Starting Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) for early menopause.
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- Опубліковано 31 січ 2024
- Something different from me today.
I am talking about starting hormone replacement therapy or HRT as it's commonly known as.
I hope it's not too off topic for you but I do totally understand if it's not your cup of tea. I'll see you next week for more sewing content 🥰
The resources I used in the run up to my diagnosis are:
/ @menopause_doctor
/ @davinamccall
/ @balancemenopause
The Balance app
thebms.org.uk/
www.newsonhealth.co.uk/
Take care,
Ruth x
#hrt #hormonereplacementtherapy #earlymenopause #menopause #perimenopause #womenshealth #bupamenopauseplan #estrogen #estrogenpatch #evorel
I started my HRT just one week back. I feel my tummy a little bit bloated, but my doctor told me, that this can be the case in the first 3 months. So I am not worried about it, and it‘s so far really a minor side effect. Ruth, you seem to have had a look at the same resources as I did, so I think you are in a good spot. Access to info and access to care is so important. And thanks for talking about it on UA-cam, this topic is still so much hushhush, and most doctors don’t know enough. So we the women have to share our experiences. Bravo, and I hope it works out for us both.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience too, you are absolutely right that we have to advocate for ourselves. Unfortunately we can't assume that all GP's have the latest knowledge so we often need to go in with all the facts which can be really intimidating especially when we are already not feeling ourselves. I am so happy you got what you needed too, please keep me posted on how you are getting on xx
Wow Ruth I think you are so brave talking about your experiences it will help so many ladies who are going through the menopause, I'm 73 now and when I had my menopause it was less talked about so well done ladies who put their stories out there xx
Thank you Julia 🥰
Congratulations 👏👏👏👏
I've been taking HRT for a couple yrs... totally changed my life...or just gave me back the one I had... best of luck ❤️
Hiya Kelly, thank you so much for commenting 🥰 That is absolutely brilliant and I story I am hearing more and more often! There are some excellent choices available these days and I love that we are helping to spread the word that in many cases, we don't need to put up with the symptoms anymore xx
Hi Ruth, I pray the HRT is helpful for you. I went through menopause and it was a bear without HRT. Have a blessed day, and Happy Sewing.
Thank you Zelda, we certainly are lucky to have all these options now. Have a lovely week x
@SeamStressedRuth You too my friend 🧡
Thanks for sharing your experience Ruth, it’s such an important topic to talk about. 🥰 I really hope you’re feeling more yourself again soon! xxxx
Thank you Sarah 🥰 I do too, and yes its so important we have a place we can talk about these things that will affect all of us in one way or another x
Hello Ruth, a very personal vlog talking about the menopause whilst walking the dog. 😊 I’m sure you will feel the effects of the patch soon. It’s good to hear that advances have been made regarding the medication and treatment for the menopause, many of us and our mothers were not so lucky. See you soon. Happy sewing 🧵 xx
Thank you Donna, you are absolutely right and it's so sad that so many women didn't get the choices that are available now. Looking forward to seeing you next week for a proper catch up xx
Ruth well done on you vlog I can imagine how hard it was to tell you story hopefully you’ll start to feel better soon and be back to your old self. Your such a lovely person and I so glad that I’ve met you and now call you a friend big hugs and love 🤗🥰💕💕💕
Thank you Heather 🥰 I wasn’t sure about posting this, I’d never usually share such personal things with anyone really but it’s so relevant to our community and so normal but even we don’t talk much about it xx
@@SeamStressedRuth I know it’s crazy isn’t it I’m sure once you settle into the treatment you will see an improvement looking forward to seeing you next Saturday I’ve not made anything for 2 weeks 😂🥰xx
Thank you so much for making this video and sharing your experience........I am 47 and thinking of doing the same thing...:)
Hi, thank you so much for commenting. It's a decision we have to make individually but for me, after doing my own research, I decided it was definitely worth it. I'm hopeful the HRT will help replace the Estrogen I have lost over time and i'll soon be feeling better. Good luck with your journey, please let me know how you get on 🥰 x
Hi Ruth it’s so good to see you and many others talking so openly about menopause. Hope everything helps. I was 39 no warning or reason straight into it ( 17 years ago) couldn’t really talk to anyone as it wasn’t happening to any of my friends. I’ve done ok apart from no sleep, thinner hair and chin hair 😂 I wish I had known about other things like taking marine collagen as your collagen levels drop massively and it affects way more than just your skin. Good luck with it all x
Hi Alison, thank you so much for commenting and sharing your experience too. That must have been so difficult for you with no one to talk to about what you were going through! We are fortunate now that there is so much more information and awareness but people still get brushed off by GP's who don't have all the facts. I already have the chin hair so hoping that might reduce 🤣 x
It’s great to see a lot more people talking about menopause recently… when 50% of the population will go through menopause. It’s well and truly time for it to come out of the closet. My GP doctor is a female of an age I was confident in discussing my symptoms, and she too sent me off for full blood work, which confirmed I was in perimenopause. Good luck with your journey😊.
