HOCM and Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT)

Posted by joannoxenham @joannoxenham, Dec 16, 2024

Ladies, have any of you had experience with hormone replacement therapy either low dose patch or other options? My orthopedist recommended I take HRT for bone health and my cardiologist said I could try HRT at a low dose. Just wanted to see if anyone else has had any results good or bad in continuing them or starting HRT with HOCM.

Thanks for any input you can give me.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) Support Group.

JuliAnne | @yellvis | Dec 26, 2024

I’m 56 and have been on twice-weekly 0.075 mg/day estradiol patches for a few years, entirely for my mental health! I have a Mirena IUD for the progestin portion. I don’t know what constitutes low-dose, and I suspect mine may be on the moderate or possibly even higher side, but it’s the amount that leveled out my horrible perimenopausal depression, so that’s how it was determined. I’ll eventually need to get off of it, but I'm only 5 years in, and I think it can be safe to be on it for around 10 years? Depends on so many things, I suppose.

It was prescribed by a doctor at Mayo. And by the way, I just had open heart surgery in Mayo, a septal myectomy, and I’m still kicking! They didn’t change anything with my estrogen patches while I was in the hospital.

I can’t recommend HRT highly enough, but I was literally losing my life due to depression before I got on it, so I’m probably not your best example from the osteoporosis angle.

Good luck!

joannoxenham | @joannoxenham | Dec 27, 2024

In reply to @yellvis "I’m 56 and have been on twice-weekly 0.075 mg/day estradiol patches for a few years, entirely..." + (show)

JuliAnne, thank you for sharing your story. It’s good to hear the mayo doctors actually prescribed the hrt for you and you continued it through your septal myectomy surgery. I’m not close to a cfe so my primary referred me to an obgyn in January. Hopefully she isn’t scared off from prescribing me by the hocm and I can see where my levels are at and go from there.

By the way, what was the biggest deciding factor for you to have the septal myectomy and how has your recovery been?

Thank you again!

Debra, Volunteer Mentor | @karukgirl | Dec 28, 2024

Hi @joannoxenham
I like what @yellvis shared with you.
I have been on HRT for several years now and feel so much better than before I started. I am on all bio-identical hormones prescribed by an HRT Physician Assistant and monitored every six months.
The world is a safer place with me on Estradiol, and I also take progesterone, even tho' I had a hysterectomy. I am on testosterone and low dose natural thyroid as well.
I was taken off the thyroid right before my open heart surgery at the Mayo Clinic. I had no ill effects of being off it for a year and then back on.
I went to surgery with an estrogen patch on and woke up without it. In two days I had severe hot flashes while recovering from open heart surgery and I begged for and received a new patch. It was a godsend!
In this day and age, I think more physicians are comfortable prescribing bio-identical hormones to help us feel better.
I would be devastated if I had to go off them! And the world would not be safe!!