I am hypothyroid too, not yet in menopause and was hoping that going on BHRT would take care of the severe fatigue I have been having. I had read Suzanne Somers Breakthrough and was very optimistic that this was going to be my answer. I was put on the lowest doses of both Vivelle patches and oral Prometrium (100 mg). I became super moody, angry, depressed. Some days I slept horrible and others I slept good. I have bad menstrual cramps anyhow and those did not change (may have got worse). I raised the dose of Vivelle and started taking lower dose progesterone troches that were compounded for me (I hate these.. they dissolve between the gums and cheek). I like the higher estrogen, lower progesterone better, but I think when I run out in a couple weeks I'll quit with them. I've been on hormone replacement about 5 months total. I think I actually feel more tired than I did before.

What is Viville? I'm on oral Prometrium 200mg. It's making me crazy. I can hardly type. I feel like I did when I first went Hypo.
Donna

Cohosh is a blood thinner so be careful about taking it especially with a daily aspirin or other blood thinners. I traveled with a doctor and asked about herbal treatments and she said, "if they cure your symptoms they are just as dangerous as prescribed drug". Anything that changes your body's structure except food is a drug.

Vivelle is a small bioidentical estrogen patch that is changed twice a week.

200 mg of Prometrium would make me crazy too. I'd see about getting a lower dose (100 mg is the lowest). You don't take yours during the day, do you? I did that once and ended up laying on the sofa most of the day... made me dizzy and nauseous. I only take progesterone at night now and only 50 mg.

I drink a health drink my DD sells and have a least 1 V-8 a day. Just watching my Diet. I do not do hormone replacement. When I'm excercising regularly all my symptoms go away.

I did take it in the morning for about a week. I was sleeping all day long.
I know herbs are potent. I take them with just as much caution as pharmacuticals. Just because the FDA approves a drug doesn't mean it's safe. Statins are a carcinogen that causes cancer when tested in animals. I got off those fast and now I take Niacin. My cholesteral is high. I had a C-Reactive Protien test and have no inflamation. I also had a Cardiac Calcium Score and have zero calcium deposits. I've always used herbs instead of FDA drugs.
Donna

I have never taken any hormones of any kind in all my 75 years.

Sue

I counseled with 3 doctors when I knew I would have to have a hysterectomy and one suggested taking a weak one for awhile to help me through the surgical change. That is what I did, I don't think I would have needed it.

The best thing I ever did was to get off any hrt. The only thing I could tell that they did was make me feel worse. I feel so much better without them.

and me? i'm om femara an anti-hormone drug..had a lumpectomy last year and it's part of the theraphy... funny thing? have had mini hot flashes i'd never had before, but since my cancer was hormone generated it was a no-brainer to supress..i guess it was fortunate had hyst in 06, and the oncologist removed everything...

Same as Mammie. I feel better without it. I was on it for 3 years...made me have acne and bad disposition. I wanted to slap little old ladies in walmart. I went off...feel much better.

My doctors said they're really getting away from HRT these days... which is fine by me.

Having had hormone-driven cancer, there's no way I'd take hormone therapy.

Women have gone through menopause for millions of years without taking it. IMO, you're only making the drug companies rich if you do take it.

I am 60, had a complete hyster. 15 years ago and never had a need for HRT - I was blessed - no hot flashes, etal.

I am hypothyroid. I went through menopause without any HRT or anything else.

Being hypothyroid I believe it is dangerous to be messing with things chemical or "natural".

Taking OTC supplements or even certain nutritional therapies can mess up your thyroid meds.

If you are taking supplements not prescribed for an actual health issue I would look into those and see what they might be doing before adding more to the mix.

I love shellfish for example but too much and the iodine content messes with my thyroid meds so I try to eat less than I normally would.

I never took anything for menopause, no HRT, no herbs...got through it fine without anything at all.

I tried it for a few months, and then all of a sudden I sensed something akin to the feeling of milk coming in after childbirth, and it kept increasing in sensation and enlargement. So I went off them after about three days of such reaction and concern.

I have hot flashes. Hubby keeps asking isn't there something I can take. He usually laughs (not unkindly) when I start waving my top or throwing it up over my shoulder, then the next time he looks I'm going to get a shirt to put on.

I find it amazing that I can be so hot, and then get chilled.

I don't take any drugs or supplements, and wonder if there's something that I should take. I don't want to take anything, but I had heard that black cohosh works, but I'm leery of herbals.

I did until I found out how they get it.

Thanks guys,
You've really helped me make my decision. I didn't take my hormones yesterday. I think I'll just stop altogether and see how I feel. I already ordered the Black Cohosh so I'll try it. I'm really into natural treatments. I don't like taking any prescription meds. Everyone says Bio-Identicals are natural meds but I don't agree.
donna

Vique_pa, I had no idea. Your comment was an eye-opener for me. I've just got done doing a little reading on the matter and never realized how cruelly the animals were treated. I had always thought they just strapped a bag on the animal to collect the urine and that was that. No big deal. I won't even link to what I've read. It was just horrible unnecessary cruelty for the animals.

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In response to the original question.........I was prescribed HRT but it made me very sick, so I quit. I got through menopause OK without anything. I know some may not be that lucky but you won't die from menopause. I've read that when they extract the estrogen during the manufacturing process that a lot of other substances end up in the drug and they don't know how safe animal steroids really are for humans despite what the FDA says.

I was having problems with head aches and the doctor wanted me to take hormones. I wouldn't do it. Then he gave me a pill with 5 meds in it so I got it filled. After a week or two I started having moods swings and eye problems. I remember getting angry at my husband while he was driving and popping choc. covered peanuts. I don't even remember what made me angry now. He thought it was funny because I am a very patient, calm person. Anyway I went to the pharmacy to find out what was in the pill. Of course hormones were. The pharmacist said if this is making you agitated you don't need hormones, you have to many.