You are so right! It's a normal part of every woman's life and our GP's should be fully up to date on the latest research and treatments available. Thank you for your good luck wishes, I hope you are getting what you need now too 🥰
🤞🏼 the hrt helps you. Thank you for sharing your journey. I started on mine a year ago - should have bitten the bucket and started a few years earlier. It’s really helped me - there have been teething problems but a massive improvement.
Oh that is fantastic news and a story that I am hearing more and more, fingers crossed I will be telling the same one in a few months time 🥰 xx
I hope you find your HRT helps Ruth, I’ve been on it for over 3 years now since my symptoms kicked in during covid - you may find you need to tweak it but it should help a lot x
Hi Sarah, thank you so much for commenting and sharing your experience too. I’ll be having a review in a few weeks time so will keep you posted xx
Thank you for opening the HRT discussion. I have an upcoming appointment to discuss my options. The anger at pretty much everything prompted the desire to be better.
Hi Brenda, thank you so much for commenting and sharing your experience too. The anger is really scary and upsetting isn’t it. Good luck with your appointment, if you haven’t already done your research I’d definitely recommend looking at some of the resources I mentioned in the description. I was able to communicate my treatment preferences much easier because I had understood what was going on and what the options were. Please let me know how you get on xx
@@SeamStressedRuth Excellent idea. I will do that.
Thanks for sharing your steps and experiences with this issue. There is a lack of communication about menopause out there. I'm in perimenopause since the beginning of the Pandemic as well. I'm 41.
And as I have several other health and mental health issues I realised it late that it's the changing hormones.
Now starting on zoely (mainly because I also have punishing pmdd) I'm a big frightened.
I totally get you, it's scary when you don't know what is going on with your body and then just as scary when you do find out. Good luck with your treatment plan 🥰 fingers crossed we both start to feel more like ourselves soon xx
Thank you Ruth for such an honest Vlog. Really helps people in a similar situation ❤
Thank you so much for commenting Claire, I hope you are well 🥰
HRT therapy can deplete B vitamins; especially B6 and B12, so you may want to supplement them in the morning.
Thank you so much for sharing that tip, I will definitely keep an eye on that 🥰
@@SeamStressedRuthI take these supplements hun x
Thanks again for this, I had more blood work done this week and my B vitamins are indeed low. Will be off to pick up some supplements after work 🥰
Thank you so much for sharing your journey with us Ruth. It is so encouraging hearing other women talking about this more openly - thank you. ❤
Thank you Amelia 🥰 It's been so liberating to talk openly about menopause and to have so many women get involved in the conversation and has just been wonderful xx
Thank-you so much for sharing Ruth, women's health needs to be prioritised more, well done for raising this important topic. HRT can literally be a lifesaver for some women, so pleased you were able to access it. Did you hear about NICE suggesting that CBT is a reasonable alternative?! Made me so angry. I hope you start to feel positive effects soon, I've heard great things about it. Thanks again for sharing, sending lots of love x
Hi Tania, thank you so much for commenting and I completely agree that women's health needs to be prioritised and discussed more openly. I did hear about a draft paper where NICE had mentioned CBT as a method of reducing how much women were 'bothered' by their symptoms. I don't know how far that has progressed, but I would be really shocked if they were considering recommending it as an alternative to HRT. I'm not a medical expert but I don't think CBT can actually replace the hormones women lose when going through menopause. We need our own hormones back as the first priority x
Thank you for sharing your story Ruth. I’m 43 and went through much the same last year. My GP told me I was too young to be going through Menopause so I reached out to my Work Private Health to get help. Finally got my HRT patches and within a couple of weeks the worst of my symptoms had gone. It’s made a massive difference to my quality of life. Fingers crossed you get some relief soon Ruth xx
Hi Viki, thank you so much for commenting and sharing your experience too 🥰 It’s so frustrating that we have to fight to get our own hormones back isn’t it. But amazing to hear how quickly things settled down for you once you got what you needed. Hopefully I’ll be saying the same thing pretty soon 🤞 xx
Bless you Ruth, I hope the HRT helps you to feel more like yourself very soon. The whole menopause thing is indeed a challenge, I'm 72 and well on the other side of it but I have massive sympathy and empathy with my fellow sister's still on this journey. On a lighter note with regard to your feelings of anger and mood swings, my husband told me it was like living with someone with nuclear PMS😂😂 he's stuck it out thank goodness❤ Take care, big hug. Xxx
Thanks for sharing Ruth, it’s really helpful to hear about it. I’ve been in menopause for a couple of years now but I’ve avoided HRT so far, I’ve gone down the natural supplement route. It definitely helps. I hope you start feeling more yourself soon 🫶 x
Let us know how you get on xx@@SeamStressedRuth
