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I went through full menopause rather early. I had always had irregular menses so even missing a period for 6 months wasn’t unusual.

I went into see my Primary Care Doctor and he said since it had been 6 months since the last period, he wanted to do a blood test just to make sure. Sure enough I was fully menopausal at 44. He put me on Premarin .625 which helped my sleeping. I really didn’t have any other symptoms so I thought it was going to be a piece of cake. Most of the time I’d forget to take the premarin and wouldn’t have any hot flashes, night sweats and any of the other goodies associated with menopause.

Fast forward 1 1/2 years later and I hadn’t been taking the premarin for about 6 months. My then husband had active Chronic Lymphocitic Leukemia and there was plenty of stress to go around. I was irritable (which I attributed to his leukemia and my being the main support for our family). I started having a few hot flashes, not many, but a few. My doctor wanted me to take the premarin to see if it might help with the way I was coping with all of the stress. I agreed and it did help with the stress and irritability. I also quit having any hot flashes whatsoever.

I weaned myself off about 6 years ago and had no problems with the hot flashes, irritability, night sweats, etc.

In the meantime in Sept. 04 I had a perforated duodenal ulcer which required emergency surgery. In June of ‘06 I had to have another stomach surgery to correct scarring and problems associated with the first surgery.

Because of the type of ‘corrective’ surgery which basically was the bariatric surgery used for obese people. I became extremely malnourished, underweight and had all sorts of gastro-intestinal problems. Prior to the rouen(sp?) Y surgery I was height-weight proportionate. I was 5’0” and weighed 106 lbs going into surgery.

Since the last surgery I’ve had problems with being malnourished, severely underweight, constant nausea, other gastro issues and problems with ataxia (being off balance the majority of the time). At one time there was talk that home health care was going to have to file a report which probably would have resulted in my becoming a ward of the state of Oklahoma because I weighed 78 lbs even though I was eating more than I ever had prior to the second surgery.

I went into detail because not only was I dealing with all of the above, for the first time in my life I started having hot flashes and severe night sweats. The night sweats were so bad 4-5 times a night I’d wake up with not a dry stitch of clothing on me.

I knew the risks of taking premarin as did my new PCP but we both felt it might help with some of the weight loss and malnourishment. I’ve been on them now for about 9 months and have managed to get up to 98.8 pounds as of this last Monday.

For the longest time after starting the premarin I couldn’t get above 90 lbs and usually bounced in between 82 lbs to 87 lbs. It was a red letter day when my check-up last month showed I weighed 91.3 lbs. It was cause for celebration when I hit 98.8. I even optimistically have bought some new clothes as well as finding and beginning to wear some of my old size 4 petite jeans (even though the 4’s are baggy but the 2’s are a little too snug around my waist).

I still need to gain another 8 or 9 pounds as well as hold on to the weight I’ve managed to gain. When you’re one of those short people every pound matters.

My hope is once I’ve got a track record of staying above 95 lbs and positive blood tests, I can once more quit taking the premarin.

This last Monday was the first time in 2 1/2 years I’ve had a blood test showing I wasn’t out of whack or malnourished. I attribute that to the premarin.

Sorry about the novel, I just wanted to point out that sometimes you have to weigh the risks and make a difficult decision.

Wow, you’ve had quite a time Sally. Hormones will, in most cases, cause you to gain weight. I gained 20lbs after starting hormone therapy. I’m not considered overweight but I’m getting close to my limit. I’m 5’6” and 143lbs. I still need to lose 20lbs.

One thing that helped me when I quit the hormones was getting plenty of exercise. Also, alcoholic beverages like wine, beer, etc. can cause night sweats. If I have a real stressful day I notice the night sweats are worse too. I have a mountain bike that I like to ride and it eliminates a lot of the stress. In your case you don’t want to lose weight but stress busting exercise like easy bike riding or walking might help too.

You are right about weighing the risks to make the decision to take them or not. Hopefully you will be able to stay off the hormones the next time you quit. The hormones aren’t life threatening at a low dosage for a short period of time unless you have history of blood clots or other risk factors like smoking.