A Breakthrough! But not what you might think…
I had a breakthrough in my HRT journey, but not a favorable one. After almost a year on estradiol (with progesterone) I had some breakthrough bleeding.
As I’ve been saying, and will continue to say, I am not a doctor. Please follow the advice of your medical professional.
Now, on to the story…
I immediately reached out to my doctor, who told me that my thought was correct: reduce the amount of estradiol. She has since prescribed a lower dose patch. But let me tell you, Googling things like this is never a good idea lol.
From what I’ve found breakthrough bleeding on HRT is not uncommon, but is also not very well understood. Of course, my main concern is cancer in the endothelial lining. But I can be a bit of a hypochondriac at time. I’m certainly hoping that’s the case in this instance!
This whole thing has got me thinking more about living a longer, and healthier life. As my own mortality starts to creep in to my consciousness more and more, I am determined to find the best way to improve my “health span”.
Part of living a healthier life includes being cognizant of preventing the 3 biggies: heart disease, dementia, and diabetes. And understanding the role that HRT plays in this trifecta. It’s not easy to find credible information that is not outdated, and that can be frustrating.
This is all new ground for me. I’ve always assumed that eating healthy foods and exercising regularly was the key to living a long, healthy life. And it was for many years. But inevitably, as we age, other factors creep in. And even though I have always watched the amount of saturated fats and cholesterol in my diet, my familial history of high cholesterol now has me taking a statin daily (yes, I tried red yeast rice first, but to no avail).
I have yet to see if my numbers are lowered now, as I see my doctor next month. I’ll be sure to keep you updated on that too.
Please know that there is no one size fits all to aging healthily. My advice is simple; gather all of the info you can from reputable sources and discuss all of it with a physician that you trust. I continue to quite new info as I move through this co fusing period in life (wasn’t it so much easier when we were young?) For now, here is a list of people that I am learning from and some research articles that I have found interesting:
Maire Claire Haver MD:
https://www.instagram.com/drmaryclaire?igsh=MWFrMjIxeWRrYzhhdg==
Corrinne Menn DO
https://www.instagram.com/drmennobgyn?igsh=cHZwZm9sd3Q3b25t
Cardiovascular disease and HRT:
I’d love to hear some of your experiences with menopause, HRT, or just getting older in general. Please feel free to reach out at fran@bodybyfrantraining.com or on IG @bodybyfran.