Thanks for taking us with you on ‘the walk’ Ruth. A lovely open, honest and inspiring vlog. Thanks for doing this, and thanks for feeling that you could trust us enough to do it. So glad you’d done lots of research and have uncovered helpful resources for your journey. I feel it’s so important that people make a well informed choice about this, and you’ve given others a chance to explore their own personal options. It’s so good to know you, Susan x
Hiya Susan, thank you for such a kind comment 🥰 I think we can make much better choices when we are well informed, I did A LOT of research after growing up hearing all the negative press that HRT got in the past. There are excellent options out there now and I decided that for me, it was worth it. Have a lovely week my friend xx
Thank you for sharing 😊 I started on these patches and the progesterone last year as I was just so angry all the time or just so emotional I couldn’t cope! I am 52 and have 4 kids and I’ve been feeling off for a long long time. Just never got around to seeing the doctor until it got so bad I thought I was going mad. I will say that the patches leave quite a bit of glue residue on you 😂 I always put mine on my bum as I have lots of real estate there 😂 and swop one side to the other so not always in the same place. You can get the glue residue off with your fingers or a bit of scrubbing in the shower but tbh it’s not that much of a problem. I haven’t had any side effects thankfully but I know my sister had indigestion badly. It took a couple of weeks for me to see a change ❤
Oh the anger and the tears are so confusing aren't they! I had a right good cry yesterday morning because my husband was going to work on a Saturday 😂 I was very happy to have a day to myself to get some sewing done so why the tears? I have changed the patch for the first time this morning, was a bit nervous it would feel like pulling off a plaster but it came off painlessly and then yes, a bit of scrubbing to get the gunk off lol xx
Thank you so much for sharing this Ruth. I’m 44. This is so relevant to me right now. In a few months when the patches have hopefully started to work their magic I’d love to hear how you are getting on. X
Thank you so much for watching and commenting 🥰 I will share an update in a couple of weeks. I hope you are getting what you need too x
Thank you for sharing, we hope that this is the beginning of a bright new chapter for you 🥰
Thank you lovelies xx
Hi Ruth, bit late to seeing your video, as I’ve not been following you that long, I also have the patches, if you use a small amount of baby oil on a cotton ball/ or tissue the residue comes on very easily, I went straight into menopause after having a full hysterectomy, I wasn’t even told I’d need HRT and being quite naive , I was 43 at the time, the symptoms was a bit of a shock 😳 and if it wasn’t for a friend of mine who is a breast cancer nurse told me I should be on it, I went along to the doctors to sort it out, I hope that your feeling better Xx
Aw it will turn your life around xx
I sure hope so Caron xx
Thank you so much for sharing this. Im so interested in how things go. Best of luck ❤
Thank you so much Christie, I will share how I am getting on 🥰 x
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I had to come off mine after just 12 months as my blood pressure went up. I didn't take it due to any symptoms, just because I had a total hysterectomy. Lucky for I've only ever had a few symptoms and that was before surgery. Mine wasn't a patch. I had pills
That's such a shame, there are so many different types available now maybe there is something that will suit you? It's sad but I don't think we can assume our GP's know everything, they have so many things to learn and remember, sometimes its up to us to do the research and go in with all the knowledge just in case xx
Aww Ruth I really do understand how you feel my lovely. Please do let me know how you get on with it. I am looking into it. What was the cream for if you don’t mind me asking. If it’s personal just don’t answer 😂😂😂
I’m so pleased you are looking into it too, we shouldn’t have to suffer these days 🥰 The cream is Ovestin. It’s a vaginal estrogen designed to help locally with irritation, dryness and pain. Sorry I didn’t explain it properly, I felt embarrassed but it’s totally normal 🤦🏼♀️ xx
Yeah I have had a consultation with my Gp and I said that I would have a think about it as I wasn’t so keen on using it literally forever. Also because I am classed as high risk I would have to have something a bit different. Xxx
Hope this works out for you. Don’t hesitate to go back to your GP if it’s not tackling your symptoms as you would hope. You sometimes need to try different prescriptions. I was allergic to the adhesive on the patches so now use a spray.
I found the vaginal atrophy the worst symptoms Ruth, dont be embarrassed. Nobody talks about it so i thought and the drs too that it was a water infection, but it didnt clear with antibiotics . The night sweats will get better quicker but va took a little longer for me, i also have vagifem but dont need to use them as much now. Give the patches at least 5 months x
It's shocking you were brushed off like that with your own gp surgery. Luckily you have access to private care or you would be waiting for god knows how long. It shouldn't have to be like that. If your gp had the blood results they should of just given you the prescription
Hi Bev, yes you are absolutely right, it shouldn't be like that. Access to such an important treatment should be available when women need it.