What made you pull the HRT parachute?

[carameansbeloved]

I’m sure this has been asked but I’ve read three pages of threads and haven’t seen it.

I’ve had a range of symptoms over the last 18 months, all mostly manageable, but one new symptom (bouts of crying at things I would normally take in my stride) is making me consider seeking extra support. But I don’t know if it is “bad enough” to ask for HRT.

What made you pull the HRT parachute?

Or, if you had bouts of crying, did anything other than HRT help?

For those who are saying positive things about HRT, could you also please say which type you're taking? Thank you

The way I look at it, doctors are quick enough to put young girls on the pill with even the slightest “periods are heavy” complaint. Yet ask for support the other end and it’s more of a fight.

Joint pain was the thing that made me ask for HRT. It was awful. I'd also started to get regular UTIs also, so if it hadn't been the joint pain that may have been the next thing.

Crying in public and having to leave as everyone saw me.

Prolapse caused by vaginal atrophy.

Weeing when I walked upstairs. See above!

Hmm, these joint pain com ends are very enlightening!

I've also been googling the symptoms of Rheumatoid arthritis, as the joints themselves were hot to the touch and visibly swollen. Did any other joint pain people have this heat/swelling?

Brain fog for me. I couldn't hold two thoughts in my head simultaneously, lost words, had zero creativity - I couldn't do my job.

Plus anxiety, tearfulness, total libido crash, aches and pains... What complicated matters was that life was already quite stressful so it wasn't immediately obvious what was fixable with HRT. But 18 months on, I think things are better with it.

I've also been googling the symptoms of Rheumatoid arthritis, as the joints themselves were hot to the touch and visibly swollen. Did any other joint pain people have this heat/swelling? - as far as I remember it was just pain.

Have you spoken to your GP about your symptoms?

The menopause has never really troubled
Me but my GP said there wee so many advantages to it and it was still worth having.

The hip pain I would liken to the numb hip ache you get in bed in late pregnancy. Or is that just me. I did also have SPD/PGP

Finally realising that the symptoms (and they were getting steadly worse) of insomnia, joint pain, brain fog and a feeling of being disaasociated from my own life were actually due to being post menopausal. Id been diagnosed with early menopause after having my child in my early 30s but barring irregular/less periods it didnt seem to affect me much, never had mood swings or hot flushes for example. Sleep problem possibly started then but i did also have a small child and a lit of stress so had to know how much of that was hormonal. Periods ended at 36, 37 maybe and by time I was 44 I was falling apart. Losing words or my thoughts mid sentance, was a running joke in work how i kept losing things whereas ordinarily I would be v organised, terrible joint aches and stiffiness where Id struggle to get something off the bottom shelf in the supermarket. I spent years blaming DP for being too noisey with the tv, doors, talking as to why i couldnt fall asleep and once i was asleeo i couldnt stay asleep. I was on my knees by the time some amazing women took over the Irish airwaves discussing menopause, that lead me to the Irish Menopause FB grouo and a light bulb going off.
Im on body identical oestrigen gel, body identical progesterone tablets and my life is very different. No longer feel like Im miserably dragging myself through life, DP was NOT what was stopping me falling into a deep sleep, i dont hear him now and I stay asleep. My joints dont ache and my brain works again!

Interesting that various people are mentioning hip pain. I have this and have been wondering if HRT would help.

Terrible joint pain here too; everything hurt all over, and they ruled out RA, thyroid, auto immune and fibromyalgia

The consultant looked at me like I was insane when he asked if it hurt all the time and I said ‘well yes, but that’s middle age isn’t it?’ He then pointed out that, no, it wasn’t meant to hurt all the time

HRT has mostly fixed that and my frozen shoulder, but I also think its been helping my sleep tons (plus I’m in the spare room due to dhs constant bloody fidgeting that I couldn’t stand any more) this has has made a huge difference

i could do without the boob shelf and weird rage tho from HRT (oestrogel and utrogestan progesterone here)

Bloating, not able to sleep, tired all the time. Went to my GO thinking it might be something sinister and after tests came back normal he suggested it was the menopause.

