I'm 66 and about to be 67 in July.
I have had Hashi's/Hypo since 2013. I've never been on HRT because my mother had Ovarian cancer, which spread and led to her to her death.
I see Menopause cremes advertised on Marketplace through Facebook. I have read in other posts about HRT being a common route for menopausal women on this forum.
Does it help? Does it add another level of tweaking of the dosages?
Thank you.
I have also never taken HRT. I personally wouldn’t take anything that is advertised on Facebook you really need advice from a doctor who specialises in HRT
Good advice. Thank you.
I am similar age to you and my mother died from BC so I decided against HRT because it’s not worth the risk. I have stiff knees in the morning so I have started taking Cod liver oil capsules to see if that helps me
I'm looking for more energy mainly.I have an 80 yr old cousin who makes me look like I'm in my 90's.
I have Alopecia and would like help for that, too.
Many GP surgeries now have menopause clinic, with one doctor specialising in menopause. It might be worth finding out what’s available in your area.
And I wouldn’t buy anything from Facebook. At best it’s fake and worst you’ll do yourself serious injury.
Thank you.
I sometimes suffer with hair loss and mine is caused when my levels are either too high or too low. I recently purchased some seaweed shampoo off Facebook. Yes I should know better. It was a special offer of £35 for shampoo and conditioner and well it did not work and my scalp became dry and itchy and my hair seemed to be falling out more than usual. I contacted the Seaweed shampoo company and they offered me a refund which I still haven’t received after 2 months. I have tried everything and even used onion juice which smelt dreadful. My hair was my best feature and it broke my heart to see how thin it was becoming. However at the moment touch wood I am not losing too much hair and I look like I have a normal head of hair
I just had a thought have you had your ferritin tested because low ferritin can cause hair loss and you need your level to be 80 for hair growth so I was told on a hair loss site
I'd like to know the difference between hair loss and Alopecia, which I have. The front have of my head looks like a cue ball. I had a great head of curly hair. The Alopecia began at Menopause. The dermatologist Rx'd cremes and minoxodil, but I had no regrowth. Stupidly, I fell for a Facebook ad about a $59 laser massager which is on its way in the mail.
Did your hair loss start when you were diagnosed with thyroid disease? Mine did and I was told it was female pattern balding by a dermatologist. Well 15 years later I still have my hair so I now know it’s caused by my thyroid not the menopause. It could be a combination of both for you but you need to get a diagnosis I was advised to have a biopsy which I did and it came back inconclusive so I definitely know it’s my thyroid causing this
Are vit d, vit B12, folate and ferritin optimal (not just in range)?
USA docs typically don't do vitamin levels for a female my age. I'm going to request one at next labs.
HRT can be protective against BC. The bad guy is fake progesterone (horse pee). See mariongluckclinic.com/blog/...
Thank you.
It depends on if you think you need it? Are you having symptoms that you think may help to be elevated? You seem to be past the normal age that most people will start to feel the need to take it so perhaps if you have not felt the need thus far it might tell you something.
The only thing I would say is how are your bones? HRT can help if they need attention.
I'm beginning to show osteopenia(?) in my left hip. It was noted in my surgery report when I had my appendix out in 2023. I think that my GP mentioned a bone scan coming in the near future.
Vitd will help this. Need to take magnesium and vitk as well
Yes, I'm on Mag and D. I'll look into K. TY!
I’m on HRT as I was getting brain fog and depressed I’m also on 100 levo since 2022. Speak to the person at your surgery about HRT or book an appointment at a local menopause clinic if you have symptoms you want to discuss but osteopenia can be treated on its own with Alandronic acid and other specific meds so you might benefit from these as opposed to HRT.
Thank you.
A lot of ads on Facebook are scams. So, whether the product works or not is only have the problem: the other half being you could pay your money and get nothing in return! Not worth the risk.
And I'm pretty sure that not all women need HRT, anyway. I was never prescribed it - and as I had a hysterectomy at 41 I was never even sure when the menopause hit, anyway. I was nearly 60 when my endo suggested I try it. I didn't like it, it didn't help anything, so I stopped. So, if you've got this far without it, maybe you really don't need it. 
I'm always looking for an increase in energy.My mother died when I was 20, so I don't have a roadmap for aging as a reference.
I didn't, either, because it wasn't something my mother talked about. There was no HRT when she was that age, anyway.
My mother died young but my grandmother lived until she was 89 and never took HRT. Infact none of my mothers sisters have taken it despite 2 of them having hysterectomies. I didn’t feel like I needed it because I was already struggling with thyroid disease which I got at 47. I have since found out that my Irish half of the family on my fathers side have a few people with autoimmune diseases so it explains where I got mine from now.
I kept my overies so that might have something tp dp with not needing HRT, I don't know.
Could be and I did not go through the menopause until I was 58 which was the same as my grandmother who was 60 when she eventually went through menopause. The doctor advised her to take something to send her into menopause because she was too old to be having periods. She was a healthy lady who had 5 children and only suffered with arthritis in her later years. I don’t have that thank goodness but having this disease has taken over my life. I am forever looking for something that will help me but there is no cure for it. I recently did an I interview in Cambridge about my struggles to get help from doctors anonymously and I look forward to seeing the report about how women are fobbed off by doctors when they know something is wrong. I was told I was menopausal and offered HRT which I did not want. The trouble is thyroid disease has similar symptoms to the menopause and doctors can wrongly assume that is what women are suffering from
Thank you. Yes, this disease takes over like a bossy coworker. Blessings to you.
Correct - would have been a totally different matter if they had !
I got my Autoimmune from my father's side. His father was bald, but my father and brothers have full heads of hair, while I have Alopecia 😑.
I know the feeling. I lost my Mum at 13 and there are so many unknowns.
