Do you take HRT?
Following more than a decade of controversy, today we wake up to the news that hormone replacement therapy can triple the risk of breast cancer, and this has been revealed after the biggest ever study to date.
Last year we discussed that the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (Nice) changed guidance to encourage more doctors to prescribe HRT claiming too many menopausal women had been left suffering in silence, and you shared your views in our Speakers Corner.
HRT is used to treat uncomfortable symptoms of the menopause – such as hot flushes, migraines, disrupted sleep, mood changes and depression – by topping up the decreased levels of hormones produced by the body.
But doctors were reluctant to prescribe it after a study in 2002 suggested it could raise the risk of cancer, a claim later widely disputed. Now new findings by the Institute of Cancer Research and Breast Cancer Now suggest the original risk had actually been underestimated.
A study of 100,000 women over 40 years found those who took the combined oestrogen and progestogen pill for around five years were 2.7 times more likely to develop cancer compared to women who took nothing, or only the oestrogen pill.
HRT was first developed in the 1940s and was first made available to women in Britain in 1965.
However in 2002 the British Millennium Women Study published findings claiming that HRT raised the risk of cancer. Many doctors immediately withdrew prescriptions while the Medical Healthcare and Regulatory Agency (MHRA) issued new guidance recommending all women be given the “lowest effective dose should be used for the shortest time.”
So how does this latest news make you feel? Do you take HRT? Do you know anyone who has taken HRT and developed breast cancer? With advice changing on a regular basis what influences your personal choice?
What are your views?
We'd love to hear your comments
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I tried coming of HRT but hot flushes came back with vengence.
I know handling the symptons of the menopause can be difficult but it's nothing like handling the treatment of cancer.
Totally agree with you. Quite frankly I had so much to deal with other than the menopause I really didn't think about the symptoms, - too much is made of the menopause, - but not enough is made of the fact - how many women who have had breast cancer have taken HRT? - there never seems to be any proper data on this. Breast cancer is in my family, - so HRT was a complete no no for me, and I never ever thought of taking it in any case.
At the time, homeopathy was available locally on the NHS & I decided to follow this path this rather than take hormones. The homeopathic consultant, also a qualified GP, gave helpful dietary & lifestyle advice, so for me, that was the way to do go.
Sadly, homeopathy is no longer NHS funded in this area as it is felt to be an unproven therapy. In my experience, if the prescribed remedy isn't the right one, it will not cause harm & an alternative can be prescribed instead.
But, despite my lifestyle (I don't drink alcohol or smoke) & treatment choices, I was diagnosed with breast cancer anyway, so perhaps it's just something that can happen whatever you do in life & perhaps it's a risk worth taking for someone experiencing unpleasant symptoms?
For the record, the cancer was successfully treated by both homeopathic medicine (which I had to pay for) & conventional medicine, so my feeling is that all available options are worthy of consideration.
And remember there are multiple types and applications. It is not a one size for all.
It has been calculated recently that thousands of women died prematurely from conditions caused by estrogen depletion when they were s scared into stopping or refusing estrogen in situations similar to mine.
I feel (and I am told look) very well. I have tried a few times to reduce at GP s insistence....I feel wretched...not myself at all. I have recovered well from a difficult pelvic repair. At the moment I have a supportive gynecologist, thank goodness.
Unless someone diagnoses me with a condition which seriously contraindicates my patches......I ve no intention of stopping sticking☺
There is good and bad bit I think the bad out ways the good .Thats just my personal opinion.