Menopause and Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT)
We’re reading about menopause and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) almost everywhere it seems. Well more than ever before.
Twitter, magazines, Instagram, tv and the rest, have Davina McCall, Nicola Sturgeon, Kaye Adams, and other celebrities coming out. Women everywhere telling the world what it feels like to be going through the menopause.
Everyone is talking menopause. Or so it seems.
From brain fog to memory loss.
A time in a woman’s life where she can no longer remember the simplest thing. Not all women we’re told. I heard a random figure, something with no evidence to back it, which stated that 15% of women do notexperience any menopausal symptoms.
How amazing must that feel?
But it’s more than just the menopause, it’s Perimenopause, when you first start to experience these changes. Your body changes and so do you. In the days of old, women just got rounder. Not so much pressure not to have that middle-aged spread.
Carolyn Harris has been employed as Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Menopause.
This is a new step and puts menopause heart and centre of politics for the first time. It’s hailed as a great step forward for people who experience menopause, and it is.
Menopause workplace policies are to become an integral part of the HR workplace practice. Women will be supported in the workplace on an issue that was previously not discussed. It’s great to know that we are highlighting what potentially affects 51% of the U.K population.
We want to be able to continue to support people once they have gone through their reproductive journey. Producing information on the menopause takes us in the right direction.
We ask one of the lead campaigners and experts around. Diane Danzebrink, from Make Menopause Matter to write the leaflet on our behalf.
In 2020 FPA launches its first new leaflet after 10 years, “a guide to menopause.”
From first inception to its final production takes months. It’s a thorough process, the leaflet is written, edited, peer reviewed, user tested, proofed, and signed off.
It outlines what menopause is, the different stages and signs, how and when you can expect it, the different types of HRT and what we hope we can do to dispel any myths surrounding this significant time in a woman’s life.
The leaflet is timely, and it’s needed, our downloads and website traffic are testament to that. But as menopause continues to gurgle in the media, we learn that there is a shortage of medication.
National shortage of HRT medication.
Women are having trouble getting the HRT they need. On the one hand, there’s progress in raising awareness of menopausal issues with the possible solution of HRT medication for those who choose to take that path, who are then unable to get hold of the meds they need.
It’s a really challenging situation.
It’s like being told you need asthma medication but there are no inhalers for you to get the relief you need.
At the same time, there are announcements that women will be able to have an annual supply of HRT and only pay for one prescription.
I speak with the Pharmacist, she says, no this is not the case. I’ll look into it for you. The announcement makes it sound as though this is happening now. She comes back and tells me: it’s not until April 2023.
I dig further. I check the guidelines. NICE says you can be prescribed a 12-month supply once you have been on HRT and settled for 3 months.
I go back to the pharmacist. She says speak with your GP Practice.
I finally speak with my GP. She says this is the case, but there’s a supply chain issue and if we tell everyone then it’s the middle-class women who will benefit as they’ll be doing the digging and reading. Don’t mention it to others, she says.
You can have yours though because what you’re on is so rarely prescribed. It’s the oestrogen patch and like that are harder to get. I get my 12-month supply with the overarching feelings of guilt towards the women who are having issues getting hold of the HRT they need!
