Hormone Replacement Therapy
By carpenter5
@carpenter5 (6782)
United States
July 27, 2011 7:04pm CST
I will be 45 years old in November. According to my nurse practitioner after running a series of tests, it appears that I'm in the early stages of menopause. I am suffering from hot flashes, night sweats, loss of appetite, food cravings, insomnia, forgetfulness, lack of desire, horrible mood swings, terrible crying jags, and issues when trying to make love to my husband.
I had a partial hysterectomy in 1996 so the NP says my symptoms have been more pronounced and started with little or no warning. She has put me on Estrotest. I'm frustrated because my insurance sees this as a medication of choice not need. So they refused to pay for it. Thankfully, it was only $18.00, but it really upsets me that they won't cover it!
I've been on the meds for a little over a week now. I can see a difference in a few areas, but not in others. The hot flashes are still very severe. Last night, I was trying to cook dinner and one came up on me. I really thought I was going to pass completely out I was hot. My daughter put the fan on the kitchen counter and turned it on high.
My best friend is here visiting from Arkansas. She grabbed the cold pack from the freezer and wrapped it in a kitchen towel, and put it on the back of my neck. My son in law grabbed a bar stool and brought it in for me to sit down. Then he began to fan me with a Bed Bath and Beyond Sale Catalog! LOL I finally cooled off, but it took several minutes before the room quit spinning.
I wonder if any of you have tried Hormone Replacement Therapy or know someone close to you who has? What medication did you/they take? Did it help with the symptoms? How long before you noticed a difference?
3 people like this
6 responses
@AmbiePam (92481)
• United States
28 Jul 11
Holy cow. I had no idea hot flashes were so bad. My mom had a total hysterectomy when she was 38. I kept thinking she was going to have a lot of weird side effects from menopause. But she never did. Or if she did I certainly didn't see it. I was always asking her if she felt like such and such, but she said she was fine. She did go on something, it was a patch. Apparently it worked for her. But I don't remember what it was other than it was a hormone replacement.
1 person likes this
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
31 Jul 11
My mom did the patches as well. She loved them because she could put one on and forget about it for a week until it was time to switch it out. I was afraid with all the time I spend in the pool that I would not have good success with them. It is frustrating to have to remember one more pill, but then again, what's one more when you have to take a handful anyway? LOL
@KrauseHome (36448)
• United States
28 Jul 11
Personally this sounds like the Meds are either causing more problems then they are worth, or there is something else wrong and they need to be checking for that. Have you had a whole series of Blood Tests done to see if there are other things out there causing some of your problems or these symptoms? Having something like this happen does not happen to me unless since I am diabetic my Sugar level is also Low or too high. Could also be a number of other things, but if I were you, I would consider going back into your Doctor and discussing this issue and see if there is not something more that they can do.
1 person likes this
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
31 Jul 11
She did a complete blood work up before she put me on the medication. My blood sugar, iron levels, thyroid, etc...were all within normal range. My estrogen levels were not! They were several points below even the lowest "normal" range.
I did my research before allowing her to put me on another medicine. All of my symptoms were common to low estrogen levels. After almost two weeks of being on the HRT, I can already see much improvement in some areas. Especially things like my mood swings. I no longer want to cry every time someone looks at me cross eyed. While I'm still having hot flashes, they aren't coming quite as often.
AND Thursday night-Friday morning: I actually slept ALL THE WAY through the night! I was SO proud of myself. lol I don't really remember the last time this happened!
@GardenGerty (160626)
• United States
28 Jul 11
I had a complete hysterectomy at 45, but I had worse symptoms at 38, that I suspect may have been a sluggish thyroid. I changed some eating habits, took cod liver oil, and walked more when I was thirty eight and the symptoms went away. When I had my hysterectomy the ob/gyn I had seen put me on an estrogen patch. The delivery of hormones was smooth, no breakthrough, nothing. He had me start that before I even left the hospital. However, I started getting red spots from the adhesive. One patch a week and it was a good choice. I am bad about remembering some of the medication names, the oral HRT I was put on, by him, was the one that was made from (conjugated from) the urine of pregnant horses. First bottle free from him in the office. I do not remember any problems. My insurance filled with the generic, which was conjugated estrogen made from soy. Over the course of time I began having bad headaches every morning. I went to my regular family physician for the one year check, as the other doctor retired, and it was an out of town office. My family doctor suggested that I take the HRT at bed time, which helped and due to financial/insurance concerns had me try estradiol, I believe. It is the simplest, and cheapest thing out there. After a while I switched to taking black cohosh, and supplements with magnesium, and I have liked that the best. What your symptoms sound like is how I was at 38. I have had nothing like that since then. Sorry I wrote you a book.
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
31 Jul 11
I was hoping that only having a partial hysterectomy at the age of 30, that I wouldn't have a horrible time with menopause since I still have both ovaries. But alas, it appears that they have stopped working like they are supposed to. From what my blood work shows, they are beginning to stop working, therefore levels are dropping. It frustrated me that the insurance didn't cover this medication because it's cheaper than several medications that they DO cover. I did talk to my Nurse Practitioner, and she is going to write a letter to the insurance and see if they will override the denial.
@paula27661 (15811)
• Australia
28 Jul 11
I have faced those horrible hot flushes and I can certainly relate. I didn’t want to start HRT but the hot flushes were too difficult for me to bear. I visited my GP and she put me on Premia Continous 2.5 mg and it helped but not enough because the pesky hot flushes still kept coming so the doctor doubled the dosage and that did the trick within 24 hours! After six months or so I tried to gradually come off the HRT but the symptoms returned so I started again on 5mg for a month and then cut back to 2.5mg and so far so good. I still don’t like the idea of medication such as this one but my life was awful without it. I hope to eventually come off it altogether but for now I will stay on the minimum doage.
1 person likes this
@junrapmian (2169)
• Philippines
28 Jul 11
I'm in my late 40's and I have experience the same. There were times that I collapsed hitting the floor and injuring my head. I woke up most of the night going to the bathroom and taking immediate showers to relieve me from those hot flushes. I never went to the doctor for this but continuously take my multi-vitamins and iron supplements thinking that I am hypotensive. Anyway, I have researched that Maca can help so I ordered online and have been taking it for months now and those symptoms are lesser now.
1 person likes this
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
31 Jul 11
I found myself going to the pool at 4 a.m. to swim laps. Unfortunately since the temperatures have risen to 105*-115* each day, the pool is no longer cooler than me! LOL
The showers are now my friend as well. The medicine seems to be helping, but it is slow going, as I was warned it would be. Glad your symptoms are easing up. I sympathize!
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
31 Jul 11
Oh bless your heart. I know how frustrating that can be. My daughter and son in law lost their first baby. Thankfully, she was early in her pregnancy and it didn't cause damage that would cause her to not be able to get pregnant again, though it did take more than a year for her to concieve. She is at 18 weeks now, and has begun to feel the baby move, and this past week, we were able to see her kick her little feet against Kristen's belly. It is such a relief that we seem to be past the point of the last pregnancy when she lost our little one.
