HRT what percentage don't take it?

[Allshallbewell2021]

I never took HRT & menopause started a long time ago. I didn't think I needed it but now I get the sense that everyone seems to have it and I wonder if I would have benefitted. I was extremely busy at the time; I changed jobs and went back to working full time with a still young-ish family so I just didn't think to explore the idea.
It sounds like there are great benefits but maybe some women don't have HRT and are fine?

Also, to defend my ignorance - it used to be a near taboo subject whereas it's like talking about the weather now where I work.

The symptoms you describe have been alleviated completely by HRT for me. It's a lack of oestrogen that causes them.

The hormones are now body identical, made of yams so not synthetic like the synthetic progesterone in the pill. You can still get the synthetic version but most people take the more 'natural' version. Obviously all still made in a lab!

I always thought I wouldn't take it. Hate hormonal contraceptives. But my symptoms now are debilitating to the point I can't live my life without some help. Have to be risk assessed because of family history, but I am so desperate, I'll try anything.
I think it's fabulous if you got through your menopause without HRT, but there is no shame in it if you need it.

57 and never taken it. I was very lucky with the menopause and have never felt I needed it

I think people don’t persist with it because they’re not supported once it’s been prescribed. Not informed that in order to avoid headaches to drink enough fluids, to go back to gp if it isn’t working, to discuss an increased dose/ different route/ alternative, if it stops working or just isn’t working… Utrogestan is body identical if you don’t like the idea of synthetic hormones. Topical oestrogen reduces risks of taking it orally.
I think there is much more that health care professionals could be doing to support women through this stage of life. Just a little bit more support and information could have such a positive impact on someone and every area of life and society that they are involved in.
Such a shame that comprehensive and ongoing support isn’t there for women as a little bit of extra effort could be lifesaving for some of them.

I am wondering when would be too late to go on it after menopause. How do you know though what type of HRT you have been prescribed? I raised these concerns with the doctor and she did not say it was made from yams.

I think over the past 10 years there had been less talk about the risks and more about the benefits both short and long term. So ten or so years ago HRT was seen as quite risky and only really worth that risk in a small number of cases, but now women are realising there may be higher risks from NOT taking it. For instance if menopause causes brain fog, what is it doing to the brain in the longer term? We have estrogen receptors in every cell of our bodies.

I also think this is part of the unfinished feminism movement where women are realising they are still much disadvantaged (sometimes if you don't experience overt sexism you can start thinking there is more equality than there is) and are starting to advocate for themselves and what they need.

It will be interesting to see if the higher uptake of HRT does lead to healthier women in older age (as well as in mid life) it's one big medical trial really. I strongly suspect it will.

HRT is available as body identical hormones, this is safer than synthetic hormones such as the contraceptive pill.

This is such an important issue that all women should be looking at the risks and benefits for them and making a considered choice.

But does anyone who has had a relatively manageable menopause (or they just thought they were a struggling Middle Aged mess..) ever start it later in life?

I’m 47, been on it over a year although actually went into full menopause a year or more before that. I’m never coming off it. It’s not just the improvement in symptoms and quality of life but the protection of bone density etc. my mum has suffered terribly with degenerative arthritis in her spine since stopping hrt at 70. I’m not fancying that for my future.

I'm 50, went into menopause overnight when I had a complete hysterectomy in my early 49s. I can't take HRT due to a significant family history of gynaecological cancer, otherwise I would have jumped on it. I manage symptoms as they arise, mainly poor sleep, flushes, vaginal atrophy. I worry about bone and heart health, but my Endocrinologist monitors my bone density and assured me that heart health isn't impacted by not taking HRT.

You haven’t said how old you are OP. If I were you I’d still be looking at my personal risks and benefits and potentially giving it a try. I don’t know of anyone other than Louise Newson who might have written something helpful to answer your question - sad really.
I hope you find some answers that you can take to your doctor, to discuss and weigh up alongside your own medical history.

I take HRT as recommended by gynae because I had a total hysterectomy. The amount of symptoms that I thought were just part of getting older or due to my stressful job, that have now gone away, is unbelievable. I thought I was just older and tired and my job was hideously stressful which was making me miserable. Now I’m just…happy. I feel like the me of ten years ago. The job is still shit but I can cope again. I’m cleaning the house properly because I have the energy - i had stopped caring. I’m exercising. I’m cooking good food. I want to go out and do things again, not just sit in front of the telly. They’ll pry the HRT out of my cold dead hands 🤣🤣🤣

www.themenopausecharity.org/2022/04/19/starting-or-continuing-hrt-many-years-after-your-menopause/

I think I’ve read it’s most effective within 10 years of menopause but I know the Newson clinic definitely have women in their 60s, 70s, 80s and even 90s.

