When I first started on the menopause I found that I wanted to learn how I could take control of this stage of my life. Like many women I didn’t think I wanted to take HRT (and the jury’s still out on that one), but didn’t know the alternatives. However I was totally unaware of how uncomfortable and sometimes distressing the symptoms of the menopause could be.

I’ve struggled with this – not wanting to get involved with medication for what is, in the end, a natural process but, on the other hand, wanting to have the benefits that HRT offers. As a result I’ve tried HRT, come off it and gone back onto it. Neither state has proved an ideal solution.

In the end the choice of whether to take HRT is individual to each and every woman going through the menopause.

What we’ve tried to do here is give a simple synopsis of the way HRT works and the pros and cons.

We’ve also added in some links to other sites that go into this in more detail (and with more authority) than we can.