WOOOOW!! Boy do I know about this stuff. My grand mother died at the age of 45, with problems do to a nervous breakdown. My mother had a nervous breakdown 2 months after her hysterectomy, all I remember is her telling us she was going crazy with hot flash's constantly, and no sleep, one day she never got out of bed, never ate, showered, or anything, the doc said she was clinicaly depressed. They did shock therapy and she died a year later of heart problems and never got over her depression. To make this short they never were on hormones. I had been on them for 8 yrs. Twice I have been taken off and twice went to practictioners who do the wholistic stuff, nothing worked, and I became depressed this year. I'm talking hot flashes to the tune of 50 at least a day or 1 every 10 minutes, bloody soaking wet flashes, not the warm fuzzy nice feeling, I was naked for about two months, no sleep for 3 weeks and deeply depressed, also crazy. So finally my doctor realized I'm one of those women who suffer terribly, it was heridetary. They tried sleeping pills, but I was afraid it would be habit forming. I am a woman who never gets sick, except this year, very active and don't take even an asprin. But when I'm off hormones, I turn into a she devil. It's totally debilitating. I begged him to put me back on after I lost almost 6 months of my life. Now I may end up with cancer or heart problems, I know this but I have no choice, and once in a while I have to fight off depression, yesterday was awful, some times I can't get out of bed. I hate this and fight it with all my soul. This is why this site has been my savior cause I can be a part of something, even when I get the uglies. So thanks from the bottom of my heart, for the Quilting Board. It's been my savior....