I am 60 years old and have been on hrt for 13 years. I have felt miserable throughout the whole time. The doses have been raised and the doses have been lowered. I have tried several times to get off and have been unable to. I have dealt with very poor health care people such as doctors, nurse practitioners. and maybe a naturopath. No one wanted to deal with my problems after placing me on the hrt. They said I probably just had a case of the flu and me blew me off. I recently saw a naturopath after deciding to try something different. She found my hormones were too high. Last year, it was ramped up to biest 5 mg from 2.5 mg and I had terrible problems and then last fall it was lowered, cold turkey, to 3.5 mg. I was miserable for three months. The naturopath just lowered it about five weeks ago to 2 mg and I have going through hell and she will not return my calls. I am also on progesterone 75 mg. I heard about a product called Oona for menopause which is basically black cohosh and chaste tree root. I started it yesterday in the hope of weaning off of the hrt very slowly. I don't even know if this doctor will help me or not. I need someone to help me taper off of this drug. I feel just plain lousy every day. I cut out caffeine and am still very nervous, anxious, and can't sleep well. I joined this forum in the hopes of getting some support for getting off of this and to hear other women's experiences.

Joy, there's lots of information and experiences here about weaning off HRT.

I started this topic in 2001 and several others added their experiences here: (Just click to read) Weaning / Tapering Off HRT

Also, I clicked on the yellow word Search near the top right of the boards and got many other posts on weaning.

All the above are links to experiences other women have had with weaning off HRT.

Everything isn't on the message boards. There are hundreds of articles and transcripts. A perfect one in the Educate Your Body area deals with this subject. The article is Power Surge Recommendations for Weaning Off Synthetic Hormones. It's a compilation of various guest experts suggestions about how to gradually get off hormones.

A search of all of Power Surge brings up about 98 articles on weaning, too, so there's lots of information to help.

Best of luck to you and welcome to Power Surge! We'll be here to support you all the way.

Coincidentally I posted a similar comment a few weeks ago. I was talking to the checkout lady about Estroven and then peri. The lady packing the bags said her Mum, who was in her late 60's had been taken off HRT and was having a terrible time, feeling poorly, hot flashes, anxious etc.

Not a cheering comment but just to say that you are not alone!

MaryO:

Thanks for your reply. I can't tell you how happy I am that I found this site. I need all the support I can get with this. I started Oona, black cohosh and chaste tree root, yesterday as a loading dose. I have talked to people at oonahealth and the health food store and they say I have an 80 percent chance of this product helping me with the menopausal symptoms. I am going to talk to the compounding pharmacist as to how best to taper off this bioidentical. I want to feel better by Thanksgiving. I am sick and tired of feeling lousy all the time on these hormones. My body is completely rejecting them.

Joy, I'm 54 and I feel great! You've entered the years of reward for going through meno, the calm years when you feel as good as you did before it all started (or almost as good). I'm so sorry to hear that you are feeling this lousy still. When did you go through meno (when was your one year anniversary without a period, if it even happened yet)? Or maybe, with bioidenticals, you still have periods.

Have you heard of Revival Soy? They have a website, plus there's info on these boards. I swear by Revival, one bar every day. Wouldn't be without it. I'd sell my house, my car, before I'd go without Revival.

Like you, I was on synthetic HRT (Activella), but only for about three months. It started everything up again and I didn't like it. I had a period after counting ten months without one! I was so disappointed, because I had been hoping to get to one year mark.

So I ordered a 30-day supply of Revival, but wasn't sure if it would work any better than other soy products on the market. At the same time, I started tapering off the HRT. As I said, I'd only been on it a short time, three months. Still, I was scared that if I tapered off, the meno symptoms would get really bad. I tried skipping one tablet each week, on Wednesday. Nothing happened. I also started eating a Revival bar every day.

After about three weeks of skipping the one tablet, I went back to taking one on Wednesdays again, but started skipping the Monday one and the Thursday one instead. Nothing happened. Just in case, I stayed with this for about six weeks. Then I tried going to every other day, which is the next step down. Symptoms still did not worsen and nothing changed. Finally, after a few weeks of this, I just stopped the Activella completely. And waited to see if I would get horrendous symptoms. No. But I was eating the Revival bar every day, too.

Now, as I said above, I feel as good as I did before it all started. You should too! Keep us posted on what is happening.

Thanks everybody for your replies. A little update for me is I saw my nurse practitioner the other day and she gave me a presciption to start lowering the dose of bioidenticals. I feel somewhat better than I did but am worried this will not solve anything. If I get off the bioidenticals and still feel lousy what does that do for me? I started taking hormones at age 47 and am now 60. I started them when I started having hot flashes and never really went through menopause. I feel like I was just prolonging it. I want to try Oona, a black cohosh and chaste tree root formula, in the hopes that I will feel better off of the hormones. I feel I owe it to myself to at least try something else since I have never felt good on the hormones, never, never, never. The question is will I feel better? I hope so because right now I just sort of drag through each day. I exercise regularly, try to eat right, take supplements. I am wondering why I don't feel any better. I have a lot of anxiety and am not sleeping very well. I am still working and need to support myself for as long as I possibly can. I hate menopause. I want to feel but don't yet.

