Why does my doctor say HRT for women under 50 is not safe but everyone around me is taking it and feeling good?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I take HRT for bone health and to relieve menopausal symptoms. If you are still having periods, then you do not need to supplement estrogen. Your body is still making it! Read Estrogen Matters and The Menopause Manifesto and learn about how the WHO study of estrogen decades prior has been debunked.

Your body may be BARELY still making it, is the issue. If your periods are regular, that's one thing. If you have gotten into every two to three week territory--or every 2-3 month territory--your estrogen levels are, on average, in the sh!tter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My doc says I'm not ready for HRT because my cycle is regular. Because I am showing signs of perimenopause, she recommends low dose BC with estrogen. Later I will be a candidate for HRT.

Isn’t BC HRT?

It's MORE THAN HRT. The doses are higher than the hormone doses in most HRT regimens. This is why BC is used to "take control of your menstrual cycle" as part of IVF regimens and HRT is not. The BC pill doses, while they are lower than they have been (although note: the lowest-dose options often do not work as well for women over 150 lbs), are high enough to suppress the body's natural hormone production and replace it with the synthetic.

[Anonymous]

My mother has taken HRT since she had a hysterectomy in her mid 50s, and she did look youthful through her late 60s. Unfortunately she got diagnosed with a rare form of aggressive lung cancer and I wonder if the HRT played a part.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My mother has taken HRT since she had a hysterectomy in her mid 50s, and she did look youthful through her late 60s. Unfortunately she got diagnosed with a rare form of aggressive lung cancer and I wonder if the HRT played a part.

It’s more likely poor air quality which is why lung cancer rates seem to be increasing in both men and women. I’m sorry that happened to your mother.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My doc says I'm not ready for HRT because my cycle is regular. Because I am showing signs of perimenopause, she recommends low dose BC with estrogen. Later I will be a candidate for HRT.

Isn’t BC HRT?

It's MORE THAN HRT. The doses are higher than the hormone doses in most HRT regimens. This is why BC is used to "take control of your menstrual cycle" as part of IVF regimens and HRT is not. The BC pill doses, while they are lower than they have been (although note: the lowest-dose options often do not work as well for women over 150 lbs), are high enough to suppress the body's natural hormone production and replace it with the synthetic.

Incidentally--this is also why birth control pill use so dramatically lowers the risk of ovarian cancer. It's 30-50% lower among women who have EVER used oral contraceptives. This is because the fewer times the body goes through the naturally occuring cycle of estrogen production--which happens principally in the ovaries--the less likely ovarian tissue is to become cancerous.

By the time a person who still has ovaries is in a position to be receiving HRT, the estrogen situation is nowhere near that. It is being produced in fits and starts and overall at a dramatically lower rate than earlier in life. Blood testing of this is mostly useless, because you could have a spurt of estrogen production at any point in time that registers high on a blood test as a point-in-time assessment. If menstrual cycles have started changing, estrogen production has decreased, probably precipitously.

This happened to me at 47.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because your dr doesn't get kickbacks from HRT companies.

+1 this whole HRT bandwagon is ridiculous

If you aren’t suffering then don’t take it. Not sure why you would knock a solution to another woman’s problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Medicine goes in phases. Right now it's all about HRT, push HRT on everyone. I think the push will likely right itself again.

Personally, sex hormones are some dangerous crap to mess with in a woman. They are much more related to cancer than other things.

I would put off using them as a last resort. Going on levothyroxine, and a few supplements righted the ship. Like the posters that said if there are cancer cells there--the hormones (just like a pregnancy) will really ignite them. With dense breasts, I'm not going to risk it.

Well it helps with a lot of conditions. For years women were denied HRT in any form. I’m sure more research is needed, but for many women they say it gave them their life back.

+1
It's astonishing how many providers are ignorant of this but I'm thrilled about the wave of awareness and hope it heralds relief for women.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My doc says I'm not ready for HRT because my cycle is regular. Because I am showing signs of perimenopause, she recommends low dose BC with estrogen. Later I will be a candidate for HRT.

Isn’t BC HRT?

It's MORE THAN HRT. The doses are higher than the hormone doses in most HRT regimens. This is why BC is used to "take control of your menstrual cycle" as part of IVF regimens and HRT is not. The BC pill doses, while they are lower than they have been (although note: the lowest-dose options often do not work as well for women over 150 lbs), are high enough to suppress the body's natural hormone production and replace it with the synthetic.

The level of hormones you get from bc when you still get your period is less than if you supplement with hrt. That’s the point drs make

[Anonymous]

Anyone take supplements too?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My doc says I'm not ready for HRT because my cycle is regular. Because I am showing signs of perimenopause, she recommends low dose BC with estrogen. Later I will be a candidate for HRT.

Isn’t BC HRT?

It's MORE THAN HRT. The doses are higher than the hormone doses in most HRT regimens. This is why BC is used to "take control of your menstrual cycle" as part of IVF regimens and HRT is not. The BC pill doses, while they are lower than they have been (although note: the lowest-dose options often do not work as well for women over 150 lbs), are high enough to suppress the body's natural hormone production and replace it with the synthetic.

The level of hormones you get from bc when you still get your period is less than if you supplement with hrt. That’s the point drs make

That could be true - they’re just different. The lowest dose estrogen patch only raises estradiol to average 30 pg/mL, according to the package insert. That’s lower than would be found in a premenopausal woman through most of the cycle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My doc says I'm not ready for HRT because my cycle is regular. Because I am showing signs of perimenopause, she recommends low dose BC with estrogen. Later I will be a candidate for HRT.