Never taken the pill because I wasn’t interested in taking unnatural hormones (barely had more than a handful of paracetamol my whole life I’m really that anti taking medicine) but I’m on HRT and it has been transformative and anyone who has had debilitating symptoms will undoubtedly agree. I wasn’t sleeping, anxious, low moods, really irritable, had brain fog like nothing else, itched like mad and felt like life was literally happening around me. How I held my job together is a miracle but for some time didn’t attribute the symptoms to peri as I didn’t have irratic periods or hot flushes. I broke down in tears of relief when a fantastic locum gp assured me I wasn’t going mad, it was all completely normal and I could be helped with HRT.

I do resent the suggestion that anyone on HRT is doing it because of the ‘Davina affect’. We know the risks, unlikely anyone would take it on a whim and more often it’s because our lives are falling to shit and this can make a significant positive change. Perhaps because more people are talking about it, women are realising the symptoms they thought were age/life are actually treatable and don’t need to just put up with it. If you were lucky enough to just have hot flushes or a few days a month feeling down then it’s great you didn’t need it but please don’t be smug.

@LulaK yup me too 😆

I didn't take HRT and have been fine. I had horrific night-time hot flushes (not sweats) but my GP prescribed a low dose of citalopram (mild antidepressant) which sorted them out.

They'll have to rip my HRT out of my cold, dead hands.

If I forget one dose, it's horrible. My symptoms were horrible.

I was adamant to not have it.

I went into menopause at 42. They wouldn't test me for it and refused HRT.

At 49 I went into the doctors with my fitbit showing how little sleep I was getting, and in agony with the bone pain [is the only way I could describe it] and in a right old state, he gave me HRT that morning and sent me for tests and my FSH was in the 90s. He then sent me for an urgent DEXA and I already had osteoporosis.

I have to have it to get up in the morning. And now I've been on magnesium for a few weeks I not only get up, but get up early and sleep at night as well.

I can't have HRT as I've had a hormone led breast cancer. However, had that not happened to me I would have definitely tried it. It's hard work dealing with long term peri when there is very little you can do to alleviate the symptoms. I have to say very few of my friends actually take HRT. It surprises me.

I think over the past 10 years there had been less talk about the risks and more about the benefits both short and long term. So ten or so years ago HRT was seen as quite risky and only really worth that risk in a small number of cases, but now women are realising there may be higher risks from NOT taking it.

This, absolutely. I started menopause at 52. Huge dreadful hot flushes for two years. I pushed through and didn't ever see a doctor or give serious thought to HRT because I only knew about the breast cancer risk and not about the benefits. I got breast cancer anyway at 60 and at 63 was diagnosed with osteoporosis. Only recently did I start to see that my late 40s were probably affected by peri menopause. Moody, gloomy, anxious all of which I put down to work stress and having young children (had DC relatively late), although I do still think there is a tendency to put everything down to menopause.

I suffered for ages as I had all mirena coil so bleeding stopped yrs ago.
First was dizzy spells and nausea,anxiety so bad I could only just force myself to work and had to stop driving.low mood itchy skin joint pain I had to take painkillers to get upstairs.The burning mouth which is painful.Night sweats on occasion then hot flushes.
I wasn't expecting anything like this.Hrt saved my sanity and stopped me peeing every half an hour.
I also gave up booze and exercise daily now.

Hairfriar same.

I used a Mirena coil for 10 years to stop heavy bleeding. Now I have estriol cream to prevent vag dryness and urinary tract infections. I have been shocked by the HRT advice some of my friends have received; paying a fortune for private prescriptions and forever having blood tests to rebalance their hormone levels due to horrendous side effects (headaches, anxiety, nausea, extreme hair growth), which almost seem to outweigh and extend for years the original symptoms. Annual private bone scans are now common amongst my friends to ‘catch’ osteoporosis.

Extreme insomnia and anxiety were my main symptoms- they were so horrible I would have taken anything that helped. Hrt has been marvellous for me.

I think I read that only about 33% of eligible women are taking HRT. I take it and its made a huge difference to me in terms of allowing me to sleep, completely eliminating hot sweats and reducing my anxiety to manageable levels. It is on the upswing with women being better educated about it (often better educated than GPs!)

I'm 58 and never taken it . Symptoms wise I didn't need it but now I'm wondering if I should consider for and heart / bone health benefits .