Since HRT contains estrogen and estrogen can make RLS worse - think pregnancy - most but not all will find HRT makes RLS worse. The only way to find out is to try it. Luckily there are no withdrawal symptoms if you need to come off it.
Why did the gp suggest HRT? That seems weird without proper indication. Only start a medicine if you know why, what for and how it may/will play out.
It is definitely not a treatment for RLS. As Sue wrote, HRT worsens RLS for many, although it actually helps me. My RLS is well controlled by lowest dose buprenorphine, but hot flushes kept waking me up hourly, wrecking my sleep. HRT solved that, without any apparent effect on my RLS.
Because I mentioned rls ,she looked my age and said ,you could try hrt ????? To which I replied....im not here for the menopause I'm here with rls and I've had it since I was 7 ,are you suggesting 7 year old take hrt ???? My care has been dreadfully managed so I just thought I'd ask the question , thankyou for providing me with the right information.
HRT, and estrogen in general, is great for everything in the female body, including and especially, our D2 receptors. Keeps them in tip top shape. Even if we have sub-par receptors, estrogen helps stop them from worsening. I’m not sure how it does this, but in some way it must be blocking our receptors. Estrogen = serotonin. Serotonin competes with dopamine release. So maybe that’s the mechanism. The natural release of estrogen in our body is a perfectly timed (and amount) thing such that we don’t even notice that antagonism. HRT is a different beast. We with RLS do tend to feel that painful (to us) up-regulation process with HRT. Well, my guess is that the HRT will help to preserve your receptors and insure the continued efficacy of the Buprenorphine.
If you’re one of the few who can take substances like HRT and melatonin without jumping out of your skin (as I did with melatonin in my 40s) then by all means supplement away.
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