain that for longer with all the associated health and social benefits?

I lost two stone in weight because I was going through the menopause and couldn’t think straight. Night sweats, anxiety and heart palpitations. I was miserable. Now I’m on HRT my weight has stabilised and I’m less anxious and no night sweats.

I also worry about this due to kidney stones/gout etc. I have had kidney stones about 20 years ago and that might sound a long time ago but the pain is fresh in my mind! My dad was also prone to them

however I cant get enough calcium in my diet at the moment so am on very high level supplements (bariatric supplements) and also still worry about this calcium business.

From my point of view, there are many benefits:
No need for regular doctor appointments.
No taking of medication/hormones that your body is not supposed to have at this age.
No risk of breakthrough bleeding, ie your periods coming back.
No risk of side-effects from medication.
No need to even think about your health from one month to the next.
Completely normal life, in which you just embrace the normal process of ageing.
Other people can make their own choices, but for me it's a no-brainer..... I have never taken HRT, and never will.
I'm late 50s and haven't seen a GP for 20 years, so something is working!

Me too, @Hbh17 - I'm the same as you, but 63. Still a teacher, still healthy and active (fingers crossed! )

Yes, it is. I used to get very cranky every month, and must have been quite difficult to live with at times, so I was a bit fearful about menopause. It was a wonderful surprise to find it so easy! There is so much scaremongering on threads about HRT on MN, and apparently if we don't use it we are all going to suffer dreadfully. None of the women in my family took it and they all lived to a healthy old age. If people find it helps them then of course they should use it, but they also should respect that not everyone wants, or needs, it.

Yes, that other thread was mad!!!

There have been a few threads like this, although not sure which one you mean specifically

I agree it’s individual choice

@JinglingSpringbells that is not the experience of some of my friends so I am very sceptical. A friend in her seventies had been on HRT for over twenty years, and when her GP said she had to stop taking it, she had full horrendous peri menopause symptoms again. And it makes sense. Symptoms are caused by a drop in hormones. HRT replaces those hormones. But when you stop you still get the drop in hormones. The only symptoms that don't come back are period related.
In twenty years time I predict there will be a lot of women who had taken HRT suffering peri menopausal symptoms. Unless you take it until you die? Not a choice I would make.

I agree that HRT seems to be pushed on MN. I had quite a difficult peri menopause. But I went through when relatively young and healthy and am now fine. No osteoporosis, just back to an older version of myself before peri menopause.

' Illness/bacteria is part of nature but we use medicine to stop it killing us.'

Yes but antibiotics don't increase, even slightly, the chance of developing cancer.

I'm on the fence about hrt. If the issues caused by the menopause impact a womans life so negatively work/ relationships are affected then yes I would say it is a risk worth taking. What I don't think is helpful is celebrities claiming it prevents against all sorts when, other than osteoporosis (risk reduced only for as long as taking and many do not take it for ever), much has not been proven. Whereas breast cancer risk has been.

I would say the benefits of not taking would be no prescriptions (always a problem it seems sourcing going by what we see on the news), no reviews, no stress that you are actually increasing a risk of cancer which already increases as we age.

I never started HRT because I have very few menopausal symptoms and didn't like the assumption that I'd automatically need HRT. I've had enough of taking drugs to regulate this and that since I went on the pill at 17. Although I do have vaginal atrophy and am thinking of maybe starting to use the creams to help alleviate this, but I'm not sure how much they count as HRT? Anyway. I'm 63 and I've got this far...

I don’t take high doses. But my observation is that many elderly women have a degree of osteopenia so they all take a standard calcium and Vit D supplement.