I took 1 mg of estradiol and 100 mg of progesterone from the age of 52 to 72 with no problem. At the ripe old age of 72 I had a period...just like the awful periods I had premenopause. Naturally, you immediately think cancer.
I stopped the estradiol and quickly got a gyn appt. They did an exam, ultrasound, internal and external and told me if it happened again they would do a biopsy. It didn't happen again, so it was determined they had no idea and sometimes our bodies do strange things. (That's what I was told)
Since I stopped the estrogen, I feel like I have aged 20 years in the last 4 years. Loss of muscle tone, saggy skin, arthritis and an abundance of new aches and pains , and now I've developed peripheral neuropathy in my feet. I've always been reasonably healthy, and now I feel like a hypochondriac because I just don't feel good.
I've done an enormous amount of research on reliable sites that says HRT doesn't cause an increase in cancer. Of course, there are exceptions...family history etc. Everybody is different.
I'm really tired of hearing " you're getting old" like I'm not acutely aware of that!!
So if you can continue using HRT, do it. Your body, your choice. It's about quality of life. Do the research. Stick to reliable websites and if it says "a slight increase in cancer" find out what that means. Print out the info you find and show it to your doctor. They are all so busy, I'm not sure they have the time to dig into all this info. Things seem to change on a daily basis. We have a increase in risks of disease by just being alive and surviving to our age. Who knows what's in our water, food and air?
Of course, all of this is my opinion. I am not in the medical field.
I'm sorry this is so long, I been thinking about this for quite a while.