What a huge and wonderful site! I've been reading and wandering all over, (I'm new) but can't seem to find the answer to my question. Shouldn't we have some sort of estrogen/hormone replacement even tho' postmenopausal and hot flashes are mostly gone. Have been told that it keeps you "young" and saves skin, hair, mind, etc. I apologize if there is an article re this subject somewhere I haven't discovered yet, and if so, please point me in the right direction or opine. thanks riverrunner

Hi riverrunner! WELCOME to the greatest womens site in cyber space Yes, you are in the right place with this post. I guess it's a choice really - HRT or not. I am 2 years post and am taking nothing. Peri was the worst I think - took about 8 years to get through that. I tried everything and had side effects from the lot, so I stopped and so far so good, with only a few mild symptoms remaining. Power Surge was the real life saver for me.....Thankyou Dearest I am sure you will enjoy this fabulous site riverrunner

G'day Jimi and thanks for your input. I used HRT briefly during peri, but it didn't do much to help so I just went off of them and have been post now for a year or so. I guess I'm looking for that "fountain of youth" answer. My body may be post menopausal, but the girl inside me is only 21 and wanting to shoot the white water and look as young as she feels. So.....to ANYONE WITH AN ANSWER....does HRT help keep your skin, hair, mind and body more youthful looking than not being on HRT? Does HRT cause weight gain? I have no other symtoms of this pause, just pure unadulterated vanity. Trying to hold back Father Time......I have too much still to do. I would really appreciate input from both sides. thanks, rr

ERT has helped me - but I was having bad symptoms - I don't know if I would have tried it if I wasn't having symptoms - it could give you problems! Zelma

Hi, I'm post-peri and continue to take natural (bioidentical) estradiol and Prometrium. Dr. suggests I remain on it because at 54, I already have osteoporosis. I've had no negative side effects. As to whether NHRT keeps one youthful, no one can say for sure. You'd have to have identical twins, one on HRT, and one not, to get a scientific take on that. eugene

hi,Riverrunner..I am curious..what did you decide?have you tried nhrt post meno "for vanity reasons"?if so,let us all know how "it worked"?and what medications were prescribed to you!..I am also post meno..minimal symptoms..but I am wondering if I should start nhrt NOW..in order to prevent bone lose,restore my nonexisting libido etc..what do you think?I e -mailed Pete,he wrote back and recommended that I do saliva test to measure my levels.I have not done it yet cause I am afraid that I might open proverbial Pandora box..(don't fix it if it ain't broken?)..so I keep searching this fantastic site for answers...is there anybody here who STARTED nhrt in POST MENO phase?...

O.K., here's just one woman's opinion: I started low-dose NHRT 1.5 years after my last period and have been on it for a year. I didn't have hot flashes ever, but I had great mood swings, no sleep, felt totally "outside" myself, weepy, irritable. NHRT saved my sanity because I really thought my life was over. BTW, on the vanity front, yes, my skin and hair look better. I'll always take the lowest possible dose, but I'll fight to take NHRT as long as I can. When I asked both Pete and my local compounding pharmacist how long I could take NHRT, they both said, in essence, "How long do you want to feel good?" Think I'll have to fight the Gods With Prescription Pads, though. Just my 2-cents worth. KC

I'm 53 and I started going through perimenopause in 1994 and I was put on synthetic hormones. It definitely helped the hot flashes and night sweats and the mood swings but because I still have my uterus I had to use progesterone (which was also synthetic). The 12 days a month I used the progesterone I was so cranky and irritable. I am now postmenopausal as I had my last period when I was 49 (4 years ago). In December 2001 I went off the hormones because of the study that was published about hormone therapy. The night sweats and the hot flashes returned, I had an achiness like I was getting the flu that came off and on, my skin turned so dry and vaginally it became uncomfortable for sex because everything seemed to be shrinking. Mood swings and just alot of fatigue and absolutely no interest in sex and that was something very good that my husband and I shared. I also gained 20 pounds during this time and it was all around my middle section. Prior to going off the hormones I had a bone density and lab work done. Two years later I had the bone density and lab work repeated. My bone density went from normal to osteopenia. My cholesterol went from 162 to 199 and my triglycerides went from 60 to 90. It was evident to me that the lack of estrogen played a huge roll in this. I have always been active and I walked at least 4 miles a day and I am very good about my diet. After reading about natural hormones on PowerSurge and reading more about them in the press I decided to give them a try. I have been working with Pete and Janna at Bellevue Pharmacy and they have been wonderful. We are still trying to find the right dosage and I'm now taking the sublinguals for both the biest and the progesterone. Sex is now no longer painful. I am finally starting to feel a little better and I am optomistic. In addition to the NHRT I am using the revival. Before finding PowerSurge I just thought I was alone and becoming a hypochondriac. This site has helped me to know that many of us share the same symptoms. I don't feel so alone!!

Hi Gramz, What you describe after going off of the synthetic HRT sounds to me like a classic menopause syndrome. We gain weight in our stomach area and it's hard to lose when dieting because stomach fat generates a low level of estrogen while fat in other areas does not, so our bodies hold on to fat in this area and that's why we have a tendency to get a small (or larger) belly than the flat stomachs we may have had when we were younger. Everything else that you described, the aching, the dry skin, osteopenia, heightened cholesterol and triglyceride levels, is what happens at meno without estrogen. That's why it's so hard to decide whether having these conditions for an unlimited time, maybe the rest of our lives, is more acceptable than taking HRT and feeling better but risking cancer. I'm almost 53 and also almost two years post-meno. Like some of the other ladies, perimenopause was a nightmare for me and lasted three or four years. I didn't know about PowerSurge then, and only discovered it as I was starting my first year without a period. I wish I had known about it when I first entered peri seven years ago. I took HRT for about two months, when the hot flashes had gotten so bad I couldn't stand it any more. I felt much better for a while, and the hot flashes went away, but the HRT started things up again and I had a period after ten months without one! That summer, the HRT scare came out as well in the media. My doctor told me she'd continue prescribing the HRT, but for only another year or two, due to the HRT scare. I thought I'd better come up with an alternative, and after having the period, I was really upset and angry. I tried the Revival Soy bars and they really are as good as the HRT was. My skin and hair are fine (not dry), I don't ache as much, I have a lot of energy, and I feel really good. So it worked for me. That's my story. Thanks for listening....