Hi I am 57 and have been using a patch for the last 14 years following surgically induced menopause .I have felt great but was encouraged by my G.P a year ago to discontinue I have managed this by cutting the patch first in half and now down to a quarter .unfortunately each time I reduce I experience dreadful hot flushes and impaired memory but it does get better.Its a slow process, took a year to go from half a patch to a quarter but I am getting there
Please check out menopause matters which has a lot of older women still on hrt. Some of you are far too young to be stopping hrt. Consider switching to more natural forms like patches and gels with natural progesterone. If you have to stop hrt you should do this very gradually. My mum recently stopped very gradually at the age of 68 having tried many times before that with terrible symptoms. She is symptom free this time. Some may get over symptoms quickly while others may have them for years! If your doctor refuses to give you hrt, find another or ask for a referral to a meno clinic but research first!! Good luck
I was doing the same and feeling like death. I was reading a newsletter from my naturopath and realised
how terrible the patch was on its own.
First of all it is only Estrogen so my boobs were huge and so was my stomach and despite the fact
I rode bicycle everyday . Any we need hormones for our body to function correctly so I went and had a blood
test and had no testosterone making me a stressed out fool with panic attacks. could never sleep. Anyway
to cut a long story short the natropath made me a cream to apply that had all the missing elements I needed. Testosterone, Estrogen and teistertone. After two weeks I started losing weight, my boobs went down to
normal size, I can sleep like a log and have no more panic attacks. I do not sweat any more and feel
amazing. My memory is fantastic I haven't cried in 6 months. This cream is not a chemical or a synthetic mixture so you can keep applying it. Without these hormones we can become very sick. Also being on the patch has made our organs incompetent to work on their own which is what they would have done if we hadn't had the patch in the first place. Our own bodies would have straightened itself out.
go get a blood test to see what your hormone levels are and see a naturopath.
Dear kris54,
Thank you for sharing your wonderful experience. I would like to try the naturopathic route and have sent you a private message with a query. I would be grateful if you could please reply.
many thanks
ju123
Hi. I have been on HRT for over twenty years I'm now 68 Dr wants me off, having other problems have put them in another message. What I'm doing now is cutting one pill out a month it will take seven months see how I go. I'm only on 1mg a day. What ever anyone does don't go off all at once horrendous!!! Cut down as slow as possible. I will keep you in touch on how I'm going. If I had my way I would stay on them until my last breah I have been very well on them.
I am just off HRT after 5 years I started the menopause at 39 very early following my mothers footsteps. My GP recommended femerelle from holland and Barrett to help coming off it. No flushes no sweating and restless sleep it's definitely worth a try
Thank you ladies for sharing. I am 59 and have been on HRT pills at least 10 years and I would like to stop. I am scared about the hot flashes, loss of libido, night sweats........eeekkkk. But you gals give me hope. I would like to hear some more about maybe switching to the patch and cutting the patch down. I workout 2 to 4 times a week with cardio and weights and I feel great but I want to stop the pills. So please talk to me.
I have been having hot flushes and bad night sweats for about 2 years or more, dont want to go on HRT cos of all the horror stories i have heard and that the symptoms come back when you stop them. After trying several over the counter remedies and went to my doctor and he has put me on Clonidine, it hasnt stopped them totaly but they are much more bearable. Give it a try or talk to your gp about it.
Hi Julie I have sent you a private message in your inox
hope it helps
I have been on HRT for 14 years following a total hysterectomy when I was 34. Because of all the health risks was taken off by GP 4 weeks ago. I was told to just stop them not reduce. For first 10 days I felt great but am now having hot flushes every few minutes that last for up to a minute but am freezing cold in between. I am having trouble sleeping, I have no appetite, I am having horrendous mood swings, constantly in floods of tears and feel suicidal. I really need some help advice or going to go mad
Oh and the sweats...day and night......showering 3 to 4 times daily..Aaaargh!!!
You can't just stop them dead like that. Why don't you go back to the doctor and say you want to come off slowly. Life is to short to be misrible every day.
Even if it take six months to a year doesent matter. Cut out one a month.
