[bryony]

Bryony, no one will force you on to HRT. The worst that will happen is that you will be referred to the community mental health team who can only ASK you if you want to be referred to a GIC. No one can make you go.

Hello you! Nice to see you don't really want to stay away.

Well, I don't really want to go through the nausea of being referred to anyone really!

Only a GIC can prescribe hormones or anti-androgens and even when they do so, you can hear the squeals of your practice manager when he/she finds out that decapeptyl or goserelin is £200 a shot. Estradiol, OTOH is way, way cheaper than PM, about 1/3 the cost.

Ok, fine, but my black hat personality visualises scenarios where they say "stop taking that unapproved herbal stuff and take this controlled substance instead or we will wash our hands of you!"

but equally I don't want to get labelled as someone who indulges in risky behaviour.

But you ARE indulging in risky behaviour. There are no clinical studies that show PM is harmless although there is a lot of anecdotal evidence that it is harmless. The big danger with HRT is blood clots. What evidence is there that PM does not produce clots or has some other side effect that does not show up for some years?

Well, if you knew me better you'd know just how risk averse I really am. That's why I want to stick to PM and not go on to pharm. hormones.
As for evidence, there's this:FDA Document If you have a look at the safety section, you'll see that it's very safe indeed.

How can anyone trust the manufacturing process out in Thailand? How does anyone know that there is PM in those capsules? They could just be grinding up Progynova and mixing it with rice powder for all we know. That would produce feminising effects....

Seriously, that's a problem that applies anywhere, anytime... had any frozen burgers lately?

I can only assume it is the real deal, and there is research that shows that it is safer than Estriadol. I can find the links if you want.

Your doctor may not like you self medding but they cannot refuse you treatment for any health conditions, not even self inflicted ones.

I know, but it's still something that I'd prefer to avoid.

Thanks for your thoughts, though. How are you getting on?

B.