Pam, there are so many variables for HRT. What works for one women can feel like H*LL to another. I still haven't completely given up on the bioidenticals, as I personally believe they are better for our bodies than the synthetics.
What I guess I want women to understand, is that ALL OUR HORMONE systems function together. When our body chemistry changes, it isn't just the estrogen, progesterone and testosterone that are effected. It's also our insulin, thyroid and adrenal gland production. They all support one another. So when we lose our estrogen and progesterone, our adrenal glands kick in, to try and help out. Since the adrenal glands produce fight or flight hormones, this is where many women get into anxiety. Or women have problems with their thyroid, or insulin resistance. So while losing this minor hormone system isn't going to kill us (it may feel like it will), it does effect everything about our bodies.
And the changes that come with menopause, again, don't come on overnight. I actually hit the ground running, when I finally got to menopause. I never had a hot flash or a night sweat. Didn't even know I was done with my periods, until the year had passed. I felt ok, except for chronic muscle and ligament pain. (But somehow I didn't connect those dots!) Anyway, it was years later that I first noticed painful sex, and then, vaginal atrophy and dryness came a callin'. AGAIN, this didn't happen overnight!
So Pam, in all honestly (and sorry for delivering this unpleasant message), I wouldn't wish menopause on ANY woman. It isn't like you get there, and all of this is done and over with. New things creep up, with a lack of these hormones, and change your world once again. Sometimes in very negative ways. I'm 60, but not ready to give up my sex life. It is reported that 50% of menopausal women have atrophy and dryness. I personally think it's 100%, and the other half has just given up and doesn't report it to their doctors.
I think the thing that bothers me the most, is that in our young and healthy furtile life, we just seem to run so beautifully. But when this system shuts down, EVERY RULE FOR THE GAME CHANGES. I knew my body so well before menopause. Now it feels completely foreign to me. Foods don't taste right, I can't wear contacts anymore, my sex life is in the toilet, my skin looks weird, my sleep and digestion has changes, even my hair texture has changed.
I wish more women were totally honest about this life altering endocrine shift. Woman might not be so surprised if they actually knew what was coming. But no, we just keep putting out more of the same old, "You''ll be fine" kind of stuff. Define FINE? Does "fine" mean you have aches and pains that prevent you from doing things you once enjoyed? Does "fine" mean you'll feel lucky to get a good nights sleep? Does "fine" mean you will graciously give up your desire for sex, and call it quits? Does "fine" mean you somehow learn to live with buying bras three sizes larger for those overgrown and sagging breasts? (I cried!) Or that you enjoy a dry mouth, no energy, ringing in the ears, sagging skin, wrinkles, and a fat meno belly? Or that now you get to worry about things like a bad cholesterol profile, having heart attacks just like men, and insulin resistance?
I am sorry, to one and all, for what seems like a very negative take on this menopause thing. Ok, lets be honest and call it my RANT. I wish I could say meno is great, and what a relief to be done with periods. But honestly, I'd buy tampons till the day I die, and wear white pants every single day of the cycle, if it got me back to feeling more normal. So ladies, please don't wish away your periods and sex steriods. Even when they are sometimes uncomfortable. They'll be gone soon enough, and then you'll have a whole new list of things to complain about.
May not be pretty, but I'm honest.