Cold Turkey for HRT !!!!!!

[kath135]

I started Hrt 5 months ago and over all I have felt soooooooo much better in myself, I've been on Citalopram for the last 12 months (20mg) a day and recently reduce that to (10mg) so things have really improved over the last year, however !!!! I have gained nearly 3 !!!!!!!! Yes 3 stone over the last 5 months AND I'M STILL GAINING so tomorrow i'm going to see my doctors and i'm giving up the HRT ? It sounds crazy I know considering Its making me better but the thought of getting any fatter absolutey horrifies me. I thought that gaining a little weight would be ok i didnt realise how upsetting I would find it, I've gone from a size 10=12 to a 16-18 and I feel disgusting, I've never been over weight not even when I was pregnant. Dont get me wrong i'm not dishing anyone who is over weight i'm just saying that i'm 44 years old, I've had two children and I've never been overweight and never thought about my weight because i've always been small, until now, and now i'm distraught over the weight gain!!! and whats more i'm willing to give up the one thing that can help me!!!!! How crazy is that.. I suffer from chronic palps without the hrt and the hot sweats make me panic which isnt good for someone like me who suffers from health anxiety ? I feel quite shocked by my response to the weight gain after years of anxiety i thought that putting weight on would be the least of my worries. How wrong was I.. BUT does that mean i'm getting better because my fear of getting fatter seems to be greater then the fear of a panic attack. uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm i'm confused. Help

[blueangel]

Hiya

3 stone in 5 months is an awful lot, I agree, and at 44 you're also pretty young to be getting perimenopausal symptoms as well, which is a pain in the backside. Has the HRT increased your appetite? - or do you think it's affected your metabolism (i.e. you're eating the same as you were and just putting on more weight).

I'd say it's definitely worth going back to your GP, as he/she can help establish what's causing the weight gain. Are you taking HRT in tablet form? Quite a few women seem to find the tablets hard to tolerate (they gave me constant indigestion and mildish gall bladder symptoms). It's possible to take HRT in patches or as a gel that is rubbed on the skin every day, and your body needs a far lower dose through these routes as you don't have to digest on the way to it getting into your system.

If change of route doesn't help, then the best thing I would suggest is tapering off the dose - from my experience, cold turkeying from it produces horrendous rebound symptoms that are really unpleasant (I was getting 3 dozen hot flushes a day!!). Again, your GP should be able to help with this if he/she has their head screwed on properly.

[Going home]

Hi there, ive never been given HRT but know a few women on it and one or two of them have put on weight since starting it, so yes it could be this and if it is I agree that changing the way you take it could be better than giving it up if it makes you physically better. Maybe changing to the patches and see if you start to lose weight. I know how bad you feel about this, since starting on beta-blockers (propranolol) a few years ago I went from a comfortable size 16 (i'm 5'7) to an awful size 20 and hate the way i look now. I can't seem to shift it even though i eat sensibly...nightmare..

Anna xxx