HRT and Alzheimer’s after 1 year

[Batty1]

I found this article about HRT and Alzheimer’s and know a lot of us ladies are on them …. What is your thoughts on this article?

[posthinking01]

Hi I was on HRT for over 33 years - no Alzheimer's - and previously 13 years on pill - I felt SO well on these hormones my life was changed for the better !

[TiggerMe Ambassador]

Having read this twice it doesn't read right to me, a jumble of words with no substance or clarification... where is the link to the study?

I felt totally demented without them so the thought of going without for the next 20-30 years in the hope I won't get more demented is not for me! Certainly won't be giving them up

[Batty1 in reply to TiggerMe]

No links it comes from magazine in my magazine app…. Ive been on HRT 20 years and don’t have Alzheimer’s seems to me they invoke fear to stop use of hrt.

[TiggerMe Ambassador in reply to Batty1]

Magazines being the literary version of daytime television 🙄😆

[bookish in reply to TiggerMe]

This magazine was WDDTY though, which generally gets the thumbs up from people I trust (so far) alternative and complementary health-wise. The BMJ report does make it clear that the study just indicates more research might be a good idea. HRT covers a wide range of possibles, as others have said, and we have no details. What is brilliant for one won't suit everyone else, no blanket approach ever does.

[TiggerMe Ambassador in reply to bookish]

Absolutely... but this just seems like scaremongering click bait

[bookish in reply to TiggerMe]

I know what you mean. I'd hope that the kind of people likely to see it would look a bit deeper. Thalia56 makes a good point about progesterone, for example.

[terebol in reply to Batty1]

New research out connecting oral health to alzheimer's - what next?

[FancyPants54 in reply to Batty1]

Ignore it. It's garbage. The HRT experts know the HRT protects our brains and reduces the risk of mental degeneration.

This is literally worse than a Daily Mail scare story.

[Angel_of_the_North]

No study details. Nothing about other factors which might have an influence . Doesn't say if it was bioidentical or fake. Who were the control group? How many actual people per 10000 was 21% more? ETC

[TiggerMe Ambassador in reply to Angel_of_the_North]

👏

[Thalia56]

Thanks for sharing this. I’d previously had no idea about the discussion around HRT and dementia.

The study is here: bmj.com/content/381/bmj-202...

I’d make two points, having skim-read it and the rapid responses. The first is that the study was on women taking oestrogen and progestin, not progesterone. Progesterone apparently has neuroprotective properties. The second is to repeat what the authors state in their introduction:

“Further studies are warranted to determine whether these findings represent an actual effect of menopausal hormone therapy on dementia risk, or whether they reflect an underlying predisposition in women in need of these treatments.”

My initial reaction is that, like so many health-related things, it’s up to each of us to assess risk versus benefit for us personally.

Something I don’t see widespread concern over is the possible relationship between covid and dementia. No studies on increased risk yet exist, as far as I’m aware; my concern is due to the dramatic progression of dementia many of those already diagnosed had post-covid; the anecdotal accounts of people, including young people, who developed dementia after an infection; and the known neurological and vascular damage it does. I hope very much that my concern in this respect is unmerited, but I’d hate for this study to start a reactive movement against HRT while most medical professionals appear happy for us to catch covid over and over again.

[TiggerMe Ambassador in reply to Thalia56]

Excellent response! 👏

[Jamima in reply to Thalia56]

Well said.

[bookish]

Perhaps it just reflects our personal vulnerabilities. I couldn't tolerate contraceptive pills and struggled to clear endogenous hormones, which later affected thyroid function. Chose not to use HRT, as I knew oestrogen was an issue (and had been for Mum, who did get Alzheimer's) but GPs would not test, just wanted to prescribe. I found years later that I have a related polymorphism. Magnesium and calcium d-glucarate help me, plus B vits.

[Angel_of_the_North]

Found a study that might show harm: bmj.com/content/374/bmj.n2182 but it makes the point that early symptoms of dementia might be mistaken for menopause symptoms. See also medicalnewstoday.com/articl... - there are other studies showing that HRT might be protective. So , really, no one knows

[TiggerMe Ambassador in reply to Angel_of_the_North]

I'm thinking it is much like most things and that if you over supplement you are upsetting the balance and therefore could have a knock on effect similar to being deficient?

Back to Mary Poppins "Enough is as good as a feast"

[Star13]

I’ve been on HRT since I was 36 due to endometriosis and I’m now 73!! Bit late to start worrying about dementia and personally my bones would not be without my patch!

[CoeliacMum1]

Read Neuroscientists Dr Lisa Mosconi - The XX Brain

The ground breaking science Empowering Women to prevent Dementia

She also has a very good TED talk if you google it.

[Lovecake]

I had a full hysterectomy at age 43 (no choice). I’ve been on HRT patches ever since. My doc persuaded me to come off them a couple of years ago. She wanted me to use the pessaries. After 3 months I thought I was going to go mad with all the bad symptoms. Put myself back on the patches. It messed up my thyroid levels too, so had all that hassle on top.

It is certainly a worry when this, that and the other come up in posts (on here and elsewhere), but we definitely have to take into account our own well-being and how we are now. But the question is “do we leave it to the NHS and our GPs to advise us”? And don’t do any other research? …….For me, I think not.

[FancyPants54 in reply to Lovecake]

I doubt I'll ever leave anything hormonal to my GP ever again!

[samaja]

If you read dr Dale Bredesen's books and blogs who is a bona fide scientist and actually acheived Alzheimer's REVERSAL in some of the patients he treated - so for me he is the real authority on this disease, not some journalist with unknown agenda - you will note that he definitely recommends balancing both sex hormones and thyroid in his protocol and HRT is a part of it.

[bookish]

I have heard good things about WDDTY but don't subscribe - would you say it is worth the £? Cheers

[Batty1 in reply to bookish]

I pay $11.99 (us) for the readily magazine app that’s how I get this magazine…. In store this magazine is very expensive so I definitely think app is worth it.

[bookish in reply to Batty1]

Thank you

[Jamima]

This is a nonsense article that looks like something from the daily fail. I remember this type of press back when the large HRT study scared the pants off women who immediately stopped their HRT and suffered needlessly as the study was subsequently proved to be flawed. This is just a journo's extract, the entire study would need to be read and reviewed. There are other studies which claim the exact opposite. I'm so tired of women's fertility being used as headline fodder.

[FancyPants54 in reply to Jamima]

Very well said. My thoughts exactly.

[SarahJane1471]

I’m sure Dr Louise Newson says it helps PREVENT dementia 🤷‍♀️

[Jamima in reply to SarahJane1471]

As do many other senior gynae medics.