Joy,
By taking the hormones, you basically just postponed menopause. It's too bad that you felt so bad while taking them, and it doesn't seem worth continuing if that is the case. As you wean off them, your body will show signs of hormone withdrawl, but the only way to get to the other side is for this to happen. Most likely you are not going to feel great while this happens. Try to find whatever natural supplements and things that will help make it a bit easier. Take a look at the recommendations section as that will give you a great start. Don't try too many things at once or you won't be able to tell what is working for you. I always try concentrate on one or two symptoms, whatever I consider my worst symptoms at the time. Doesn't mean the symptoms will disappear, but they can definitely become more livable.

doc put me on premarin.
i refuse to take it.
i havent even cashed in the prescription
its in my wallet somewhere.

i cant take black cohash
i have low platelets.
black cohash works against it.

so now i have to try something else
still looking.

I think it depends on the dose of the hormones. I know that menopause is strictly defined as 12 consecutive months with no period. I use a low-dose Biest cream and my periods seem to have stopped (missed two in a row now). I think that with a low enough dose of hormones you can get (some) relief while not stoping the "process."

So, I believe I may be (officially) menopausal in less than 10 months, the low-dose of natural hormones notwithstanding.

I am tapering off of Biest and progest very slowly. About seven weeks ago, I went from 3.5 to 2. Those weeks were hell. I am now feeling much better. Next week, I will go to 1.5 Biest and hope for the best and keep going down from their depending on how I feel. I plan to start Oona, a black cohosh and chaste tree root supplement before going completely off if I have to. I've been on HRT for 13 years and I feel I owe to myself to see if I can be off of it. It's getting too expensive anyway.

Cancel my officially getting to menopause in ten months, LOL! I just had a period a couple of days ago, unfortunately.

I'm very bummed, because my symptoms were getting better for the almost 3 months. I should have known when I got bad headaches a few days before the period that it was coming.

Joy, I don't blame you for wanting to try to go natural. I tried the black cohosh, chasteberry and other herbs many times, always hopeful, but they never worked. I even tried the black cohosh for six months.

I just feel like this thing will never end.

Aimee, it will end, although it surely does not seem like it right now. Your periods will get farther and farther apart. This is the worst of it. It's good that your symptoms have already improved! Mine didn't for several months after my one year anniversary. The fact that your symptoms improved, even for just three months, shows that once you get to the one year anniversary, it will already be better. You'll get there!

So those women on bioidenticals--will they go through menopause if they ever stop the hormones? Everyone that I know is on bioidenticals but me. I've tried marketing Revival Soy to them, telling them how well it worked for me. Either they try it and don't like it, or they don't even believe me. One of my friends says she'll have a period the rest of her life, every month. This just seems odd. I'm glad I never got on bioidenticals.

Thanks for the encouragement, CSugar.

I am using a small amount of Bi-est for migraine. As I've always said, if it weren't for the migraines, I think I'd be okay with just natural supplements. But when you suffer migraines, you'll do anything.

Hey Aimee,

Sorry it didn't last. As CSugar says, you'll get there. Me, I'm only 2 years in so I've got w a y too much time.

I'm sure I've asked you this before but for the life of me I cannot remember the answer - how much bi-est do you use? I too am trying to balance the comfort of taking some bio-identicals while still going through the natural process. Seems like you've managed that.

Thanks!

Plus, I've wondered in what form Bi-est is. Is it a cream? How do you measure a small amount?

Yep--I used to have pounding migraines and the only cure was SLEEP, IF I could get my head into a position where I could even fall asleep! However, not always. If the pounding woke me up at the beginning of the day and I had to go to work--man, there is no pain worse than a pounding migraine! My cure back then was three Excedrin tablets, but I know that many people either can't take aspirin at all, or can't take three at once. However, it usually worked to get rid of the awful pain for at least two or three hours, so I could try to get up and function, but then the faint pounding started again, getting stronger and stronger. So more aspirin. Definitely not good for your stomach, I know, but there were no other solutions.

I hope the Bi-est helps you.

Hi Joy and everyone,
I was on Prempro for 3 months then my Dr. told me to wean off it. I took a pill every other day for 2 weeks, now I am off it. Actually I don't feel that much different than I did. I also had a D&C last week. But now I am bleeding again, not sure if its from the d&c or a period-
Anyway, I suggest taking Women's Wellness by Andrew Lessman (at the HSN website).
I am very confused about bio-identicals. Suzanne Somers swears by them, but here you are, miserable on them. I would like to think that they would make us feel better and not gain weight, but I am skeptical. Maybe its best to go with the changes, not to have a period all our life, as SS is having.
I just don't know. I really wish more doctors would address these issues.
Ellen

I use probably the lowest dose it is possible to use and still get any results, just .5 mg. of Bi-Est. I've read where some women use 1 mg. but I've never read just .5 mg. My compounding pharmacist said he has some patients on over 2 mg.

The Bi-Est (can't remember who asked) comes in a syringe so you can measure it out precisely. It's very easy.

I think the key to hormone use is very gradually increasing the dose to hit your minimum, rather than starting out with a standard amount. The standard amount may be too much for you. It's always easy to add more, if you are still miserable.

But the minute these hormonal headaches stop, I am off HRT.

I'm quoting myself here, but I wanted to add that the .5 mg sounds high for a transdermal, but remember it is 80% estriol, not to be confused with estradiol.

Estriol is a really weak estrogen.

Thanks for the response Aimee and the clarification. I pretty much went with the same approach as you. I was prescribed 1.75mg bi-est sublingual and started with 1/2. That didn't accomplish anything so I went to 3/4 of a pill. It gives me enough relief most days. On high stress days, pre-period and ovulation it is not enough but I don't know if anything would be! It's ll guess work here:).

After reading this, I am uncertain about bioidenticals, particularly since I am still considered peri since I have regular periods...bummer!