Menopause/Hormonal Support

[[Buddie]]

It’s been suggested to me that I start a support thread for ladies who are battling with hormone issues during withdrawal. Hormones (or lack thereof) can have a very dramatic effect on how well your taper goes. I personally could never have done a taper if I hadn’t been using HRT. It has literally been a life saver for me.

I respect that everyone has their own opinions about hormone therapy, but before anyone makes up their mind one way or the other I would just like everyone to be fully informed with accurate information. It is very hard to find accurate and reliable information about menopause and HRT because the internet has been over-run with dubious sites, making totally inaccurate claims and selling expensive products without any evidence that these products work, let alone are actually safe to use. There has also been far too much scare mongering about HRT, when there is plenty of evidence to support the fact that properly regulated and natural (bioidentical) hormones are actually very beneficial for long-term health.

I'm not claiming to be an expert with menopause or hormone treatment at all, so I may not be able to answer anyone’s specific questions. There are other posters on [...] who are far more knowledgeable than me, so hopefully they will also chime in.



Dr Elizabeth Vliet is an expert on female hormones. She has also written a few books, which I’m in the process of trying to wade through, but they’re really big….lol..

http://www.thebuzzonbios.com/contents/web_videolist.asp (scroll half way down the page to the heading “The Buzz on Bioidenticals: on-demand webinar”)

(These next three links are online Q&As and interviews with Dr Vliet which are very interesting)

http://www.power-surge.com/transcripts/vliet.htm

http://www.power-surge.com/transcripts/vliet2.htm

http://www.power-surge.com/transcripts/vliet3.htm

(Youtube videos of Dr Vliet)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XfpAATJkC8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EpU-Kutdns

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2qn9Poz2yA


Dr Annie Evans is another doctor with a very good website.

http://www.drannieevans.com/#!hormone-replacement-therapy-hrt/c1y4k   


Dr [...] Currie has a fantastic website that has all sorts of information about menopause. It also has a very good forum, where I learned a lot. As with [...], it is often the people who are suffering from a problem who are able to give the best advice.

http://www.menopausematters.co.uk/


Professor John Studd is a leading gynaecologist who has a fantastic website which is full of very good information. Please note that where he mentions “Utrogestan” that is the same as “Prometrium” which is a regulated bioidentical progesterone.

http://www.studd.co.uk/bioidentical_hormones.php

[[Buddie]]

Thanks DP!

I'm not menopausal. I'm pretty sure I'm not even peri-menopausal. However hormones, or lack there of, still make a massive difference to my taper.

I can be fine and then 'that time of the month' hits and I may as well be in full on benzo w/d.

Even if you aren't menopausal, or close to it you get a very real drop in hormones during that time and it may be making your taper harder. If you have any doubt about how much hormones fluctuate check out this diagram: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hormones_estradiol,_progesterone,_LH_and_FSH_during_menstrual_cycle.png
During our menstrual and premenstrual phase both major hormones can drop to virtually nil.

This is a page on Hormones and benzodiazepines. http://www.benzosupport.org/Hormones%20and%20benzo%20diazepines.htm
It focusses largely on progesterone. Anecdotally oestrogen seems to make as much, if not more, difference to the felt effects of benzo w/d. Still it is an interesting read if for not other reason than to show: we are not imagining this!

There is a very real and substantial relationship between oestrogen, progesterone, gaba, gaba uptake and even neuro-plasticity.

I've through trial and error found very low dose of oestrogen patch has helped. I may need some help on the progesterone front but I'm waiting till I see a professional for their help with that.

A few more thoughts on hormones and w/d:

- OTC preparations of either hormone are probably best avoided. These are powerful chemicals that act in endless ways in our bodies. And we all know we are pretty delicate in benzo w/d. For this reason professional help and Bio-identical hormones are probably needed before we start tampering with this stuff ourselves. It is better to be safe than sorry.

- The pill is often prescribed for PMS and peri-meno. The pill has helped some but not others in benzo w/d. The pill is a BIG load of hormones - artificial ones and mostly progesterone. It isn't designed to help with low levels of hormones. It is designed to give you so much hormones your body virtually acts as though it is pregnant. You can get help with this stuff without as much hormones as the pill provides.

- Vitamins and minerals can affect hormone levels. A lot of taperers use big doses of vitamin C for instance. It works fine for most but interestingly it can go wrong for many female taperers. Vitamin C does have a relationship to hormone production. So much so it used to be used as a means of aborting (though that has been found to be unscientific). Anyway.. it is good stuff but large doses can lead to hormones out of whack. Vitamin Bs and magnesium also effect hormone production.

