Here is an interesting article on Prempro. They did a study on the effects of prempro and if it really helps Meno symptoms. They gave some women prempro and some placebo's. In the long run,the women on Placebo's felt better than the women on prempro.

Peace
AA

http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S...-07-12-21-50-56

That IS interesting.... in that it may only be postponing the process. I have so far refused HRT for many reasons, but I'm thinking .... hmmmm, maybe I could postpone all this nonsense until the boys are grown!!

This seems like a good thread to ask for advice. My mom has been on Premarin .625 for almost 40 years. She had a hysterectomy at 49 & is now almost 85. I've asked her Doc, as she had a stroke 3 yrs ago. Doc isn't concerned at all. I'm thinking that could have caused her stroke. Why would they still have her on it?

I can't imagine why boyzmom! It's my understanding the HRT is used to ease the transition! Her transition has lasted half her life! Seems really excessive if you ask me.

My mom was on Premarin for 25 years, and died of a sudden heart attack in 1996- at 59! I don't blame the Premarin solely, I blame the doctor who would prescribe it to a woman with high blood pressure, high cholesterol who smokes.

Maybe you could send Pete an email and see what he thinks?

Leanne ~ That's what I'm screamin'! She's had high blood pressure since her late 40's. I'm guessing at the peri point. It seems that peri has brought with it high BP for most in my family ... including me. Thankfully she never smoked. I do, which is why I WON'T take anything (get enuf bad stuff from the cigs!!). She & my aunt (both on it) argue that it helps fight osteoporosis but won't recognize the other risks. I'm going to continue trying to get her doc to reconsider. I became her caregiver following her stroke & she's doing pretty well now, but I worry that she'll have another ... more severe. Then whatever will I do?? It's scary.

How awful to lose your Mom at such a young age!

Hello
I have a friend that was on Prempro.
She got breast cancer from using it & then
had a stoke from the meds they used to cure it.

The doctors who treated her for breast cancer told her
that Prempro was the cause of the Breast Cancer.

Maybe you better think twice before taking stuff that doctors
prescribe.
Doctor prescribed it for me but i refused to take it.
I am so happy now that i did.

Don't want to scare anyone just want to warn you.

Angel0508

Boyzmom,

My mom was on Premarin for 40 years after a hysterectomy. She's nearing 80 and her doctor weaned her off of it a few years ago. She had hot flashes for about a year-and-a-half then they tapered off. I spoke with my doctor about this and she said that with women of that age they often just leave them on the Premarin so that they don't plunge a possibly frail 80-year-old women into hot flashes and the other discomforts of menopause. Sometimes weaning them off Premarin after all those years can be worse for them than taking it, etc.

My mother is extremely healthy for her age, quite athletic even, and the Premarin doesn't seem to have hurt her. However she wasn't taking the full dosage. Ever since I was a kid I remember her telling me that she would take like just a half pill every few days because the full prescription was "too much."

Now that she's off Premarin she has the super-high blood pressure and cholesterol of menopause which can't be good. She never had that stuff before. She also has other menopause symptoms that she's not happy about, like deep muscle aches.

You know the thing is every woman is so different in how they respond to these drugs. I think it's a tough call with these older women for doctors to decide whether to take them off hormones after all the years of taking them.

Foggy,

Thanks for the reply. That makes sense. I can't imagine why Mom's doc didn't present it that way rather than just brushing it off. Until AA's post, I didn't realize that going off HRT would throw you into peri symptoms at such an advanced age. But then, why would that matter? Jeez! I'm not usually that mentally slow! Thanks peri for making me brain dead!! I'd have to agree that at Mom's age & other problems that she certainly doesn't need HRT withdrawal!

Foggy, your post makes a lot of sense. Also, I would think an 82-year-old who has a stoke would probably be considered "natural" causes, not necessarily caused by estrogen they'd been taking for so many years.

So.....is the general consensus that those who take synthetic or bioidentical HRT experience meno symptoms when they stop taking it?

Do you think we ever "outgrow" meno with the passage of time on HRT, or is meno "waiting" for us?"

I heard this on the news a few days ago. They were saying that menopause may be something all women have to experience, and those who are taking HRT are just postponing it.

