Stopping Prempro

[Maddie6]

Hi,
I'm a 62 year old female and have been on Prempro almost 11 years.  I've never had children.  I had my annual mammogram this past September and additional diagnostic screenings confirmed an 8 mm benign cyst and also several other subcentimeter benign cysts with low level internal echoes.  I decided to stop the Prempro cold turkey; I guess I panicked.  I was only taking it to help my bone density, but I'm already on Boniva IV every three months, 50000 Vitamin D/week, and 1500 mg calcium a day; so I feel I'm covered reasonably well with these meds.  When I didn't hear back from my Primary Care Doctor about these findings, I called to ask whether these benign cysts could be caused by the Prempro, and she said yes, possibly.  I had a needle biopsy in 1996, and the findings were benign.  I also had a partial mastectomy in 2001 for a cluster of calcifications, which was also benign.   I called my doctor to inform I would like to stop the Prempro, and she recommended a slow taper .  Well, I had already been off it two weeks and decided to see how I would fare.  After the third week, I started having hot flashes and insomnia, so I called my doctor a second time to explain what I had done with stopping the Prempro and asked if she could give me something to relieve the hot flashes.  She insisted the only way to overcome these hot flashes and return to normal would be to go back on the Prempro for 42 weeks.  It would be six weeks on 7 pills, then the next six weeks take 6 pills and down on the line until I reached 1 pill for six weeks.  My question is I know there are other drugs that may help get me thru these hot flashes until my hormones return to normal.  Is there a reason why doctors insist on their patients returning back to hormone treatment?   This is the only treatment she feels will help me.