Do you take HRT? Did they improve your life in any way?

[Anonymous]

I had "issues" in my vagina that made me and my doctor not eager to run estrogen in there.
But your experience may be different and I hope it works well for you.
I am at the point where I would happily never have sex ifvI could just stop having people check me out for cancers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dumb question, is a GYN the appropriate kind of doctor to ask about HRT? I am 53 and have NOT had any significant menopause symptoms: no vaginal dryness, no hot flashes. Brain fog and fatigue? Well, some, but minor, and given the zillion potential causes I don't know that it can be attributed to that. Is HRT just for women with severe symptoms? Does it offer other benefits/risks? My dermatologist, who also does a lot of fancy cosmetic stuff including vaginal rejuvenation laser treatment for stress incontinence (I guess it's sort of dermatology? It increases collagen?), was pushing bio-identical hormone therapy. I was polite about it but basically felt like I don't really think a dermatologist, not matter how good, is the right kind of doctor to decide if you need this....

I know I'm kinda late to the game but I wanted to share my recent experiences.

I'm 58 and had my LMP about 6 years ago. I didn't have severe symptoms but taken together, they ARE impactful. I've been following Dr. Mary Claire Haver and other menopause specialists on social media and have learned A LOT.

I got absolutely no traction with my regular OB/Gyn who basically just told me insurance wouldn't pay for HRT and menopause sucks. Someone on this forum recommended I find a provider certified by menopause.org. I did. I have started HRT yet because I need to address some other issues first but I'm now confident I have a provider who is current on best practices and research.

[Anonymous]

My HRT was covered by insurance. Prevent osteoporosis since I am on PPIs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am the one who mentioned "second menopause" and stopping Mecosta and Vagifem.
I had to stop because I was diagnosed with hormone sensitive breast cancer in 2021. I didn't mention that because I figured people would jump all over me for allegedly implying a connection WHICH I AM NOT. But imo it would be nuts to keep taking estrogen in case any cells are still floating around.
"Second menopause." Funny I have used that phrase at oncology and ob gyn and nobody quibbles. Obviously the official pause was a year after LMP.
But after 11 years of no hot flashes their resumption after stopping the patch and the diagnosed vaginal atrophy after no topical hormone was an unpleasant surprise.
The flashes are dwindled. The vag is a wreck. Even with moisturizers recommended by gyn sex is too painful.

Do you take anything to prevent it from happening again?

I am so jealous of the women who get to take supplements. I am on cancer drugs that wipe out all of my estrogen in an attempt to starve the tumors.

I have aged 10 years very quickly. Hair loss, dry skin, nonexistent vagina, short term memory loss. Eyesight worse. Gained stomach weight 15 lbs. I go in the bakery sometimes and forget the name of the pastry so I have to point. It’s tough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was 58, postmenopausal, horrible hot flashes, mood swings, worried about sex because it eas starting to hurt. Testosterone cream made me horny and crazy but didn't fix my main problems.
Low dose estrogen patch felt like warm syrup flowing over my nerves. Used Menostar and topical Vagifem estrogen tabs 2x week from age 60 to 71. It was bliss I only recognize in retrospect. No flashes, no skin or vaginal fragility, looked 60 for 11 years.
Had to stop in 2021. Second menopause was a shock. Hot flashes. Vaginal atrophy. I am my age now. Ugh.
Go low dose.

What the heck is second menopause!?
Why does no one tell us about these things.

It isn’t really a second menopause, which is the moment you have gone 12 consecutive months without menses.

It’s a return of the symptoms of peri/post menopause which cause diminished quality of life as poster describes. The thing is that for some women those symptoms carry on for decades after menopause - I work in elder care and have worked with women in their 80s who still have hot flashes for instance.

Again, the subject of long term HRT is a matter of debate in the medical community. The current advice is to take it for as short a time as absolutely necessary, but for some women that would be a very long time.

I was very well informed about the risks of HRT before asking for it, and still my GYN talked with me for over an hour before he prescribed it. I told him that I would accept a risk 10x higher since by that point the effects of nearly a decade of night sweats and chronic insomnia had left me stuck in clinical depression and with a body that felt 81, not 51. Two years later I feel my age and better every day because I’m losing weight and getting my fitness back with great sleeping patterns and all the other benefits that flow from that. My attitude at this point is that they can take my HRT from my cold dead hands and not before.

I’m not sure that’s accurate re the research saying you should take it for as short a time as possible. I see a menopause specialist who says there’s no reason to stop.

I'm glad you have a provider who really understands the science and is not so risk averse as many providers who are refusing to put women on HRT at all, or limiting them to a short period of time on it.

This is the standard experience since that one study which was misreported about 20 years ago, after which tens of millions of women globally went off HRT, and a great many providers stopped putting women on HRT as they began to experience menopausal symptoms. Most of the information you'll find in web searches about HRT will state that women who choose HRT should stay on it for the shortest possible course of treatment.

