Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => All things menopause => Topic started by: lor.com on September 16, 2024, 02:17:19 PM
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So I’ve waited patiently for three weeks for a telephone consultation with my gp to ask for HRT! I don’t get awful menopause symptoms I’m 60 and in good health. I basically have done my research and think I would like the potential benefits of reduced health risks by taking HRT.
I’d appreciate any thoughts on any resistance I might come up against? Thank you.
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I believe its in the NICE guidelines that its ok to start HRT after 60 and that's what I would refer to if I was speaking to a GP. He will have to tell you about possible risks, apparently one of them being after 60 our arteries harden. But that's all I know on the subject :)
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Success! I have patches being prescribed. He said I can only be on it five years cos of cardiovascular risks. The Louise Newsome research tells me the opposite! What’s the truth?
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Be happy you have it for five years without argument and wait and see what happens when there will no doubt be more conflicting views on the use of HRT.
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Be happy you have it for five years without argument and wait and see what happens when there will no doubt be more conflicting views on the use of HRT.
Yes indeed! Thank you.
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Guidelines from the BMS, IMS and NICE unanimously advise AGAINST arbitrary time limits being imposed on the use of hormone therapy.
If it ever comes to it you can print these off and show them.
However the chance of seeing the same GP twice, especially 5 years later, is remote and I wouldn't worry about it.
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Success! I have patches being prescribed. He said I can only be on it five years cos of cardiovascular risks. The Louise Newsome research tells me the opposite! What’s the truth?
The truth is Louise Newson is a business, they sell any ideas to those who are willing to pay for them. NHS is public funded organisation which is not selling anything, but is responsible for providing health services, with huge amounts of rules, regulations and guidelines, you can be agreed with them or not, you have some choice. :)
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However: Dr Newson is delivering what the NHS should be aware of. It will get to a point, probably sooner rather than later, when many medications will become outside the remit of the NHS - NICE already determine which drugs which help a few patients will not be delivered across the NHS due to costs.
AngelaH - R U able to explain what you mean by 'ideas'?
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However: Dr Newson is delivering what the NHS should be aware of. It will get to a point, probably sooner rather than later, when many medications will become outside the remit of the NHS - NICE already determine which drugs which help a few patients will not be delivered across the NHS due to costs.
AngelaH - R U able to explain what you mean by 'ideas'?
Dr Newson is not God, she is one of a lot of health businesses. The main rule of NHS is cost of treatment via efficiency of treatment. It actually does make sense.
You can find all those ideas on this forum, there are lots of them.
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Dr Newson's clinic is mopping up after a woefully inadequate NHS.
It's the same with thyroid care. You cannot get T3 on the NHS because they refuse to listen to the latest research, forcing so many to seek private thyroid care.
I can't get my moles checked annually on the NHS anymore after cut backs (I have atypical familial mole syndrome, which means a ton of weird moles) so I now have to pay for a private appointment every year to have them scanned.
And so on, through every body part and piece of anatomy. The NHS is not fit for purpose because it's been destroyed by the Tories. Forcing hundreds of thousands to private healthcare. Don't blame the providers of private healthcare, blame the Tories for underfunding the NHS for decades to precipitate the capitalist society of big pharma and private healthcare which they wanted to see....
And lor.com, you can remain on HRT as long as you want to - not for 5 years. That is the case whether you go by the NICE guidelines or Louise Newson. Your GP is wrong.
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Goodness me AngelaH - who suggested that Louise is 'God'? She has pushed for treatment regimes for women who are unable to access the basic advice via the NHS. Advice that should be freely available from our GP Surgeries.
Which ideas ..........
This is a separate issue to a lack of GPs across England, with GPs retiring or simply moving abroad to work: a separate issue to 'covid' causing waiting lists ........ menopause certainly isn't high on the agenda of GP training and the British Menopause Society doesn't seem to be getting through.
As well as Dr Currie setting up MM and the Forum to spread knowledge as far as possible so that we can share what we learn as we go into peri and beyond. Fortunately my GP was aware of VA for example probably because he has a wife my age. ;D.
All governments of the day have ruined our NHS, not simply the conservatives. Also Consultants should have been more active and putting their feet down with firm hands ...... but governments throughout my Lifetime thus far have failed to a) have knowledge of how medical care works and b) have put too many constraints as well as fining Health Authorities huge sums for not meeting [can't think of the word] >:( timelines .......