I’m in my 60s and have not felt I needed it but I do use a vaginal cream as I have a caruncle and it manages that. My younger sister uses HRT and honestly seems to be looking and feeling great. She’s always telling me I should try it but my journey has been smooth so why take drugs I don’t need?
There is a book called Motherless Daughters. I haven’t finished it yet but I highly recommend it for those who have lost their mothers, particularly at a young age.
I have 2 copies of Motherless Daughters. I have reread it many times. I'm mainly looking for adding more energy so that I can accomplish projects around the house and have energy to keep working. I work security for the bustling music industry of Nashville, TN. It's a job one can continue doing as one ages and I get to see concerts while getting paid.
That sounds like a fab job! I know someone in the music industry in Nashville and I am hoping to visit during the coming year. Who knows, our paths may cross one day?!
It is a great book which I wish I'd read years ago. I wish you well on your journey.
I'm 73. In my early 50s friends told me they felt fantastic on HRT. I've buried three of them over the years with ovarian/breast cancer. I *trust* (which means I don't) that the men in charge have now sorted what goes into it.
I opted for Linda Kearn's HRT Cake - a 1 inch slab a day - which was also promoted at the time. There are variations on the Net. It's full of seeds.
However, especially as you have thyroid problems, my first thought is your main vitamin & mineral levels. They need to be half or over halfway up their ranges. I'm having trouble raising my Ferritin, and low iron leads to hair loss. I'm sure there's more to it, but it's a good place to start reading up.
I take supplements regularly as I've read Isabella Wentz's, Root Cause book. Truly sorry for the loss of your friends. Is there a difference between hair loss and Alopecia, which I have. I have a completely bald front 1/2 of my head. Thankful for your reply.
Difference between hair loss (mine comes out at the roots, and I've noticable thinning at the front half of my parting) and Alopecia is merely the degree. As far as I'm aware Alopecia is the umbrella medical term.
as everyone has said avoid Facebook, the key to getting good and safe results from HRT or I suppose any treatment is to do it properly, HRT is not always done correctly or responsibly hence some get poor or worse results. That’s the easy bit, the trickier bit is finding a doc who does it properly and probably especially on the NHS.
Thank you. I do use an estradiol creme for the skin around my vag as I suffer from incontinence and get a lot of sores from the exposure to uric acid. Thank you for your reply.
Creams did not work for me, whether prescription or OTC. I needed sublingual lozenges.
What HRT lozenges do share the name etc.
I used Wellsprings Serenity Cream Natural Menopause Relief, it was recommended by a therapist I worked with, it was really good for me.
Just to add a different point of view to the cascade of anti-HRT replies. I had my last period aged 50, and at aged 54 asked for the oestrogen replacement dermal patches and was given Evorel Conti 50 mcg. They have definitely had positive effects and I'll be fighting to keep them as long as possible. They also slow osteoporosis which I was assessed by a scan as 'borderline' for in my lower back and pelvis. They stopped hot flushes, improved bladder control, energy, mood, sleep, and stopped problems in my ligaments. The dermal patches are the safest way to have HRT. The original infamous study that showed increased risk for breast cancer etc was a) done on high oral doses made from mixed animal oestrogens and progesterone - whereas now they have worked out the lowest / best tolerated doses of bioidentical oestrogen (with no animal products involved) and b) vastly exaggerated the purported connections as the study was misrepresented in the press and the people who did the study were furious. One scientist involved accused the person who'd allowed it to be spun that way with 'doing the biggest mis-service to women for decades'.
Excellent article here: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articl... and here: thebms.org.uk/publications/...
If you like listening to podcasts, Dr Louise Newson is an expert in menopausal topics and she talks to all sorts of other experts about what can be done and how it can be managed here: balance-menopause.com/type/...
Thyroid symptoms can be the same as menopause symptoms but it doesn't mean that sorting the thyroid will sort the problems caused by the menopause. Sorting the thyroid will ease the symptoms caused by the thyroid, and HRT can ease some of the problems caused by the menopause.
But go to a proper physician to get prescribed and don't self-medicate with HRT. You may not be allowed to be prescribed HRT so late in life (unless you had a late menopause). There is always the herbal route - red clover and black cohosh are supposed to act like oestrogen and agnus castus acts like progesterone and there are others.
I'm thoroughly incontinent. No one has ever connected it to menopause. Thanks much for all of your information. I will check out that podcast.
My Aunt is the same she had a hysterectomy in her forties and her doctor has prescribed some vagifem but I think you can buy it over the counter. I can’t use anything hormonal so I use Yes gel from Amazon which works for me
I take HRT, am perimenopausal - Progesterone in the form of a coil, estrogen gel and cream (one for whole body, one for vulva/vagina) and testosterone through gel. I live in NL so the options can be different to the UK.
Labs showed my thyroid levels were good, vitamins ok and improving but I still had significant brain fog, itchy vag, night sweats, tiredness, low libido, low mood, lack of confidence, overweight. I was eating a good whole foods diet with supplements where needed, gluten and dairy free (still do).
I was prescribed the above, my periods stopped (thankful for as they were very irregular, increasingly painful etc), my mood is better, more drive and motivation, no night sweats, etc. I would never willingly stop taking HRT from now on, I feel the same about taking Levo. I have a dose that works.
In the past year I actually lost weight after a long time of trying - I am now 'healthy'. I lift weights four days a week, I get lots of walking, cycling in. I have energy, I am - 'back to my old self'.
So, I think it's worth exploring If you are low on energy etc but there could be an evidenced based option that could improve your situation, why not explore it?
Over weight with Levo or HRT
Elevated hypo symptoms. HRT and or Flaxseed. 
Advice on metavive or hrt
What product do menopausal women take to control Hot sweats and insomnia