My eye doctor took Premarin for 20 years! Then, during the summer of 2003, with the HRT scare and Premarin being cited for possibly encouraging breast and other cancer growth, my eye doctor switched to Activella. I tried to talk about this with her at my eye appointment that summer. I've known her for 20 years, so I felt I was not being too personal to mention it. But she wouldn't talk--just said she had switched to Activella from Premarin after taking Premarin for 20 years. Whew! I think I'd consider all of this if I were her. Seems like a long time to be taking hormones, and she's 64 now. Why would she still need it? Maybe she tried to taper off and had bad symptoms, so she went back on it.

>>>So.....is the general consensus that those who take synthetic or bioidentical HRT experience meno symptoms when they stop taking it?

I think the thing is though that the meno symptoms aren't as bad or don't last as long because the HRT got them through the rough spots of plunging hormones. My mom, who went off Premarin in her late 70s after almost 40 years of taking it, had hot flashes for about a year, year and a half, along with sleep disturbances, then she claims they pretty much came to an end.

Meanwhile she claims she knows women in their 60s who are still getting hot flashes even though they never took any form of HRT in their life. She claims that for years friends would beg her for her Premarin pills because their doctors wouldn't prescribe it.

I read the news stories about that Prempro study and I was left with as many questions as you have. Was the point that HRT prolongs the inevitable or does it spare you from years of discomfort? Wasn't sure from reading about the study. I think whoever wrote those news stories never went through menopause.

Hi Ladies,

My mom took Prempro for 20 years and developed a rare form of breast cancer at 56. Research studies linked her rare type of breast cancer directly to use of Prempro. She had lobular cancer...most women get inductile. Mom had chemo and radiation and she's fine now but they immediately took her off of the Prempro which she had started to help with meno symptoms.

Now she's having meno symptoms after going a lumpectomy on her breast, chemo and radiation. By the way....Mom's periods stopped when she was 44. Why they continued to keep her on the Prempro is beyond me.

HRT for me? No thanks!

Foggy & Teejay,

Thanks for your responses. Do either of you know what they did in general, back in 1940, 1950, and/or 1960? I know women were automatically put on Premarin and I've heard they were also prescribed Valium. My question is, did women back then stay ON this regimen indefinitely, or were they taken off after a certain amount of time? I know Valium is really deadly stuff, because you can get SO addicted. My mother had Valium for years (I used to sneak one once in a while when I was in my early twenties ) But she stopped using Valium when she reached age 70, because she felt it might cause her to fall or have a driving accident. I don't know how long she took Premarin--she just said "for a while." This could be months or years. I don't get along with her, so communication about meno doesn't happen. I was just curious about what women did back then.

I don't know what the typical regime for women was back then, although it would be interesting to find out. My mom had a hysterectomy in the mid-60s and was on estrogen/progesterone for nearly 40 years. Don't know about Valium, but I don't think she was. She was always warning me not to ever take Valium so who knows but maybe she knew some women who were prescribed it.

Back then women weren't allowed to question their doctor about the drugs they were giving them. For instance my mom was given a drug like DES during pregnancy. When I grew up I wanted to know whether I was a DES daughter. My mother asked her long-time gyn and he refused to tell her, told her it was none of her business, who did she think she was asking? And my mom accepted that, was angry at me for even asking.

Over the years whenever some study would come out showing that maybe taking HRT wasn't so good for women, maybe it would lead to breast cancer or heart problems, her doctor would mail out a form letter to his patients asking them not to question him about their HRT prescriptions. "I've prescribed this for you and I know what's best for you," etc. And my mother accepted that.

It wasn't until the late '70s that the "patient movement" got patients access to read their own medical records.

I don't think young gals today realize how important the feminist movement was in the '70s for ridding the medical establishment of that "I know what's best for you, honey" mentality. Although that mentality still exists today among certain doctors women feel empowered not to accept it.

Good Morning Ladies,

Like Foggy's mom my mother just followed the advise of her gynecologist. My mother isn't shy or afraid to ask questions, but she assumes that the doctors always know best just because they are doctors. After her breast cancer ordeal she began to ask me alot of questions and ultimately her doctors. She even had me go with her to her appointments (many many times) to ask questions and help her understand totally what was happening to her.