I said I didn't want HRT and held out for six months during which time the symptoms got worse until I was on about 3 hours sleep a night and continuously shattered. Realised this couldn't go on when I had a week of getting up at 3am.

Went on Everol Sequi and 48 hours later felt like a different person.

Unbelievably bad hot flushes. Truly soaked to the skin, with 4-5 per hour, 24/7. Couldn’t sleep, couldn’t function. Also extremely heavy, irregular periods. I was suicidal, especially as my GP at the time told me that ‘Menopause was all in the mind’.
Changed GP, started HRT, lifesaver!

Nope. I tried twice to get an appointment and then just gave up

I had been avoiding HRT because I'm high risk for breast cancer but my peri symptoms became so debilitating that I couldn't do my job. And I'm alone so I need to work and earn money. So I had no choice really. It was HRT or throw my career away and lose the roof over my head.

Becoming educated on the protective benefits of it such as reducing risk of cognitive decline, osteoporosis and cardiac disease. Plus awful insomnia, vaginal dryness, hair loss and absolute rage were just a few of the symptoms.

Oops, posted too soon.
I tried twice to get an appointment and then just gave up. The pains were AWFUL for a couple of weeks then went, then came and went, less severe. I'm now wondering if they're tied to my cycle, it's it's like a light bulb going on in my mind!

With osteoporosis in my family I was keen to get on HRT as soon as I realised my symptoms were peri. I hadn't quite realised how bad my sleep and mood had got until they suddenly improved! Mirena coil and lenzetto spray are my current prescription and planning to stick on them for a long time.

Losing my words. As a teacher of English, that was a step too far.

After two years of progressively getting worse symptoms and finally putting it all together at age 34. Feel so much better on HRT.

At around 47 I was experiencing broken sleep and hot flashes. Once they got so bad I remember sobbing in a cafe in Ankara, Turkey with my husband because I was so sleep-deprived. I realised it was probably connected to menopause and had read that intensive exercise for 45 minutes a day, 4-5x per week could help. I started training for half marathons and for a couple of years it actually helped.

Then around my 50th birthday I concluded it wasn’t helping anymore and I needed to start HRT. I’d always kept an open mind - I’ll try to manage without it but I’m not suffering just for the sake of it. My GP prescribed Elleste tablets which worked like magic - I could sleep through the night and wake up refreshed the next day. Following supply issues with Elleste I switched to Novofem, which had similar outcomes. Recently I asked my GP for another medication - I’m 56 now and tired of monthly bleeding. I’m now on Evoril Conti patches and so far they seem to be working fine. My husband tut-tuts a little - he won’t take paracetamol for a fever - and insists I need to think about coming off it at some point but I am not seeing any reason yet to do so.

Insomnia and anxiety so bad I had constant chest pain. Second guessing myself all the time and losing my confidence. I thought I’d had an easy menopause until I realised that these were also symptoms- I only knew about hot flushes (had one or two) and heavy periods (mine just stopped and never came back). GP was sympathetic and prescribed HRT after sending me for blood tests.

I’m on Evorel conti patches.

Pain in joints. Put up with it for years. Within weeks of going on low dose version of Estelle solo, pain gone. Wish I had done it sooner!

The joint pain is what finished me off and made me ask questions as to what was really going on with my body. At 47 I felt like my body had aged beyond what it should. The pain was keeping me awake at night and reminded me of when I had terrible spd in both my pregnancies. I was really low in mood living in pain and just thought I couldn't go on living like that and that something had to change. This followed a really embarrassing encounter when I bumped into a friend and her husband and I was unable to introduce my partner to them because for the life of me I couldn't remember her husband's name.
Once I took that step so many light bulbs switched on, things I never realised were attributed to being menopausal - needing a wee constantly, thinking I had urine infections constantly from bladder urges, hair loss, exhaustion beyond anything I've ever felt, not sleeping, palpitations, the brain fog and inability to hold a conversation ... the list goes on.
But like I say, the hip pain and joint pain is what finally tipped me over the edge and made me ask for help.