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?

In some ways, I agree that as per others' replies, we don't have hormones pre puberty, and get on ok. And ever since puberty. I can remember being a lot more anxious, moody and having many more health problems (period pains, migraines etc) than before.

Of course, that's not to say that hormones aren't protective or have helped me feel good during pregnancy. I actually think the huge increase of hormones during pregnancy was really beneficial for my body and suited me with my hair, skin and general wellbeing improving lots. After my third pregnancy, the post natal drop in hormones made me extremely ill and I know that it was probably on a par with how some women feel during menopause. If this is how they suffer, I can certainly see why HRT is a great benefit.

But I also agree with the PP who said that using HRT doesn't allow the body to adjust normally, so greater levels are needed to keep the benefits sustained.

If this is the case sometimes (and knowing my weird body, it would be!), I'd probably be on a high dose then find it lost its efficacy or something 😳😒😕

@JinglingSpringbells thanks for the reminder. No I had a dexa scan years ago and no further scans. I changed doctors and I don't even know if my current doctor knows. I think I told them but can't remember. It should be on my records somewhere. I think the score wasn't too bad but can't remember. One to add to the list when I talk to doctor.

If you have osteopenia and it was diagnosed years ago, you should be scanned every 2- 3 years.

The NHS sometimes advises 5 years which is far too long and it's all about the cost.

Swipe left

It's very difficult not to argue with people like that.
I struggle to follow my own advice sometimes 😆
I usually write an argument, then change my mind and think it's not worth it then delete it instead of pressing send.

Migraines are natural, yet we still take painkillers.

Humans weren't designed, we evolved through random mutations being useful or not. Once you realise that, you recognise that what we call "natural" is merely what your ancestors were able to reproduce despite or because of.

If it hurts, it's OK to use modern medicine to stop it. Your ancestors would have done the same, given the chance.

I disagree, I’m probably older than you and can remember the labour intensity of running a household pre 1970s. No automatic washing machines, no tumble dryer, most families didn’t have a car never mind a second car and in the absence of supermarkets, shopping had to be done daily.
You walked your children to school, however far.

On the other hand the physical intensity of every day life for the majority of women meant they probably had better bone density but this would have been offset by poor diet and a life of having child after child.

Women have never had it so easy. But if you haven’t witness life pre 1970s then you wouldn’t know. Of course for a small minority who could afford household help life was pretty similar to modern day. You just had another woman to do all the jobs you now employ a wealth of white goods for.

Lugging around children, shopping, buckets of coal, walking every where meant that bone density was actually quite good despite their diet. Men died early because the environment they worked in often predisposed them to lung disease. Women faired better unless they too worked in heavy industry. The SAHM was an invention of the 20th century. Most women worked prior to then. Often within the home, cottage industries meant they earned money doing piece work often around the heavy housework. They took in laundry, hand stitched gloves ( a huge cottage industry), worked in service or childcare. Wet nursing for other working women was a common job.

Very little is documented about how women supported their families because they were far too busy to record it.

The menopause is not an illness.

It is an unpleasant process at times but it is not forever. So many women seem to think that it is a permanent state. It really isn’t. Having been forced to go hormone free I have been amazed by how much better my general mental health is without hormones. This is an area that isn’t often discussed. I am grateful that I was able to use HRT to help my dreadful mood swings peri menopausally but once post menopausal life became much calmer despite a series of major life changing events.

I remember the turmoil of puberty. I’m so happy that I’m now the other side and able to cope with pretty much everything life throws at me. Hormones made it so much more of a trial.

It's not always temporary. There is a lot of misunderstanding on this.

There are some of the very best UK gynaecologists treating women in their 80s and even 90s who are still on HRT because they still have symptoms. (Some explain this on video, online.)

I know of women 80+ with hot flushes and insomnia. They never had mood swings- it was all physical.

The BMS puts the figure at around 10% for women who will have very long term symptoms.

It's very individual and not a one-size fits all.

I only know snips of what my mum has told me but women didn't used to live as long as they do now many years ago so they would have never had to suffer with the symptoms. We are living way past ages of reproduction now and why should we suffer in doing so.

I haven’t yet started HRT but I find the scorn on here towards anyone who is not yet on it quite off-putting.

Death is natural but healthcare is there to delay it as much as possible.

I suppose given the average life expectancy of the past, neither the menopause nor marriage were meant to mess up our physical and mental health as much as they have.😬

I have not once witnessed a single person having a go at someone for NOT taking HRT.

However, I have witnessed more times than I can count someone lecturing someone that they dont need HRT because they sailed through the menopause without any symptoms so clearly noone needs it because they didnt. I have also witnessed people scoffing at other's symptoms and disregarding their genuine health concerns because they cannot fathom that if they havent experienced it, it must not exist for anyone else.

A good example of this was a fairly recent post about period flooding and several of us saying we had to use tampons as well as pads due to peri menopause flooding and how awful it was. Cue a load of people posting that "noone needs to use both" and scoffing at the idea that anyone might have flooding so bad that it required the use of both because they personally have never experienced it.

I have received criticism on here for saying that I personally don't need it yet and I hope to go through without it if my symptoms don't get worse. Cue pages of people telling me that I'm stupid, HRT is a wonder drug, its protects against this and that, why am I being so thick etc.

Ah well thats out of order of them, clearly.

I too have been attacked, but for taking HRT and people not believing my symptoms so there are people on both sides who should really just STFU.

HRT is medically advised if women are symptomless but have POI- premature ovarian insufficiency, known as premature menopause, or early menopause. POI is before 40, early is before 45.

This has been standard medical advice for decades because of the known long term health risks.

It's the only reason to suggest HRT as a medical treatment, regardless of no symptoms.

I don't read anti-HRT accounts on Instagram. Easy solution.

Fair enough. I also think people who say nobody needs to use both are idiots!

I didn’t even realise my own flooding at 41-42 was (probably) perimenopause, but I suppose that’s part of my problem, I still feel really in the dark and confused about it all at 48 with symptoms sometimes, but not always (sometimes I feel great and other times, hideous and foggy), but then I come onto thread like this and read comment after comment on here that I might die early of CVD and dementia if I am stupid and don’t get HRT and that can feel quite overwhelming.

I agree that anyone scoffing at anyone’s else’s health need if it helps them is wrong though because we are all different.

I support everyone making their own decisions based on their circumstances. However increasingly women are becoming evangelical about HRT not just for alleviating symptoms but for prevention of future health problems. A friend of mine is obsessed with the necessity of HRT for every woman. She never shuts up about it.

Good grief.

When I was in my mid-fifties I was using night-time pads, tampons, thick tights and thick skirts to be 'safe'. Even then, I was diving out of my classroom at the end of a 50 minute lesson...

Dying of a viral or bacterial illness is natural but I prefer vaccines and antibiotics

killing and gutting your own meat is natural but I’ll use a butcher

walking or running everywhere is natural but I use the car sometimes

sleeping at sunset is natural but try explaining that to by boss in the winter

No it’s not the only reason. Some countries recommend HRT for ( even symptom less) post menopausal women as a frontline treatment for osteopaenia.

Glasses are used to improve our sight

Paracetamol is used to stop pain

Mental health drugs are used to make life tolerable

Anaesthetics are used to stop pain on surgery etc.

Cars make us go faster and planes higher, washing machines, the list is endless

Ask them about the natural ways they avoid all of those...

That's right, yes. It's recommended in the UK by the British Menopause Society, too. It's not limited to being post menopausal. Women can still have osteopenia before their periods have stopped.
However, in the UK very few women know they have osteopenia as DEXA scans are not offered as routine.