- Intensive exercise reduces progesterone and oestrogen. So much so that it can mean female athletes don't menstruate and you can bring on early menopause through lots of intensive exercise. Exercise is great for us. Again though I've come to believe its relationship to hormones is worth consideration and monitoring whilst we are in this darn benzo w/d.

I'd love a space where we can commiserate, support and acknowledge what we've noticed about our hormones and benzo w/d.

love
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[[Buddie]]

Why am I not suprised I'm in menopausal hell hot flushes all the time & I can't go on HRT as there is DVT in my family you know I have to laugh or I'd go mad .Thanks so much for all the info links so much helpful reading 

[[Buddie]]

DP, thanks for starting this thread. I will be reading more when I'm out of this awful day.
Very interested.

[[Buddie]]

Why am I not suprised I'm in menopausal hell hot flushes all the time & I can't go on HRT as there is DVT in my family you know I have to laugh or I'd go mad .Thanks so much for all the info links so much helpful reading 

I don't know that much about DVT or how it's affected by HRT, but I do know that a lot of the reports of the "negatives" of HRT are not always based on actual facts - even the doctors misreport the actual findings. For example, proper use of HRT can actually either decrease or have no increase risk with breast cancer, despite the so often touted claims that it increases the risk. It also increases bone density and protects the brain and the heart. It's not surprising really because estrogen controls just about everything in a woman's body, and suddenly when it's taken away at menopause there are going to be dramatic effects. Replacing it only makes sense to me.

If a woman wants to use HRT, and she has done her research, no doctor should deny it IMO. Even if there were risks with taking it (which I don't believe there are) I would still take it because it is making my life better right now. If it means that my life is shortened by a few years, so what?

I happened to catch a very interesting segment on "Katie" (Couric) yesterday where they were talking about hormones and HRT. It was a very positive and informative segment, and didn't give all the crap information that Oprah has given about it. Hopefully I might be able to find it on youtube.

[[Buddie]]

Not sure if this is of any interest to anyone, but after 20 years of HRT after an early hysterectomy, I finished tapering off of it about two weeks ago.  No problems with hormones/HRT during my taper, no problems tapering off.
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[[Buddie]]

Why am I not suprised I'm in menopausal hell hot flushes all the time & I can't go on HRT as there is DVT in my family you know I have to laugh or I'd go mad .Thanks so much for all the info links so much helpful reading 

Just out of interest I looked up my trusty Dr Elizabeth Vliet’s “Screaming to be Heard” book and this is what she says about blood clots….

Another question which comes up frequently is “What about blood clots and the possibility of stroke?” The newest research from European centers, published since 1990 in the international menopause medical journals, has shown that the current doses and types of estrogen being used for menopause therapy do not cause adverse effects on clotting factors. This is particularly true of the transdermal form of estradiol, that bypass the liver “first pass” metabolism and do not therefore stimulate liver production of clotting factors. This recently reported PEPI trials in USA further supported the lack of adverse effects of estrogen on clotting factors, and also that women on ERT or HRT had lower levels of fibrinogen (one of the clot-forming factors) than women not taking hormones. The issue of estrogen related clotting disorders (thromboembolism and thrombophlebitis) has been more carefully evaluated with modern techniques and was found to be primarily due to the use of the older high-dose oral contraceptives in women who were also smokers.

She goes on to say more, but that’s the gist of it.

What I keep finding is that HRT keeps getting the blame for things that it’s not responsible for. There is so much evidence to show that it doesn’t increase the risks of anything. People are so used to being negative about HRT, and blaming it for everything, that when say a woman on HRT gets breast cancer, immediately the HRT gets the blame, but the sad fact is that she was probably going to get breast cancer anyway, and the HRT had nothing to do with it.

[[Buddie]]

Not sure if this is of any interest to anyone, but after 20 years of HRT after an early hysterectomy, I finished tapering off of it about two weeks ago.  No problems with hormones/HRT during my taper, no problems tapering off.
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That's great [...]

[[Buddie]]

I happened to catch a very interesting segment on "Katie" (Couric) yesterday where they were talking about hormones and HRT. It was a very positive and informative segment, and didn't give all the crap information that Oprah has given about it. Hopefully I might be able to find it on youtube.

I couldn't find it on youtube, but this is from the show's website. I [...] it's okay to post a clickable link to it. Check out the three videos at the top.

http://katiecouric.com/videos/category/feb-25-talking-hormones/

[[Buddie]]

I am 66 and have been on bio-identical hormones for a few years.  Wish I would have began prior to menopause, which was for me 52.  The hormones can prevent the shrinkage of the vagina.  Once it has shriveled up there is no going back, the BHT does help with lubrication plus mental outlook!
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