Isn’t BC HRT?

It's MORE THAN HRT. The doses are higher than the hormone doses in most HRT regimens. This is why BC is used to "take control of your menstrual cycle" as part of IVF regimens and HRT is not. The BC pill doses, while they are lower than they have been (although note: the lowest-dose options often do not work as well for women over 150 lbs), are high enough to suppress the body's natural hormone production and replace it with the synthetic.

The level of hormones you get from bc when you still get your period is less than if you supplement with hrt. That’s the point drs make

See above re: fluctuations in estrogen production in perimenopause. The doc who says this may be right now, and wrong fifteen minutes from now. That's not a good enough basis for me to opt against treatment that is this helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Medicine goes in phases. Right now it's all about HRT, push HRT on everyone. I think the push will likely right itself again.

Personally, sex hormones are some dangerous crap to mess with in a woman. They are much more related to cancer than other things.

I would put off using them as a last resort. Going on levothyroxine, and a few supplements righted the ship. Like the posters that said if there are cancer cells there--the hormones (just like a pregnancy) will really ignite them. With dense breasts, I'm not going to risk it.

Women that go through IVF are at an increased risk for cancer too. It is sex hormones.

Or the cancer could be related to the underlying cause of the infertility, say primary ovarian failure or early menopause, both related to LOW estrogen.

[Anonymous]

Honestly, there’s no strong evidence that HRT when started within 10 years of menopause, and ideally done transdermally, creates ANY significant health risks.

I drink wine now and then, which is causally linked to all sorts of bad health outcomes. I drive in a car even though I statistically put my safety at risk every time. I eat saturated fat even though my cholesterol is over 200 and I’ll probably need a statin someday.

When I take HRT it makes me feel fantastic. I sleep well, I reversed my osteopenia (I also started lifting), my mood is good, I have energy and no brain fog and no hot flashes. I like to feel fantastic, don’t you? Isn’t that the whole point?

Did you know that trans women are freely prescribed *multiples* of the tiny HRT doses that doctors grudgingly, with warnings, prescribe to us? A standard dose for a trans woman is 4-8 mg of (oral) estradiol per day, or the patch (2-4 x 0.1 patches). I’m in surgical menopause and had to really advocate for more than 2mg per day for myself.

We already medicalize menopause by prescribing women SSRIs, sleep meds and supplements, osteoporosis drugs, etc. And yet doctors largely continue to be unwilling to prescribe the one hormone that our bodies make and that resolves so many of the health problems that women encounter in menopause.

I’m mad and you should be, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, there’s no strong evidence that HRT when started within 10 years of menopause, and ideally done transdermally, creates ANY significant health risks.

I drink wine now and then, which is causally linked to all sorts of bad health outcomes. I drive in a car even though I statistically put my safety at risk every time. I eat saturated fat even though my cholesterol is over 200 and I’ll probably need a statin someday.

When I take HRT it makes me feel fantastic. I sleep well, I reversed my osteopenia (I also started lifting), my mood is good, I have energy and no brain fog and no hot flashes. I like to feel fantastic, don’t you? Isn’t that the whole point?

Did you know that trans women are freely prescribed *multiples* of the tiny HRT doses that doctors grudgingly, with warnings, prescribe to us? A standard dose for a trans woman is 4-8 mg of (oral) estradiol per day, or the patch (2-4 x 0.1 patches). I’m in surgical menopause and had to really advocate for more than 2mg per day for myself.

We already medicalize menopause by prescribing women SSRIs, sleep meds and supplements, osteoporosis drugs, etc. And yet doctors largely continue to be unwilling to prescribe the one hormone that our bodies make and that resolves so many of the health problems that women encounter in menopause.

I’m mad and you should be, too.

Totally agree. Diet, exercise, and stress reduction are great tools for everyone but can you imagine a world where docs suggested that for ED which is a result of age and early indicator of heart disease. Women have a right to honest conversations and they should know the risk of taking a 100 other meds for depression, poor sleep, osteoporosis, heart disease, etc all which hormone therapy can help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, there’s no strong evidence that HRT when started within 10 years of menopause, and ideally done transdermally, creates ANY significant health risks.

I drink wine now and then, which is causally linked to all sorts of bad health outcomes. I drive in a car even though I statistically put my safety at risk every time. I eat saturated fat even though my cholesterol is over 200 and I’ll probably need a statin someday.

When I take HRT it makes me feel fantastic. I sleep well, I reversed my osteopenia (I also started lifting), my mood is good, I have energy and no brain fog and no hot flashes. I like to feel fantastic, don’t you? Isn’t that the whole point?

Did you know that trans women are freely prescribed *multiples* of the tiny HRT doses that doctors grudgingly, with warnings, prescribe to us? A standard dose for a trans woman is 4-8 mg of (oral) estradiol per day, or the patch (2-4 x 0.1 patches). I’m in surgical menopause and had to really advocate for more than 2mg per day for myself.

We already medicalize menopause by prescribing women SSRIs, sleep meds and supplements, osteoporosis drugs, etc. And yet doctors largely continue to be unwilling to prescribe the one hormone that our bodies make and that resolves so many of the health problems that women encounter in menopause.

I’m mad and you should be, too.

Fantastic post.