Many of us pay for treatment through insurance often via Company schemes. Others spend some of their savings on essential surgical interventions. No one is 'forced' to go privately .
In general once a woman has been to see Dr Newson most GPs are OK about prescribing her recommendations via the NHS.
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It's the same with thyroid care.
When sex hormones start falling and they are imbalanced it has an effect on thyroid hormones. This is why NHS does not treat thyroid issues at this stage, because the only treatment which can help is HRT and once sex hormones are recovered thyroid issues will be gone.
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She has pushed for treatment regimes for women who are unable to access the basic advice via the …
Is not so bad, everyone is able to access basic advice from NHS, it is not the best service, but to make it free for everyone is not so easy, especially taking into account that the money which go into the system are very modest. There is an alternative - USA health care system, who does want it here? I know about all those problems that you mentioned, I can understand why medical professionals leave the NHS, I personally wouldn’t work for that system too. But NHS need much more money to keep it going, this problem is too complicated.
The reason why GPs don’t mind to prescribe what Dr Newson suggests is because this way they take all responsibilities off their shoulders, they are not responsible for any outcome of the treatment.
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Sometimes I think you are just deliberately inflammatory, Angela.
Of course the NHS acknowledges (and treats) thyroid issues 'at this stage' - they just treat them with T4/levo and refuse to accept that some patients need T3. And no, once sex hormones are recovered thyroid issues will not be 'gone' - there are many women who need both. They have an impact on each other but are largely separate systems.
The alternative to the current NHS is not a US healthcare system, it's a functioning NHS which is free for all at the point of use, paid for by our taxes. It's not rocket science. In fact, if we spent less on rocket science and war and defence and more on the NHS, we'd all be much better off for it.
GPs are mindless and prescribe what they have been told to prescribe. We may as well consult ChatGPT and tell it our symptoms and it would be more intelligently able to prescribe for us than GPs can and do. Until critical and independent thinking is taught at med school, nothing will change.
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Sometimes I think you are just deliberately inflammatory, Angela.
I think we just have different knowledge and understanding of things. :)
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Hi lor.com. I would see how you get on with HRT, try not to worry about any potential continuation resistance & address it if/when it occurs. As the others have said, arbitrary age limits should not apply if there is no medical reason for stopping HRT & you prefer to continue. I was told by my then GP when I started HRT 9 years ago that 60 would be the cut-off, but at 62 I'm still taking it with the backing of both endocrinologist & gynae - "for life" the latter said.
Sorry the following thyroid stuff is off piste, but seems important to address it when quite a few members have thyroid concerns.
AngelaHThis is why NHS does not treat thyroid issues at this stage, because the only treatment which can help is HRT and once sex hormones are recovered thyroid issues will be gone.
I think there is some confusion here. As Joziel says, the NHS does treat thyroid disease during menopause, with appropriate thyroid medication. If the thyroid gland is diseased, sex hormone replacement will not reverse the damage.
JozielYou cannot get T3 on the NHS
I get mine on the NHS; without it my T3 levels are chronically well below range. But you're right that many hypothyroid patients are not so lucky. I do have to go private for T3 testing though :-\. It is still not usually included as part of an NHS TFT, which is frustrating given the NHS acknowledges my need for T3 & it's such a powerful hormone the effects of inadvertently being on too high a dose can mimic those of some menopause symptoms, with potential for harm if the wrong dose is taken for too long.
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And no, once sex hormones are recovered thyroid issues will not be 'gone' - there are many women who need both. They have an impact on each other but are largely separate systems.
. Joziel - that's how I understood it. Some NHS GPs simply won't go the extra mile and do full testing when patients still complain of symptoms.
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Ladies,
I do take into account the fact that none of you are medical professionals. :)
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What does that mean? Neither are you, so we take that into account on our parts too.
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What does that mean? Neither are you, so we take that into account on our parts too.
It means I don’t expect you to have the same knowledge and understanding as a medical professional. :)
I do have some medical background, I studied medicine in my native country. When I came to the UK my first job was a dental nurse ::), the dental surgery, which I worked for, sent me to local college to study dental nursing for 1 year. I found the course was quite interesting for me, I did enjoy studying dentistry but job itself wasn’t a proper job, that was OK for part time job only. :)
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I was a medical secretary working closely with Consultants and Registrars so I gleaned a lot of knowledge over those years and was a respected member of the Team.. I also have vast experience of vaginal atrophy and other perimenopause symptoms.