Premarin (pregnant mare's urine) is taken from horses and I would never take that. It is cruel to the horse and to the foals. It is not the same as bio-identical (and some non bio-identical hormones) which are taken from yams or soybeans.

I'm going to return the Black Cohosh too. It iteracts with the Niacin I'm taking. How do so many people take all their meds if they all have adverse interactions? I'm glad that I don't take a lot of drugs.
Donna

I took the estrogen for probably 10 years,until i changed dr's and the new dr told me i shouldn't be on it as breast cancer runs in my family,and he took me off.Guess what i ended up with??? Right,BC,and had to have a bilateral mx.

I'm alos hypothyroid,actually i get my thyroid from a little pill every morning,as i had ALL my thyroid removed.
Kathi

OK....Black Cohosh. Never heard of it. :0)

Jasdip.....IF you do try it...let us all know if it helps you....

I've been using the Vivelle patch for about three years now. It has mostly controlled the hot flashes. Before I started it, I would get so hot that I thought I was going to spontaneously combust. I was waking up in the middle of the night soaked in sweat, as well. Now I occasionally flash, but it isn't that bad. The only bad symptom I still have is brain fog. I'm hoping it will eventually subside.

jeane, if you quit the meds won't you still go through the change?

I never took anything and I still have hot flashes sometimes but I try not to pay any attention to them. I agree with so many here, the less drugs you take the better off you are. I dont sleep much either, but part of that is my own fault !

Luckily, menopause was quite manageable for me. I didn't try HRT till years later, and then had a bad reaction.

Vala/55, my ob/gyn says I'll have to stay on them maybe for 5-10 years to avoid going thru the change. Which I wasn't thrilled about, but I absolutely could not deal with the hot flashes. Since Vivelle doesn't have the progesterone, she said the estrogen only hasn't been found to increase the chances of breast cancer. It is the two combined that was studied. But I don't know if anyone has studied estrogen alone. It is all a crap shoot, but since breast cancer doesn't run in my family, I chose to take the risk.

Organic Donna--I'm no help but I think it's such a coinkidink to see you posting since I was just thinking about you, due to a flight I had to take today. I was wondering if you finally got your thyroid situation straightened out and whether you are feeling any better. Sorry to see you now have other problems and I hope you figure out some kind of a fix, if possible, for them as well.

Jeane,

Only about 10-15% of breast cancers are due to a family genetic trait. The rest of the cancer is caused by environmental and lifestyle choices.

14 years on HRT caused my uterine cancer. I don't advise "any" woman to ever take HRT. Our mothers and grandmothers survived the change without any chemical help. If you feel you just must take something, then try Estroven, available at Walmart. It contains the black cohash. Vitamin E helps with the hot flashes.

Jeane, thanks for the reply. I hate drugs, I am so susceptible to their side effects. I won't even take a vitamin unless the doc prescribes it.

Yes, got talked into taking it by a doctor when there was no medical necessity. Not even hot flashes.

Took pills for about a year, started reading all the adverse effects, and stopped.

I can't see taking drugs that alter my system when there are no problems.

Yes - I take it. I am Cdn. - I take one 100 mg Prometrium pill a day, plus one pump of Estrogel (the instructions on the pamphlet read 2 pumps but my doctor said just one). I have been on it for nearly 3 years - I didn't hit meno until age 57. There were no health considerations that would have affected my decision to take HRT - and in fact I take it because I was born with extremely dry skin so at 60 it sure hasn't gotten any better and the HRT really helps with this. I am just happy that I am able to take it - I am allergic to so many meds that HRT is all I take. I have very high body acid and do not sweat - the words "hot flash" do not apply - and I do not sweat - not even with the heat we had this summer. I can tell you though that the ability to take an anti-histamine, decongestant, sleeping aid - anything - would be preferable to me. I am one of those that wakes up in the operating room - and also locals wear off in 5 minutes. Procedures themselves do not scare me - it is the waking up part that does - or no freezing. So I will continue with my HRT until I am told otherwise.

For those who continue to take it, even with all the warnings and cautions... I sincerely hope you never hear the words 'You have cancer' spoken to you. But if you do, don't you DARE sue the drug companies.

Anything "natural" that actually has an effect or "works" means your body is still taking in hormones. Natural or not the dangers of too much hormone are the same.

There are a small minority of women who actually need the assistance of drug therapy (and don't kid yourself that over the counter health woo-woo isn't) but for the most part the western world has gone bonkers when it it comes to accepting normal phases of a woman's life cycle. We've made every thing that women elsewhere accept as a normal turn of events into a medical problem to be dealt with.

There are always reasons to take the risks. I know of one lady who bled so much she had to go on hormones even though she had cancer in her past. It has to be worth the risk.

She could have had a hysterectomy. It's not a horrendous surgery.

After suffering for several years with non stop heavy bleeding, anemia, pain and fibroids, I finally made the decision to have a hysterectomy a couple of months ago. Over the past several years I had tried HRT in hopes that it would help, but I had awful side effects from everything I tried. It was a long and exhuasting battle. Since my surgery I feel like I have finally gotten my life back.

When I was a kid, I remember my grandmother standing in front of the freezer or cooling her neck off with a Frozen can of Donald Duck OJ. She or my mother never uttered the word menopause as did rest of their generations. It wasn't until the episode of "All in the Family" when Edith was going through the change, that my mother and her friends finally felt somewhat comfortable talking about it.