Is *everyone* on HRT now?

[Kangaroobrain]

I'm 56, last period 3 years ago. TBH I think my menopause symptoms haven't been too awful compared to some people (although with my terrible brain fog I might have forgotten them already 😂) but I'm still getting some. I still have night sweats and occasional flushes, I've noticed my skin is starting to feel very thin and itchy, and I have completely lost the ability to multi task - I'm getting really forgetful.

When my sister asked her GP about HRT she was advised not to as we have a strong family history of breast cancer, so I didn't really even consider it myself. But speaking to friends and coming on here makes me wonder if it's now the norm to be on it?

Is everyone on HRT now

Good heavens- NO!

The stats which are produced on this show around 15% of women use HRT (up from 10% in the last couple of years after the media input on it.)

TBH most women don't join forums to discuss it anyway. (I just contribute a lot- possibly too much! - because my work included writing about women's health, and my own experience, so I hope I can add a bit of advice.)

If you wanted to try HRT my advice is you dig a bit deeper into the cancer risks partly as there is a bit of misinformation around it. (There are meno and breast specialists discussing family and genetic risk online, on the British Menopause Society website if you were interested.)

The advice in very simple terms is consider the risk if your mum and sister had BC at a young age. The advice from breast specialists is to ask for genetic testing.

Other more distant and older family members are not considered relevant. This is because 1 in 8 women get BC and many cases are linked to lifestyle factors.

I’m 50 and I’ve never taken hrt , I’ve never felt I’ve needed it .

I only know 1 other women on HRT.
I've been on HRT for 7 years since I was 43.

If I could function without it, I wouldn't be on it.

The study that linked HRT to breast cancer is a little bit dodgy. I have heard it discussed in a number of different contexts and from various sources, and the link is actually not that strong/may not exist at all.
I think the most recent podcast I heard this on was one by Peter Attia, here.
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I started the menopause at 46. Tried hrt for about a year. It gave me a period every 3 weeks which I didn't want at all, thanks. Stopped taking it & never regretted that decision. Am now 59 and, lucky old me I realise, have had a more or less symptom-free menopause. Makes up for the years of PMS which I now think was PMDD.

A shorter answer would be: Nope I ain't on it!

Not me!

Now 51 & don't feel I need it - haven't had a period for 2 years now.

Never had menopausal symptoms & am in the overweight BMI category so am aware that there are increased risks there with HRT.

Majority of my friends are on it for mood/mental health & swear by it.

I’m really surprised at the stats quoted upthread- they’re lower than I’d have expected- and wonder if there will be another big increase in next year’s stats. Menopause has been a much discussed subject over the past few years with increased media coverage; workplaces being all ‘menopause-aware’; Davina et al discussing meno all over the internet etc.

I’m 46 and on HRT (like PP, couldn’t function without. The worst of my symptoms were the mental health ones, though the physical ones weren’t a picnic either) and I know loads of women my age who are on it including most of my friends and my SIL. I talk to dozens of women every week through my (health-related) work and HRT is often a topic of conversation!

It’s been great for me and hope those who need it can get it easily, but equally glad for those who don’t need to use it. It’s not going to be the same experience for everyone.

@Unabletomitigate The WHI trial was discredited years ago.

However, the advice on family history of BC still stands as it's not the same as the risk for other women.

BUT the risk is just something to consider, not a no-no to use.

And the family risk is not a risk unless it's genetic - breast specialists would advise testing for the BRACa gene regardless of HRT use or not.

Not me. I think I need it though after reading some posts here regarding symptoms. GP gave me something, I reacted horribly, they shrugged their shoulders so not on anything.

Is itchy skin a symptom??

Not on it either 2 years post menopause and currently feel fine, will always keep my options open but so far I don’t feel the need.

The only person Ive ever known who was on HRT was my Mum, and she took it for 40 years until her GP made her stop it when she was diagnosed with breast cancer at 85. Although it had helped her with many menopause symptoms during the time she was taking it, without a couple of days of stopping, she was having constant hot flushes again.