I don't get some of your points AngelaH .......... U R on a Forum with various personal experiences regarding how the UK NHS fails women because medics don't seem to be up2date with what we require: that is from Nurse Practitioners, GPs, Consultants ........ so discussing on MM Forum helps spread knowledge.
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how R U lor.com? There is no limit now for women taking HRT as long as they remain in general well. Protection for bones and heart health as well as easing the many peri-menopause symptoms means that replacement therapy can really enable us.
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Ladies,
I do take into account the fact that none of you are medical professionals. :)
No, but the members here know a damn sight more than many, it was the women on this forum that diagnosed my GSM, not the medical profession. It was the women here that gave me the right language to use when I had to do all the research myself on a condition I had never heard of.
When I eventually got to see a gynae all she said was you need oestrogen down there, she never mentioned the name of the condition, the women here did!
Your arrogant behaviour is disrespectful and not justified.
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I was a medical secretary working closely with Consultants and Registrars so I gleaned a lot of knowledge over those years and was a respected member of the Team.. I also have vast experience of vaginal atrophy and other perimenopause symptoms.
I don't get some of your points AngelaH .......... U R on a Forum with various personal experiences regarding how the UK NHS fails women because medics don't seem to be up2date with what we require: that is from Nurse Practitioners, GPs, Consultants ........ so discussing on MM Forum helps spread knowledge.
A medical secretary is a sort of admin job. And this is why you can’t be employed as a medical professional. Just standing next to a medical professional can’t make anyone a medical professional. :) It takes years and years to study various medical subjects in universities or medical schools and then years of practicing to gain a full qualifications and knowledge.
This form is non professional forum, ladies just share their experiences, without knowledge of actual science. So when you talking about spreading the knowledge you always should bear in mind that knowledge comes from people who are not specialists and it may be just they own understanding. :)
You can’t work for NHS and be free, you should follow the rules. GP this is specialist of general practice. It means GP should know a little about everything. This is primary level of care. But we sometimes do expect from them too much. It would be easier if we could reach straight to specific specialists we need, but again we can’t really do that because NHS have its own rules and we need to follow them too. As a medical professional in the past myself I know that you always can find good and knowledgeable in their field professionals and not so good and not so knowledgeable, so it always works like how lucky you are. :)
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No, but the members here know a damn sight more than many, it was the women on this forum that diagnosed my GSM, not the medical profession. It was the women here that gave me the right language to use when I had to do all the research myself on a condition I had never heard of.
When I eventually got to see a gynae all she said was you need oestrogen down there, she never mentioned the name of the condition, the women here did!
Your arrogant behaviour is disrespectful and not justified.
They are different advices on this forum, some of them good and some of them are quite harmful. I do agree Doctors don’t talk enough to us, they don’t have enough time.
Am not here to justify myself, I can’t see the point doing that.
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I think that the initial comment on this thread was about starting HRT at age 60 for future benefits, not necessarily for symptom control? Apologies if I have misunderstood.
A few points to clarify--
Starting at HRT purely for preventive effect, not for symptom control and not for early menopause or premature ovarian insufficiency, is not currently recommended, unless there are risk factors for osteoporosis, when it can be considered. -HRT started under the age of 60, or within 10 years of the menopause is believed to provide cardiovascular benefit, but not if started after the "window of opportunity".
There is not enough evidence that HRT reduces the risk of dementia, especially if started after the window of opportunity, and may in fact increase the risk if started after a gap.
HRT does provide benefit for bone health at any stage, but other factors need to be considered such as nutrition, exercise, family history, age at menopause etc.
I hope that this is helpful.
Regarding education for healthcare professionals, we are doing masses of work through the British Menopause Society to improve knowledge so that women receive consistent advice. We are also aware that not all information for women is accurate so please use the trusted resources on this website, plus Women's Health Concern and the British Menopause Society.
Finally, I am saddened to see some unhelpful, posts being critical of others--this forum was set up many years ago to provide a platform for women to share, encourage, support, and feel safe. Please keep this in mind.
Thank-you all so much for using and contributing to Menopause Matters
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Tnx Dr Currie for the clarification.
A medical secretary is a sort of admin job. . this type of comment is why I started my thread a few weeks ago !
Come back in lor.com ......... give us an update.