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[–]jelliknight 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

You're right there are many parallels here.

As far as I know, hormone replacement therapy was a completely untested assumption. The assumption being that women's bodies are "broken" when they stop being fertile and they need to be "fixed" with artificial hormones. This has actually been a default assumption throughout medical history, that women's bodies need constant "fixing", my favorite quote on the topic is that the doctors behave "as if god didn't know how to make a woman properly."

It was also related to the fixation on youth and youthfulness and achieving that through artificial means, as if we could 'pause' the aging process. You could think of HRT as "menopause blockers".

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I'm on BHRT, because my hormones apparently fell through the floor before menopause even started. I had/have pain in my vagina and urinary tract because the estrogen-sensitive tissues were atrophying rapidly. You can also completely lose your external clit from the same tissue atrophy process. I thought something like that would be a long, slow change to which I could adjust – nope, it happened within a few months. I wish hormones were more simple and clear-cut and also wish doctors knew more about menopausal changes. Note that HRT doesn't usually replace hormone levels to the same levels as those in years of peak fertility, it aims to alleviate symptoms at the lowest possible dose. What I'm saying here – it's not so black-and-white.