I have been on HRT for over twenty years and am not coming off them, I have tried and can't stand it I really feel so much better on them, I have very strong bones that has to be a good thing it's not all bad side effects. There are women that stay on it well into there seventies. Anyway doctors are really not sure about the side effects.
good luck.
maddie 
Update..saw different doctor yesterday (female this time) and apparently I have been on the highest dose made (Premarin 1.25mg) she has told me to go back on at a lower dose of 0.6 then decrease to 0.45 then the lowest of 0.3 over a period of time. Eventually the aim is to then decrease to every second day, then 3rd etc til can stop altogether.....wish me luck ladies 
Great! Good luck. Give that a try if it doesent work try another way.
HI All - I am 71 and have been on HRT since my total hysterectomy when I was in my early 40's. My GP reminds me of the risks occassionally but is still happy to provide a script. I am on Conjugated Oestrogen and feel great.
Hi I'm 68 and been on HRT since my forties also had a hysterectomy and I feel great but my Doctor keeps telling me I should stop taking them. I am NOT coming off them. She sent me to a gynacolegest and she said I should be on patches, worst thing I could have done. I was so ill with them and developed asthma and hyposenstive to everything. Went back to doctor and she put me back on my pills it's taken me about three weeks to feel my old self.
I'm on eastrgen only 1ml wish my doctor would leave me alone. I have very strong bones had a bad fall and the doctor remarked he couldn't believe how my arm didn't crack at least.
I also think it would do more harm than good to come off HRT after all these years.
Very recently I too had a bad fall down the stairs - almost to the bottom of the flight and swear that if I hadn't still been taking HRT I would have surely broken my hip! I have been a Registered Nurse for over 50 yrs (still practicing part-time) so I am aware that there may be some risk but am willing to take my chances!
I am 56 and started using bioidential hormones when I was 52. It has been a bit of a nightmare for me, as the doctor I saw had been on Oprah at the time. I figured she had to be great since she was on that show. I travelled to California to see her. Long story short, I was mega-dosed. Fast forward to now, and my life feels ruined because of this. I try to get off of them, but feel addicted to them. Now I understand that estrodial does have addictive qualities. I worry, as most of you seem to, about the side effects of getting off of them. Poor sleep and mood swings will disrupt my work. And we all need to be able to think and feel good. I am so sorry I chose this route. Or, I wish I had tried the patch instead. Believe it or not, at one point I was using 56 mig of estrodial 2 X's a day, and equally high amounts of testosterone and progesterone. Now, I'm only using 4 mg twice daily of estrodial - but even that is considered mega. I am considering going to a hospital to get off this stuff. I've read there are doctors treating women who were overdosed on hormones!
Here's something I've learned over the past several years. Friends of mine who were taking birth control pills, sailed through menopause with no symptoms, and one friend is my age and still on the pill. She looks and feels great.
Hi I am 62 and have been on low dose combined HRT patches for 12 years and been really well and happy on them but concerned about possible increased risk of breast cancer or stroke have made several attempts to come off but wonder if it's worth coming off or taking the risk and carrying on?I have cut the patches in half many years ago so have only been on half dose. But trying to reduce graduallyby leaving patch on for longer find I wake in the early hours hot and then feel really tired the next day and in low mood because of it.
I did try some green tea and mung been extract which helped a little last year and may try that again ?I stopped trying to come off and went back on the patches because I had some hair loss though the doctor said it wasn't connected to HRT but due to an auto immune responseBut I also wonder about just staying on it ?I have read that people like Joan Collins and in the past the Queen Mother were on it and know if a friends mother who took it into her 80s.its such a tricky decision isn't it?
Hi I am 62 and have been on Evoril Conti patches for 12 years . Tried to come off last year and used nutrition fx menopause which helped ... I think but still had trouble being hot in the night and not sleeping and feeling a bit low so went back to patches and decided to wait till I retired .I have been on half a patch for a number of years and quite happy and no problems just advised by my doctor that due to length of time should try to wean myself off.Started to leave the half patch on for slightly longer but have started to feel tired and low mood .
I think the problem is nobody really knows and I don't know either if the benefits outweigh the risks?
i have a friend who has had breast cancer and had one breast removed but shie never took HRT.!It is a difficult choice and quality of life is important.
It works for me but perhaps so would not taking it in time?Nice to know I'm not the only one with this problem!.
The evidence is so inconclusive !What to believe? Some people swear by it and my friends mum took it into her 80s!