Here's a Guardian piece which goes into more detail about the HRT controversy of recent decades. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/feb/09/the-menopause-myth-how-demonised-hrt-came-back-from-the-brink

I watched a close friend die of breast cancer and she put the fear in me; while I nursed her in her hospice stage she made me promise not to ever go on HRT - she'd been diagnosed with breast cancer a year after she went on HRT and was convinced it was a causation rather than correlation situation.

I suffered terribly for several years, lost my career, my home, my mind and most of my will to live before I finally got on HRT and got my life back. I'm not exaggerating. Some women sail through the change, others experience discomforting and annoying symptoms which impact quality of life but not dramatically - but some of us suffer terribly, and the costs are massive. We are all different and we should have the informed choice to treat our symptoms during the change with whatever good tools are available, including HRT. I'm angry that despite my expressed concerns about chronic insomnia and the many consequent health effects I wasn't even offered HRT for nearly a decade, until I found a primary care doctor who wasn't afraid to refer me to a GYN who isn't afraid to help women.

[Anonymous]

I am on a HRT patch and I feel 1,000 times better.

However, I was still feeling super wiped out - had a blood test done and I found out my vitamin B and vitamin D were very low. I had a bunch of vitamin B shots and started taking vitamin D and I do feel better. Now I'm taking sublingual B12 (because going to the doctor's office to get the shot was a pita).

I had never been a big supplement believer before, but now I think I'm on board.

Do any of you take any vitamin supplements? If so, what?

[Anonymous]

I took and take all those vitamin supplements.
Taking low dose HRT is great until you can't. Not saying caused my cancer but I got HR+ cancer and had to stop.
Had 11 great years with sex and vag. 60 to 71.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you both.
I have asked my oncologist and she prefers I try different moisturizer and lubricant than topical, given my medical history of polyps too. The bleeding and polyps twice in 2022 were discouraging. My former gyn missed them in a D&C, found one in the office visit after. Incompetent. Second polyp was tucked under cervix and new gyn found it in office after it spotted. This all consumed March to August of 2022 including sonograms to rule our endometrial cancer.
Just so tired of being medicalized.
Thank you for letting me vent.
I really am very lucky. I am 73.

Can you please recommend your GYN or mention their practice name? My ob/gyn was fenomenal with my high risk pregnancy, but now that i am in my 50s and symptomatic for polyps, she just handwaived me away several times. i feel unseen and unheard by my long term provider. Ironically, she is in her late 60s herself…

[Anonymous]

Stopped hot flahes, vag almost normal, look good, helped reverse my osteoporosis because I started on hrt same year osteoporosis was diagnosed. Doctor says only 10 years on it. I say bs.

[Anonymous]

^^^was 55-56 when I started on hrt

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am on a HRT patch and I feel 1,000 times better.

However, I was still feeling super wiped out - had a blood test done and I found out my vitamin B and vitamin D were very low. I had a bunch of vitamin B shots and started taking vitamin D and I do feel better. Now I'm taking sublingual B12 (because going to the doctor's office to get the shot was a pita).

I had never been a big supplement believer before, but now I think I'm on board.

Do any of you take any vitamin supplements? If so, what?

I do HRT and vitamin D3 (5000 units a day); iron; zinc, ashwagandha liquid; vitamin b12 sublingul and have tried omega 3 acid liquid and just can't keep swallowing oil.

[Anonymous]

Dr. Camilla Hersh in Reston is fabulous - I have never had a doctor take as much time as she did or explain so much about what is going on with my body. I wish I would have found her years ago (I'm 52 and just went on HRT about six weeks ago). But she just took a leave of absence to have surgery. I think she is resuming seeing patients in the spring.

[Anonymous]

Yes. It’s helped so much. I honestly can’t believe it. I feel like I’m getting good sleep for the first time in years, my mood is so much better, and I feel like myself again. It feels too good to be true, tbh. I have to say though that I am still worried re breast cancer risks; it feels confusing to me to go from avoid HRT to having it prescribed seemingly quite freely. But it’s helping so much that I’ve decided to stay on it for a while, but maybe get another opinion or two. I’ve also totally cut out alcohol as that seems to be a pretty big BC risk factor, so maybe that will help lower my risk.

But yes, OP, I feel so much better on it. Low dose patch and 100 mg progesterone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stopped hot flahes, vag almost normal, look good, helped reverse my osteoporosis because I started on hrt same year osteoporosis was diagnosed. Doctor says only 10 years on it. I say bs.

Bump that. I’ll take it the rest of my life unless I get cancer maybe and dare a doctor to tell me to stop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stopped hot flahes, vag almost normal, look good, helped reverse my osteoporosis because I started on hrt same year osteoporosis was diagnosed. Doctor says only 10 years on it. I say bs.

Bump that. I’ll take it the rest of my life unless I get cancer maybe and dare a doctor to tell me to stop.

I feel the same way and am on a high doses because of surgical menopause. They can pry my hormones out of my cold dead hands. I don’t care if it puts me at some slightly elevated risk of something. I like feeling great in my body.