I'm surprised that the % is so low. Especially when some of the medication is so hard to source at times, it gives the impression that everyone is hunting it down.

I'm on it and have no plans to stop.

I am but I've got several friends who aren't, think it's a mixed bag!

I'm 53, still having periods regular as clockwork but have a Mirena coil which keeps them manageable. I did discuss HRT with my GP but because I had early cervical cancer cells when in my early 30s, she didn't recommend it.

I personally think it's just delaying tactics - you'll go through it at some point whether you want to or not. But I equally accept that so far, I've been lucky.

The WHI study was not discredited so much as made obsolete due to it being a study on the effects of older types of HRT, so not relevant to risks from taking today’s HRT. The subjects for HRT enrolled in the 1990s and the study stopped in 2004.

Discredited is a term usually reserved for a shit study where researchers fucked up. They didn’t, in fact the results from this study led to the development of today’s HRT which doesn’t have the same cancer risks.

I’m 56 and started it this year (thank God I feel so much better) - it seems most of my older friends aren’t on it but most of my slightly younger friends are.

@WhiteHorseSpirit The word 'discredited' is used in the updates on the WHI, by medical professionals. Have you come across it being described as 'obsolete' ? Some of the HRT used then is still used today, although not so often. The main issue was the age of the women when they started on HRT , although there were other factors too.

No chance.

@WhiteHorseSpirit The estrogen used in the WHI study was conjugated estrogen. The progestogen was Norethisterone or MPA. Both of these are in HRT today and many women use them in patches or pills (like Kliofem.) There is still discussion going on (with UK meno experts) on the risks of CEE because some experts don't think it is /was the risk factor.

*The WHI study was not discredited so much as made obsolete due to it being a study on the effects of older types of HRT, so not relevant to risks from taking today’s HRT. The subjects for HRT enrolled in the 1990s and the study stopped in 2004.

Discredited is a term usually reserved for a shit study where researchers fucked up. They didn’t, in fact the results from this study led to the development of today’s HRT which doesn’t have the same cancer risks*

Thank you, this is an excellent point.

The consensus seems to be that most HRT does carry a small increased risk for breast, endometrial and ovarian cancer. Since every woman will not have the same risk of these cancers prior to hrt our individual risks will vary.

I had my last period a month after my 47th birthday. Huge weight gain, listlessness and really achey joints. My mum went through it at 52, so I feel a bit aggrieved that it’s come so early. I had a child at 42 so I’m taking HRT to help me keep up with the demands of motherhood.

I’m quite shocked it’s as bad as it is, I was always very healthy with a lot of vitality. Now I realise that doesn’t necessarily make a difference.

Yes, itchy skin certainly can be a symptom. The decrease in oestrogen can lead to loss of collagen and natural oils in the skin which can cause itchiness.

Is it? Please link.

Hmm…a link from you would help. The latest WHI update robustly defends its study…no mention of “discredited”
https://www.whi.org/md/news/nyt-response

”When the WHI was launched in 1993, the effectiveness of estrogen-based therapies for relief of menopausal symptoms was already well-established. It continues to be FDA-approved and recommended by professional societies for this purpose. The objective of the WHI was never to test the use of menopausal hormone therapy for treating menopausal symptoms; its purpose was to focus on other unanswered questions.
The WHI menopausal hormone therapy trials were rigorously designed and conducted to test the benefits and risks of specific hormonal therapies for chronic diseases. They definitively established that menopausal hormone therapy should not be used to prevent heart disease, stroke, and other chronic diseases, an increasingly common practice at the time. The resulting worldwide decrease in their use in older women, often many years after menopause, undoubtedly has saved millions of lives and billions of U.S. health care dollars. Understandably, these raised questions for younger, peri-menopausal women, who were not the focus of the WHI hormone trials.”

Absolutely not. I'm 58 and my periods stopped 2 years ago. I feel fine, so I have no need of medication.