Janet - Interview 46- Menopause

Age at interview: 77

Brief Outline:

Tiredness, irritability and hot flushes in her fifties led Janet to take HRT. Symptoms returned after discontinuing HRT 12 years later. Resumed HRT for a few years but stopped after heavy bleed. At 77, no longer on HRT but still gets hot flushes.

Background:

Janet is a retired probation officer. She is widowed with four adult children. She started the menopause at age 55 and was a long-term user of HRT until four years ago. Ethnic background/nationality - White British.

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Janet told her doctor that she did not want to still be having periods when she was 80 so he suggested a no-bleed HRT

 So I went back to him to talk about it, the GP, and I said, “The only thing that puts me off, I don’t really want to be having periods if I get to 80 and I’m still on it and I don’t want to be having periods. That’s ridiculous.” So he said, “Well, I could put you on another one where you don’t have the oestrogen.” And he said, “Most.” I remember him saying something like, “Most of the ladies that I’ve prescribed this find it much better and they don’t really have bleeding. Occasionally, you might get a bit of spotting.” So I said, “Fine.” So he prescribed this so I started taking that and I suppose I was taking it, I don’t know how many years, perhaps two three years, which was, on top of the previous year’s I’d been taking the combination one.