Menopause and hormones

When I went into menopause, it was routinely prescribed to every woman who was in menopause. I am still angry about that. I had no problems, just stopped having periods....no hot flashes, mood swings etc. At that time, it was believed that the hormones would prevent heart attacks and breast cancer. So I took the Rx. It was AWFUL for me, just AWFUL. I had bad mood swings--I could not stand myself and my poor DH and DS suffered. I gained 20 pounds. I had no interest in sex. I was only 40 years old, and so I took the HRT. Finally about 5 years into it, the medical world decided that HRT didn't prevent any of those things. I immediately began to wean myself off by taking the drugs every few days and then spacing out the times between taking them. By the time I saw my gyn I was
off those drugs. Unfortunately the weight stayed with me.

Every person is different. Some women had good experiences with HRT. My body does not like extra estrogen. I was prescribed it once for vaginal dryness and using the suppositories gave me intense headaches.

Hormones effect each person so differently that the only way to know if they are right for you is unfortunately, through trial and error.

I so badly wanted hormones to work for me. I read about the incredible relief many women experience and that there are benefits to staying on hormones indefinitely. However, they completely threw my life off the rails. I tried pills and creams and IUD and patches. My body and joints felt better, but I had terrible side effects. The worst was that I grew facial hair, gained 20 pounds, had uncontrollable crying jags, and after several months, had crippling anxiety ending in panic attacks.

That all stopped when I stopped the hormones.

I’m super bummed about it, but they just did not work for me. I’m generally super sensitive to things like that. I was also a very nauseous pregnant lady and I have read that there can be a correlation to pregnancy nausea and an intolerance for extra progesterone (which you will have to take with estrogen if you haven’t had a hysterectomy).

I wish you all of the best. Dealing with perimenopause and menopause has been a difficult chapter in my life.

I bought Davina McCall's book Menopausing a couple months ago--it's a great resource, very 'chatty' and approachable.

I've been on BHRT since I was 40, first for PMDD then peri and now menopause. The hormones and dosages have changed throughout that time. When I first started it was progesterone and testosterone. Now we've added estrogen.

My quality is life was greatly improved. My PMDD was raging and I was miserable (and miserable to be around).

I should have clarified, what I heard (I'm sure it was Dr Briden on a podcast) was don't wait until you are 5, 10 years into menopause and still struggling and then go on hormones. How long have you been in menopause?

I went into menopause due to chemo/radiation at 43. I suffered for a year. My husband went with me to my appointment to discuss all the changes he had seen and was struggling to deal with. I was hard for me to see the radical changes. I went on a low dose and it was a life (and marriage) saver. I stopped after five years to see if I could do without them. I still have some no hormones symptoms (no libido, easier weight gain in the middle) but I no longer have hot flashes, depression, brain fog, paranoia.

It really is an individual thing. You’ll need to work with your doctor to find what works best for you.

I had a full hysterectomy in December and it was advised to me to go on them as I was too young (47) to be healthy without them. I left with an estrogen patch. About 5 weeks after that, I started having these huge, dark waves of depression that were unlike any other bouts of depression I have had. My mood swings were horrible. My libido sucked and my sleep was affected. I was also driving to my bff house, in her driveway and my brain couldn’t connect where I was or if I was in the right spot (fog)Thankfully, my surgeon stepped in really quickly. Now, I am on a cream that contains estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. I am doing much better physically but still have some lows mentally that I need to work on. Because I am on a custom compound cream, insurance doesn’t pay for it. It is $80 a month and he recommends that I stay on it indefinitely (like 15+ years). Our symptoms sound similar except I do get mini-hot flashes but they are an annoyance vs something I would treat. I say try them for a month or two. You can always go off if you have side effects. But, you might find that they are a lifesaver. I don’t say that lightly - tweaking my doses and getting me out of those dark waves probably did save my life.

I’ve been wondering about this as well. I’ve listened to some podcasts that talked about bio identical hormones but am unsure at what point they are recommended. I’m 48 and still get periods but I have really bad headaches the week before and am now having extreme fatigue and some other things that so far haven’t been explained.

I used a testosterone cream in my early-to-mid-forties for low libido, but it turned out to be the dying throes of what had become a shitty marriage, so I was probably just grasping at straws.

I didn't really go through menopause until much later. My gynecologist did an ultrasound in my mid 50s that still showed active follicles and egg production. WTF. I never had much in the way of mood swings or night sweats. I think I got lucky. I never took any other hormones. I'm 62 now.

I had hot flashes so bad and struggled to sleep. I am have been using cream based hormones for over 2 years. My symptoms have greatly reduced, and I don't have any bad side effects (knock on wood.) My PCP is a nurse practitioner. She had me do the saliva test to check my hormone levels.

My estrogen was hanging in there OK, but I didn't have any progesterone. I have been on that for about a year and have felt considerably better!

I found out last year I was in menopause. I had a few symptoms so I called to be tested (I had an IUD for 12+ years so no periods). I was in menopause and read about the increased risk of osteoporosis so I started estradiol and progesterone pills. Had more side effects than symptom relief. Did Premarin and the estradiol gel. Still nothing significant for symptom relief. Then I decided to visit with a hormone specialist. Starting the Biote pellets in 2 weeks!

I bumped this to see if anyone has been pleased with the pellets? Any side effects?

That's interesting. I've been on just the estrogen (estradiol) patch since a year after my complete hysterectomy with zero side effects.  Prior to taking it I was getting awful hot flashes,  joint pains and anxiety.  My dr. says I can remain on the estradiol until my 70s at least, and I don't want to be without it.  I thought progesterone was only used if you had a uterus, but clearly it is a case-by-case issue.  I'm glad you are feeling much better and found a doctor to get the right combination for you.