Hormone study follow-up finds new risks

Well, that's just great.  More good news.  I stopped taking the combo, I believe, in 2002 when the bad news came out.  My gyn was all gung-ho about estrogen.  I never had ONE hot flash.  If I did, I wasn't aware of it!     I can't say positively that it caused my bc.  But I do wonder.  Oh well, can't go back.

Shirley

I took HRT for seven years.

My gyn was reluctant to prescribe it and warned of the BC link.  I had heavy bleeding to the tune of one pad every half hour....for two weeks...break for a week...begin again.  Also had mood disturbance and cognitive issues that interfered with my obligations at work.  This made it difficult to schedule merger meetings and prepare the work necessary.  I was very grateful to HRT....I started when I was 49.  This was not defined as a disability in my insurance .... only a "woman's issue"...so how else do we sustain income?  The other choice is scale down and live with less.  Since I didn't have much to begin with...less was not an option.

When I arrived in Italy (age 52) my family doctor suggested that I stop HRT due to the risks of cancer.  I continued on a little longer as I had become accustomed to feeling well.  I also thought that I was doing good duty for my heart and bones.  

HRT was replaced with Arimidex two years six months ago....I'm 59.  It was like hitting a brick wall at top speed.

Perhaps it took the critical mass of the baby boomers to confirm the BC incidence in numbers.  This is good news for those who follow us at least....as we've followed others and benefited from the knowledge gained.

It's the Arimidex now that I question.  My family comment frequently about my dark moods....they've asked me to wear my rose colored glasses.  I'm not anxious anymore...but ill tempered and low tolerance.  I know I can write about it here to the "get it" gang...but that doesn't help living it with the "don't get it" gang on a daily basis.  This gang suggested yet another drug...anti depressives...which took me four months last year of withdrawl to stop.  I don't want to go down that road again.

Maybe it's as simple as limiting family visits ...yeh, that's the ticket....and let them leave with their fantasy of life ... the reality seems too much for them to grasp anyway....let alone live it.  When they ask how I feel....they really don't want an answer...they want to hear "I'm fine"...which of course I'm not....my joints hurt, I don't sleep well, I'm cranky.   

My son said that he never saw me so angry....which made me laugh...and that puzzled him.  We see each other twice a year...so the shifts of life are less subtle and more of a shock.

There must be somewhere that cranky old women can go to talk about being cranky....and old....without young people trying to tell us how to "make it better".  OMG....that was me 30 years ago when I was talking to my parents!  It's come full circle!  

Oh yes, we were talking about HRT...sorry to digress.  

Hi Gals:



I took it for five years

about..



am er-pr- negative

just hit the 8 yr mark

so ..

have to move forward



Was encouraged to take it

for heart, however,

My Dad had lung Ca

My Aunt just had TX

and it is in the family





BEST to all



Lets stay on a good path



Hugs

Tender your name suits you well today...that is indeed a good poem..yours?  Thanks, I needed that.

High Sierra an appropro observation....the only direction that we are traveling is forward.  

Shirley you hit the mark ... explode it the word .... but love the comment that your DH is not on HTs.  Very good point.  But just goes to show how wonderful our estrogen is...men never did get it (lol). Seriously though, stepping outside is a good idea .... it's really not necessary that we agree with each other every single moment of life....but that we can step aside and let the other be when they need to be.

Tanti grazie bella donne.

For Blundin and All



Come hither, yee ladies

Bring us your angst



No rose color glasses

Need define our ranks



Your beauty in life

Is not spelled out by mood



It's birthing our babies

And raising our brood



It's putting in a giving day

At work and at home



It's performing these tasks

With self dignity along side of body moans



So bring us your aches

Your body's intemperant



We're here not to judge

Rather accept and co-mentor it



Tender

Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul Emily Dickenson