My mom had stopped her period when she was 44 so by 45 she was postmenopausal. The doctor continued her on the Prempro until her cancer which was at age 56. I asked my mom why 11 more years of it? She had no clue was just following the instructions from her doctor. She never had any major symptoms....some soreness and hot flashes. The Prempro was to rid her of the flashes. I think the tendency was just to put you on some type of HRT and leave you on it, even if the symptoms had disappeared or subsided. I think women our age are much more knowledgeable and aggressive about their health and management of it. I respect most doctors and am willing to listen to them, but I ask a million questions and discuss all of the options with them. I want to have a part in the management of my health.

My grandma never mentioned anything about her experience and I never caught any inkling as to how she might have managed it. I think meno has not been researched as much as it needs to be. It is greatly downplayed by doctors and we are left to struggle through as best we can.

Sorry I haven't really offered much insight into how women historically have managed meno. Maybe the problem is that it really never has been managed.

Foggy & Teejay,

Actually, you both HAVE given me a lot of insights. I think you are absolutely correct in that, up until the '70s, people "did what the doctor ordered." There was no Internet then, and getting information was a lot harder than it is now. You'd have to find a library and then spend time trying to locate books or magazine articles on whatever you wanted to know, if they even existed. It was easier to just do what your doctor told you, and believe the doctor was "all-knowing."

I also think that our improved situation now is due to so many medical malpractice lawsuits. I'm not a lawyer, but it would be easy even for me to construct a case against a doctor in the '70s, and there's a good chance I'd win, because there were so many loopholes.

Now everything we eat and every medication on the planet is examined and questioned in the media, and it has become our mentality not to take anything at face value anymore.

my mom took prempro or premarin, i'm not sure for how long, but when she did quit, she tapered off and didn't have any of the symptoms return. but she didn't have many symptoms to begin with. she's in her early 70's and quit when she was in her mid 60's. so i'm beginning to think like some others that every one is wired different so there's no pat answer for anyone.
and as for doctors, i've had it!!! i'm not going to them anymore unless absolutely necessary. i'll still have my yearly check-ups and mammograms, but a family doctor-------no thanks.

My mother took premarin because her doctor put her on it.
She was on it for years.
She since has had 2 breast biopsies.
Luckly they both came back OK but she suffered with
sore breasts for awhile.
Doctors put her on estogen.
Doctors finally took her off of estogen & she started having
hot flashes & Night sweats but they only lasted a few months.
She also had anxiety really bad. Doctor put her on Xanax which made
her anxieties worst.
Don't think this stuff is doing our bodies any good.
Me i have been suffering it out.
It does finally go away.
Its really hard to know what to do!

Angel0508

You all are asking the same questions I've been asking.

I was born when my mom was 40 so I don't know what her peri was like. I wasn't old enough to ask. I do remember my mom being depressed all the time, often in her room with the lights out. She was put on Valium for years. I don't know if she ever went right off it or just transitioned to antidepressants when they came out. I tend to think the latter. She also just trusted her doctor and never knew what she was on. She is 84 this year. She still takes the antidepressant and other drugs but she is much more aware of what she takes and is now less tolerant of doctor "pat" answers. She had an incontinence problem, had surgery, problem returned. Her doctors told her it was age. She found a new doctor, new medicine, no more problem.

My mother-in-law I hear was angry for 6 months. We're talking screaming angry. Then she just stopped. She tells me her mother was close to going to an insane asylum. The doctor prescribed her one glass of home made wine every night. Supposedly it helped. I think she just toughed it out.

I'm on NHRT (3 months) and wondered how long should I do this? Some doctors say review every 6 months. Others say forever. There are risks without estrogen and risks with. I don't know what to do

The debate of how long is all over the board. I have friends that took HRT for only a couple of years and then tappered off. Always tapper off in winter months, not summer, so that hot flashes arent as bad ( I was told). Now some other gals I know read Suzanne Sommers book, and think they should be on NHRT for life. Keeping periods going for as long as possible. Is anyone trying that approach???

I am not on anything yet, but I still have my periods, and all the peri symtoms are bugging me to death right now.

My own mother, complained lots about night sweats, I remember her going to the doctors once in awhile for "shots", she'd say that it was to help her with hormones???? I have no idea (and she passed away 6yrs ago). She also had a hard time sleeping. Just like me!!!!

Jules

Jules,

Thanks for the info and tip. If I decide to go off I'll remember the winter thing.

My doctor wants me on NHRT forever. I haven't decided. Of course after almost 3 months it is not fixing all my symptoms. I'm having a terrible time sleeping too.