Hi Nairn, so good to hear how much better you're feeling on the Femoston & that you had a wonderful NHS consultant. There are some very good ones out there - I've recently been lucky to be treated by an exemplary NHS medic whose care & that of his colleagues throughout the entire lengthy episode was beyond anything I could have wished for.
In contrast, I was very disappointed after 4 failed trials of Utrogestan with different doses & types of transdermal oestrogen, to find that the private meno clinic I went to last year for further advice merely told me to persevere with Utro, saying if I took enough oestrogen I should be able to tolerate it. The only alternative form of prog that doctor endorsed was Mirena, which I explained at 57 I didn't want fitted - both as I feared the difficulty of this as a childless woman with poorly managed VA who'd found her last hysteroscopy excruciating, and because my GP had told me if I opted for Mirena, another would not be fitted to replace it beyond age 60.
My HRT is now managed at another private hospital where my testimony that Utro really doesn't suit me is accepted without question & I'm treated, unhurriedly, like an equal partner in my care. That attitude & having adequate time for consultations are invaluable to me.
I also felt something of a failure for my reaction to the "gold standard" combination & had so wanted it to work as it worried me to have to consider other regimens considered potentially more risky. In fact I find it upsetting & disappointing that the only combination wholeheartedly endorsed these days by many authorities, seems to be the micronised prog with transdermal oestrogen, as I worry that that leaves many women feeling more at risk, apologetic & maybe even furtive about their HRT if their needs are for one of the alternative regimens.
Stellajane, like you, out of the progesterone variants I felt best on the Norethisterone in Evorel Conti, but only got poor absorption of oestradiol from it, insufficient for good symptom relief, so have had to persevere with finding an alternative. Currently that's Estradot with MPA, a prog I would have preferred to avoid, though I have read articles suggesting its demonised reputation may be unfounded. Needs must - bottom line is I'm worse without HRT than with & with other health conditions, need to do all I can to achieve best quality of life.
Another thing I meant to say in that earlier post, is that when we are very unwell & faced with struggle with the overburdened NHS to get the treatment we need, the stress of that can be considerable & at times enough to deter us from persevering, so we end up suffering needlessly with horrible symptoms & greatly reduced QOL, with all manner of potentially serious repercussions. Easier maybe to persevere with repeated too short consultations & resistant GPs at the start of peri if you're still physically & mentally robust, but many of us have been weakened by the sledgehammer of menopause & are not up to pushing continually for help. If there's no NHS menopause clinic with short enough wait or within reasonable reach, those seem very good reasons for considering a recommended private menopause specialist if we can afford it, where we go along knowing there's likely to be time to listen & an attitude in favour of HRT, both of which are sadly often lacking at GP level. I worry that many women can't afford that luxury & that the NHS is therefore letting them down.
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Topic: At my wits end with all this (Read 11926 times)