Who decided NOT to take HRT? What is your experience?

[Agree]

Please can menopausal / post-menopausal women share their experience of deciding not to take HRT and how it's worked out for you?

I'm not sure it's for me and am dithering.

My main reason for leaning towards HRT is vanity and not wanting to age quickly

Thanks for this idea

Just did a tiny bit of google research and it indicates that the post menopausal ovaries are mostly producing testosterone and androgens even 10 years after menopause - so now I'm really wondering about what one loses as a result of no ovaries.

I was advised to fight to keep my ovaries but the surgeon was having none of it. I had PCOS and elevated CA125 - am still waiting for pathology / histology results.

You poor thing. I'd say you had an awful time due to your hormones. You're now a blank slate and if you're pursuing HRT you're essentially now experimenting with doses to see what a good dose of hormones feels like. Keep track of how everything is so you have benchmarks to measure against. If you would like to find out how to get on without HRT I'd suggest starting another thread asking for women with hysterectomies due to similar issues to share their experiences and how they managed themselves. You've gone from messed up hormones to no hormones and honestly the women on this thread who breezed through menopause are not those who can help you navigate what you're navigating.

I take thyroxine because my body is deficient in it. I started in my 30s. I’ll take it my whole life.
I take HRT because my body is deficient in oestrogen. I started in my 50s. Not sure why I’d treat it differently to thyroxine, really. The 10 year recommendation has been rescinded. My body isn’t suddenly going to start producing it again.

@Agree I really wouldn't worry about a patch falling off. I have been using Estradot for two years and slap them on my bum - where it is covered by knickers or swimsuit. Showering is not an issue, can't speak for baths as I never have a bath. I have only lost a patch once in those two years, last summer on holiday when I was in and out of the sea and pool multiple times over the course of a day and it must have worked itself loose.

I did try gel before the patches and found it much more of a faff.

I honestly did not mean any offence by my sarcastic, hyperbolic, facetious references to old women, so I apologise wholeheartedly for any offence caused.

I stand by the fact that I find it frustrating, and am offended, that I am supposed to "slow down" when I experience peri menopause symptoms or that using HRT is somehow against nature, as referenced in a number of posts, including @Newchapterbeckons posts.

I do agree 100% that it is nice that we have a choice and that healthcare for women is necessarily not a "one size fits all approach".

OK I see, so there's no time limit or recommended span for HRT but there was previously a recommended 10 years?

I was only wondering about this as no clue - I'm getting informed!

@agree There is no set time limit. It used to be five years but there was no real science behind that (not sure why the 10 years has been mentioned.) However, the guidance now is that women can choose. It's women's choice not a doctor's.

The doctor has to present the facts (risks and benefits) and women decide.

I know of women in their 80s and 90s on it still.

@FlatSnuffy

Thanks, I agree, you're right. I was asking the wrong question really. I'm going to need a good three months to let my surgery trauma (physical, psychological, and hormonal) all settle down and heal up and will take the oestrogen treatment for a few months before any re-considerations.

My own mother breezed through menopause and I had hoped I would too. Sadly she had other issues that profoundly affected her life and was on some heavy duty medication. Also she died suddenly and unexpectedly in a way that shouldn't really have happened so it's not known how things like her bone density or dementia may have affected her in the long run. But she made it to 75 without those issues and stayed active and physically well.

I think there used to be a general perception that menopause was this period where your hormones went haywire for a bit, then back to normal. I certainly had that impression before it happened to me, that it was something you went through, came out the other side and back to normal. Just without the periods. Things like vaginal atrophy were never mentioned. So 5 years on HRT should be plenty to get you "through" it.

Except depending on your symptoms, you might never get "through" it. I am now using Ovestin cream for my repeated UTIs and urinary issues, lack of oestrogen is what is causing the dryness, itchiness and discomfort, and that;s not going to improve.

This argument is stupid. It's not about being like a young woman again, for many women it's about saving their life. It's about being able to.live without debilitating anxiety, and atrophied fanny and inability to orgasm, and huge rage that for many leads to the breakdown of their relationship. Its just about feeling well.

What people are missing is that effects women differently. If you don't have debilitating symptoms then don't take it, think yourself lucky and stop judging women who do need it.

The most offensive statements are those saying it's down to an unhealthy lifestyle whether you have symptoms or not.There has been no research to suggest this at all. Anecdotally my fattest least fit friend has not noticed menopause at all. I went to the gym 5 times a week, ate healthily and it hit me like a train.

And saying women in the past coped is utter rot. Asylums were full of women deemed mad, 'witches' were burned at the stake, women were shadows of themselves on Prozac. The peak suicide rate for women is 45 plus.

Misogyny is alive and well in our health care system, what's even more depressing is how this has been internalised by women who have so little empathy with women who are going through a stage of life differently to them.

Hear hear. It's not about vanity, partying hard, living in the fast lane, giving in, not slowing down, going against nature, etc. etc. I also think that there will be lots more awareness about whether people are truly 'breezing through' as more people realise how widely impacting it is. It's osteoporosis, UTIs, vaginal atrophy, heart health, itchy skin, losing hair, anxiety, loss of love for life, loss of confidence (e.g. driving anxiety, leaving the workplace), bad sleep, joint pain, brain fog, cholesterol, etc. It's not the comedy view of an overweight "Karen" having a hot flush. I know many people who only got the ability to overhaul their health once they got the hormones sorted.

@Agree It may be worth considering what your mum died from (sorry to hear she was relatively young) and if any of that is relevant to your own health.
Many women have died from diseases associated with the menopause (long term mental health illnesses and heart disease to name two, which were not, at the time, linked to hormones.)

