How do you respond to the claim that menopause is natural and therefore you shouldn't use HRT?

[Neulip]

I was reading though an "anti hrt" account on instagram and first let me say I am totally in support of any woman making the choice that is right for her to take or not take HRT but one of the common threads of this woman's rejection of HRT was that menopause was a natural transition and therefore we shouldn't interfere with it. Yes menopause is natural but for most women it isn't a transition to a new optimal state of being but actually a rather brutal biological and evolutionary economy that isn't carefully planned to benefit women in anyway, frankly mother nature doesn't care what happens to us when we are past the point of reproduction, she isn't even that focused on our comfort when we are fertile. If it is unnatural and therefore inherently harmful to treat menopause as a disease then what about any other medical intervention? Is anyone arguing that type one diabetics just do more yoga or give up drinking rather than rely on insulin?

I just don't get this argument against HRT at all?

Being short sighted is natural but wearing my context lenses is still preferable to walking into things all day.

Like when JW people come to your door. I always ask them about blood transfusions... so you'd let women in childbirth die then?

I would say that HRT is healthcare and nobody else has the right to say a woman shouldn’t take it because the menopause is natural There are lots of things we treat that are ‘natural’.

Honestly I wouldn't bother responding. I'd just scroll past this nonsense. It's like arguing with anti vaxers or flat earthers.
Just do whatever is right for you and let them worry about themselves.

“Fuck off”…?

I think there are some really stupid people in the world, and we don't need to pay them any attention.

@RightOnTheEdge Yeah her page was winding me up but I posted here rather than respond directly to her!

The difference with T1DM is that it doesn’t affect 50% of the population and you can die without treatment. I’m not anti-HRT just pointing out there must be better examples.

I presume that ‘Insta argument’ only applies to those women who have never had any non-natural medical interventions of any sort, like contraception, medical treatments, surgeries, vaccinations and health & beauty procedures?

Part of my menopausal- well peri at 47 was vaginal atrophy. Which I noticed when my orgasms faded away to almost nothing, and walking around wearing knickers felt like I had sandpaper in my gusset.
Ill take the alternative of some topical vaginal cream and HRT thanks

Man I knew no matter what I used as an example someone would say something I picked T1D because I myself am T1D!

I wouldn't respond at all.

We are fortunate to live in a world with sophisticated medical care and if some people choose to eschew the benefits then I doubt I can persuade them differently.

I wouldn’t bother responding to something like a sm post. However, if someone directly said it to me, I’d say it’s just replacing something your body is losing. It prevents osteoporosis, possibly prevents dementia, vaginal atrophy, continence issues, protects the heart, improves mood, memory and sleep.
Years ago women were locked up in mental institutions, I have no doubt I’d have been one of them if I hadn’t been fortunate enough to live in a time when HRT was available. I was pretty much a basket case before I started HRT, I only wish I’d started it sooner!

Works for me

It's natural?

So is gangrene.

I mean unless you can link one person's illness to their particular life choices or situation, like lung cancer for a heavy smoker or someone who worked round asbestos, aren't all conditions natural? Cancer? MS? Stroke? Heart attack? Diabetes (not causes by excess sugar consumption)? .... shall we stop treating them all?

I have a colleague who’s anti HRT and is taking supplements to try and get her through. We attended a menopause workshop together where a specialist doctor discussed HRT because it’s the optimal way to manage menopause symptoms. Alternative and complementary treatments can only do so much. The workshop was evidence based. She was really pissed off because they only really discussed HRT. No amount of explaining why this would be made a difference.
This person vapes, uses Botox and lip fillers.
But is suspicious of so won’t use body-identical HRT.
i, therefore, have no sympathy when I hear about her symptoms.

It was a woman I think, her alternative to using estrogen even for vaginal atrophy was to eat a lot of phytoestrogen and soy products apparently she thinks that stuff is the holy grail and is natural unlike nasty pharmaceutical HRT. Has nobody told her about body identical HRT that is made from the same plant foods she touts?

Well that's a shoehorn.

I wouldn’t be surprised if this person is also anti-vax. It’s made by big pharma so must be bad, eh?

Dental caries is natural. Don’t go to a dentist.

Cataracts are natural. Don’t have cataract surgery.

Measles viruses and polio are natural. Don’t vaccinate and don’t treat.

Long sight is natural in ageing. Don’t wear glasses.

Stupidity, on the other hand is untreatable.

I’d say ‘what simplistic bollocks’.

‘Natural’ doesn’t mean harmless or untreatable. To me, it’s like saying aging is natural so you shouldn’t wear glasses or treat arthritis or diabetes. It ignores quality of life and modern medicine. Most of us on HRT would be significantly worse off without it.

Women used to just suffer through menopause, thankfully, those days are long over. HRT doesn’t just replace lost hormones - it protects bones, supports heart health, and keeps women feeling strong and vibrant and thus restores quality of life.

I'd be idly wondering whether her vagina has sealed itself up yet or if she's at the point of wearing giant pull ups and still flooding through within half an hour for 3 weeks at a time. Wondering whether she enjoys the sensation of her pubis and vulva being covered with fire ants all night, too.

She's going to be one of

a) too young to know
b) sailed through with just reduced bone density and osteoporosis for her to be posting about in the future

or

c) is enjoying the income from this anti medicine, be natural, know your place in the universe, women, algorithm as the hits increase - with an Evorel 100 securely stuck to her arse

All said as somebody who thinks perimenopause is blamed rather than ever admit that women have shit lives and shitty medical treatment due to their sex (and the preconceptions around their capability during the process are all based upon the hysteria theory/misogyny) - there are still very real things that need treatment, not some organic juice fasts and a follow for affiliated links to magic bean sellers.

I agree with the poster who thinks "fuck off".

IVF isnt "natural"
Chemotherapy and treating cancer isnt "natural"
Treatment for most preventable diseases arent "natural".
Should we therefore stop all the above?

If you want to be truly natural then presumably you wouldn't seek medical treatment for any medical ailment- after all, if you've got it, it's natural, right?

Such ignorant bollocks.