Should I be taking estrogen replacement?

[ScreaminMeanie]

I've heard someone mention on here that HRT is not a good thing if you have vasculitis. Neither my OB/GYN nor my Rheumy has said anything about it. I hate to give up my estrogen patches and go through the hot flash thing again, but I suppose that's the least of my worries at this point......

[pberggren1]

I've heard someone mention on here that HRT is not a good thing if you have vasculitis. Neither my OB/GYN nor my Rheumy has said anything about it. I hate to give up my estrogen patches and go through the hot flash thing again, but I suppose that's the least of my worries at this point......

What is HRT? I'm not even sure what estrogen is but I think only women have it.

[Palmyra]

pberggren, you are sooo cute! And, such a real man...(said in a nice way!) HRT is hormone replacement therapy. Yes, you do have some (very small) amounts of estrogen, but women have lots.

Screaming Meanie...my daughter was advised not to take the pill, or any form of hormone therapy due to increased risk of blood clots with the vasculitis diagnosis. I don't know about the low levels in the patch, but it would be worth investigating more with your docs. Flashing is not so bad..just layer clothing

[DEE]

Screaning Meanie Im not trying to scare you but no one told me to stop taking HRT and i had blood clots last year which they cant prove was caused by HRT because of all yje other drugs im on when admitted to hospital for blood clots was taken of HRT the same day
Had hot flushes for about a month maybe worth asking about as i was under several dr s at the time and nobody had thought about tellimg me not to take it
My daughter has Crohns disease and she was taken off for the same reason
hope this will be helpful DEEx

[Sangye]

You should definitely not be using HRT. Weggies are 23% more likely to get blood clots and adding another major risk factor is asking for trouble. You can live with the hot flashes. I've had uncountable numbers of clots in my legs and lungs. Believe me, you do not want to go through that. Any one of them could have killed me or caused brain damage.

[ScreaminMeanie]

Very helpful, all of you (except pberggren1! LOL). I will talk to my Rheumy about it this week. My OB/GYN has already suggested a couple times that I get off the estrogen because I have occasionally severe post-menopausal bleeding.

[NicShaf]

Wow, ScreaminMeanie, thank you for bringing this up. I had no idea, and my Rheumatologist told me to talk to my General Practitioner about the pill to prevent pregnancy! Scary! Now that you all mention it, it makes so much sense that Vasculitis would be a bad mix with something that can cause blood clots.
This is yet another reason I'm so grateful for this site!

[ScreaminMeanie]

Even though I'm sure I would survive hot flashes, my marriage may not!

[stikker]

My hot flashes are much much worse on Prednisone. Just a warning. They're almost unbareable.

[ScreaminMeanie]

I figure since I've been on estrogen replacement for 20 years, and I've been at the lowest possible dose for at least 5 years, AND since it's winter, now would be a good time to get off it. Maybe by summer the hot flashes will be over.

The MTX also gives me hot (and cold) flashes already. But I will NOT say it can't get any worse! LOL. Hopefully I'll get to talk to my doc tomorrow and get her opinion. I suspect I'll have to stay on the progesterone since I haven't had a hysterectomy, but I want to make sure all of it's okay and not just do this on my own.