Has anyone ever started HRT way after menopause?

[Stormroses]

Has anyone started HRT several years after menopause? If so, has it helped? Was the GP supportive? What prompted you to do it and is it beneficial to stay on it?

I'm 61. Menopause was at 55. I had loads of peri symptoms from around age 50 but because my periods were completely regular until they suddenly stopped, the GP insisted they weren't meno symptoms and I ended up on antidepressants when I should probably have been on HRT. The GP I saw in those days seemed pretty anti HRT.

At the time, I had two friends who had severe reactions to HRT - one got a heart attack and one developed breast cancer. It really scared me off. I understand the dangerous types of HRT are discontinued now. I was also massively put off by learning that periods might come back. I had really heavy painful periods all my life and them stopping was a highpoint for me. So I just put off ever really looking into it and the years drifted by and I never tried it.

Recently - six years after meno, I have started getting the symptoms people talk about - insomnia, severe brain fog and for me the most upsetting - real listlessness. Not depression exactly but can't-be-arsed-about-anything-at-all. Even things that really matter to me, I feel like I want to want to do them but don't actually want them enough to take any action. I've become really passive and sedentary and I hate it.

I'm now wondering if HRT might help. Everyone I know seems to be on it, swears by it and claims it prevents everything from osteoporosis to dementia. Most of my friends do seem a lot more active and productive than I am. I am so lethargic and unmotivated. Is it too late to start?

Sorry this is long. I'd really appreciate some advice.

I know of women who have started over 60.
I've also been told by my consultant of women very much older than 61 starting HRT.

It's definitely 'allowed'.

There is a 'window of opportunity' to protect your heart and arteries by using HRT within 10 years of menopause- so you're well within that time line.

Do some reading around it maybe to help your decision?

I’ve just started HRT, a week ago Friday, roughly 5 years after menopause. I’m on 100mg progesterone tablets and oestrogen gel. It’s made an immediate and positive difference and I’m thrilled. I no longer have brain fog and fatigue. My mood has improved and I have less vaginal dryness. I still have aches and pains but I’m overweight.

Thank you so much. I didn't know about that 10 year window. I have a very stand-offish GP so I feel like I need to be fully informed and just come and request what I need as she isn't one for discussing options.

My periods finished at 47. Thought I was coping ok and just putting up with hot flushes and getting older. Am now 59 and have just started HRT as I had sunk into an awful depression.

4 months later and still adjusting HRT as having periods again but I feel fabulous. Hadn’t realised how much Brian fog, joint pain, forgetfulness and listlessness I had until it has gone.

I did try to tell the doctor it was too late to start but so damn glad I listened to her.

Wow. Thank you. That sounds so promising. This is making me feel it would be worthwhile.

A close friend started at 60. She had osteopenia.

Thank you. I dread having periods again. Really dread it. They were the bane of my life for over forty years. Are they different? Light?

I'm worried about weight gain too. Some people say they gain a lot of weight.

Maybe talk to another doctor. I would definatly recommend trying it. Has changed my life.

These replies are making me think I should make an appointment with the GP.

Yes - went through early menopause late thirties - post MP by forty. GP nurse kept saying she’d test hormone levels and then didn’t submit bloods for that and fobbed me to the point where MH was the pits, I tried to kill myself, had to see two psychiatrists. I had maybe four hot flushes so not typical symptoms, but the brain fog and MH issues were truly awful and I felt completely unstable. I just wanted to die. GP picked up I’d been through MP straight away and checked bloods and put me straight on HRT. Within two weeks I felt like a different person. He’s upped the dose twice and my life is completely changed for the better and I actually feel happy now after 10+ years of abject misery.

I know there’s a small cancer risk but the risk to me of wanting to end my life was a lot more prevalent and more immediate and now I’m living my best life. Hoping the time without HRT has not buggered up my bone density too much.

Ps no weight gain for me - and I’m on continuous progesterone so I don’t get migraines so no bleeding either.

My menopause was at 55 and I started HRT at 59. I didn't have to fight to get the prescription and it has been extremely beneficial.

in almost six years I haven’t put on weight I could attribute to HRT. There was a little water weight on the progesterone, about a pound or two. Following a hysterectomy, I don’t take progesterone now, just oestrogen. I do strength training, short runs and enjoy long walks and watch what I eat, though.

https://thebms.org.uk/publications/consensus-statements/bms-whcs-2020-recommendations-on-hormone-replacement-therapy-in-menopausal-women/

It's worth reading this and taking to your GP if you think they need to see it.

Arbitrary limits should not be placed on the duration of usage of HRT; if symptoms persist, the benefits of hormone therapy usually outweigh the risks.

HRT prescribed before the age of 60 has a favourable benefit/risk profile.

HRT initiated before the age of 60 or within 10 years of the menopause is likely to be associated with a reduction in coronary heart disease and cardiovascular mortality.

If HRT is to be used in women over 60 years of age, lower doses should be started, preferably with a transdermal route of estradiol administration.

Evidence from the Cochrane data-analysis as well as that from the long-term follow-up data of the WHI showed no increase in cardiovascular events, cardiovascular mortality or all-cause mortality in women who initiated HRT more than 10 years after the menopause.

@Crazymayfly You will surely be eligible for an NHS DEXA scan of your bones, having had an early menopause.
See GP and insist on one.

Wow. I am sorry you put up with such a hard time before you were given what you needed.

@JinglingSpringbells Thank you so much for that link. I will show it to my GP if necessary.

Why do periods come back on hrt?

Mine are very very light and short periods and the doctor is confident we can adjust the HRT to stop them. I’ve started montjaro since so can’t comment on the weight gain.

I really can’t stress enough how different I feel. I really hadn’t realised how down I had got and uninterested in life in general as it was such a slow change. Bouncing like tigger now.

After just a couple of days I felt like a woman half my age! Actually I feel like a woman again if that makes sense. Rather than someone slipping into old age. 58 feel 30.

Guessing we are reintroducing hormones that had gone with the menopause.

@ssd
Periods don't come back on HRT.
Your periods stop when your ovaries have run out of eggs. HRT doesn't create more eggs.

The bleed on some types of HRT is a withdrawal bleed like the Pill (but different.)
It's not a period.

It's worth reading about this online if you're thinking of HRT so you understand how it works and the different types.

www.drlouisenewson.co.uk/knowledge/sequential-and-continuous-hrt-whats-the-difference

This is what I want. That 'bouncing back like Tigger' feeling. I honestly feel like all I have done this year apart from work is watch TV. I have seen everything. Every old and new drama going. I must have spent about 20 hours a week, often more, watching TV. It has to stop!

That is what I long to feel. I really do feel like I am slipping into old age and I hate it. I have all these plans in my head and yet I just can't clear the brain fog to put them into action or get off the sofa often enough to make them happen.

Has hrt helped anyone's health anxiety?