I do hear on here, women in their 60s etc saying ‘I was ok in menopause’ apart from … and then mention low mood, poor sleep, no libido, divorce etc

the misconception that it’s a few hot flushes and over in a year or two really needs to be left in the past. Protecting brain/heart/bone/mental health is so key especially as women now live longer than ever

@Movinghouseatlast So true, and in many cases women with healthy habits like exercising a lot and doing practices generally regarded as good for us like intermittent fasting can actually have exacerbated symptoms. Other women find exercise and changed diet is all they need, its just so personal I don't see how anyone can judge anyone on there choice to take it or not.

I also agree about how women did suffer in the past and weren't even allowed to talk about it. Even now in the past year I've seen in the press so many cases of women around my age with seemingly good lives commit suicide, obviously we don't know everyone's situation but it wouldn't surprise me if the effects of menopause were driving some women to the brink.

Agree @Newgirls - most people think menopause is hot flushes. It's the first thing which is mentioned by many people and the stereotype is the menopausal woman with the fan in a t-shirt while everyone else is frozen. I certainly had no clue that my sudden anxiety/panic/"depression" was actually lack of oestrogen, or my painful nether regions, or achy joints, or insomnia...

And despite me having had a hysterectomy (kept my ovaries), two GPs didn't join the dots either and fobbed me off with Prozac and folc acid.

I wish all women were offered a DEXA scan at 50-55.
It's shocking because more women die from the complications of fractures than anything else, in old age (bar, possibly, dementia.)

From the ROS last week

Half of women over 50 will suffer fractures due to osteoporosis, and a fifth of men. Fractures are the fourth greatest cause of disability and premature death in the UK, as well as the second greatest filler of hospital beds. Fractures are preventable with safe, effective therapies, which are highly affordable for the NHS, but two-thirds of people with osteoporosis are missing treatment.

@FlatSnuffy I said I'd probably been lucky. Being positive beforehand was my choice. I can't prove it helped. I think it's worthwhile if you're not there yet.
I think you weren't being criticised and that you're being over sensitive. Just because you had menopause symptoms doesn't mean everyone else does.

@JinglingSpringbells Yeah, I have a relative in her 90s. She didn't ask for HRT, and wasn't offered it, but she asked when she was out the other side of peri menopause and was told a flat no. She's struggling with her bones and her back, and like a PP, she cannot sleep and is looking weaker and less happy all the time.

I'd quite like to ask her to ask her gp if it's possible for her to get oestrogen now, age 95. But I'm not convinced that's an option and I suspect she'd find the whole thing very uncomfortable.

Could you or her call the Royal Osteoporosis Society helpline? It's free.
It's not likely they would prescribe estrogen for someone her age with osteoporosis but there are other drugs they could use (if she has a diagnosis of osteoporosis- and her GP should be referring her to a specialist.) Call the helpline?

@Newchapterbeckons you're still being offensive by implying women take HRT on the promise that they'll feel young again yada yada. Also no one starts taking HRT without being informed of the risks such as increases risk of breast cancer. It's an informed choice.
There's a huge amount of research and good science based information available now to help women make an informed choice. But you continue to speak about like is some quackery youth dew type potion.

I'm 54. I still have 6 months on my current Mirena coil, and I wonder if that masks symptoms a bit.

I started HRT in March 23, mainly for insomnia, I have an occasional "warm moment" but not hot flushes. Made absolutely no difference, so I stopped after 6 months. I will reassess after the summer when I have my coil out.

I hate that people trot out that women didn't live long enough for menopause to be an issue. Even in biblical times, 3 score years and 10 (70) was the expected lifespan.
The women in my family all have lived well into their 80's. My paternal GM had osteoporosis despite a very healthy diet, good weight, and walking lots as she couldn't drive.
My mum took HRT for years and is 82 and fit as a flea!

There is no one size fits all for any health decision.

I think mirena coil is a sort of hrt - it releases progesterone? Jingling will know more. I know some people use it alongside other products and get good results for meno symptoms

@Newchapterbeckons Most of the evidence at the moment is pointing to Modern types of body identical HRT as being protective against dementia rather than being a risk factor for it. That is not taking HRT puts you are more risk of serious forms of cognitive decline than taking it. Current forms of HRT also appear to protect against other cancers like bowel cancer as well as against osteoporosis and heart disease both of which result in more death in women than breast or uterine cancer.

Its also funny how you accept medical research that backs up your position but then doubt the research that undermines you. You are very much acting in bad faith and I can't take your contributions at all seriously, you obviously have an issue with HRT and the women who use it to come of and make such outrageous suggestions like women are taking HRT it to "party" and "live in the fast lane" do you even hear yourself?

Time to step away from the keyboard before you embarrass yourself any further.

Fair enough thank you. I agree you really shouldn’t have to slow down or lead a compromised life. If you can take something that gives you energy and happiness then you should absolutely take it.

Maybe I am angry about the way our health is never really a priority in this country - even in this situation, we still have no idea if HRT is beneficial to us in the long term ( if they could decide categorically I would consider taking it) Everything is so muddy and unclear. Maternity is woeful. Childbirth is a lottery and underfunded and undervalued. I don’t have any trust or confidence left, which is probably why I dont take it. I can just hear them in 29 years saying oops we didn’t know that could cause x,y and z. Because no one really cared enough to find out.

And your point is??? I don’t have any confidence in any of the studies, they contradict each other.

We don’t need you as the thread police thanks all the same: it’s a discussion with differing views.