Page 11 | Newson Health and the menopause industry

ArabellaScott · 2024-09-30T06:34:15+00:00

[[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp8e5y4e83lo https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp8e5y4e83lo]] Keeping an eye on this. Newson makes an awful lot of money out of HRT.

GoldLameDarling · 30/09/2024 22:28

greengreyblue
Why isn’t is made much clearer that obesity increases breast cancer risk? I don’t think most women know this .

I hear so many women declare they wouldn’t touch HRT because BC while being very overweight and drinking a few glasses of wine several times a week-the irony.

Ahhhh well done for bringing your fat shaming into it. What a charmer you are! JFC

Blanketyre · 30/09/2024 22:22

ArabellaScott · 30/09/2024 22:18

We're discussing evidence, risks, and benefits. It's really inaccurate, rude, and unnecessary to call it 'bickering'.

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I'm sorry, but some of these posts are judgemental and petty. Bickering is a perfectly good description.

JenniferBooth · 30/09/2024 22:20

I hear so many women declare they wouldn’t touch HRT because BC while being very overweight and drinking a few glasses of wine several times a week-the irony

Yes , quite. Also so many women wanting hrt because of tiredness and achey joints whilst being several stones overweight. Yes I know slim women suffer with meno symptoms too but seems to be an awful lot that could try to address the obvious first

So in the wrong for not touching it and also in the wrong for wanting it. How predictable

Original poster

ArabellaScott · 30/09/2024 22:18

Blanketyre · 30/09/2024 21:53

I am amazed that there is a really good medicine out there that makes life so much more enjoyable for many, many women, and yet other women are bickering over whether they should take it or not.

If you don't want to take it, don't. It's not mandatory.

We're discussing evidence, risks, and benefits. It's really inaccurate, rude, and unnecessary to call it 'bickering'.

OP posts:

Blanketyre · 30/09/2024 22:15

greengreyblue · 30/09/2024 22:00

Yes , quite. Also so many women wanting hrt because of tiredness and achey joints whilst being several stones overweight. Yes I know slim women suffer with meno symptoms too but seems to be an awful lot that could try to address the obvious first

Edited

If slim women suffer with the same symptoms then why is being overweight a factor?

greengreyblue · 30/09/2024 22:00

Yes , quite. Also so many women wanting hrt because of tiredness and achey joints whilst being several stones overweight. Yes I know slim women suffer with meno symptoms too but seems to be an awful lot that could try to address the obvious first

Hillsmakeyoustrong · 30/09/2024 21:56

Drinking is a risk factor but being overweight is a much bigger risk factor. I was shocked when I recently found out and being overweight myself has made me really look at how I can lose the weight. It's now my priority.

MrsJoanDanvers · 30/09/2024 21:56

greengreyblue · 30/09/2024 21:44

Why isn’t is made much clearer that obesity increases breast cancer risk? I don’t think most women know this .

I hear so many women declare they wouldn’t touch HRT because BC while being very overweight and drinking a few glasses of wine several times a week-the irony.

Imustgoforarun · 30/09/2024 21:55

Fraudornot · 30/09/2024 20:47

This is just not true. I have exercised all my adult life, slim, healthy diet. I had no problems with periods during my life and healthy pregnancies. But when meno hit my joints ached terribly, my sleep was appalling and the brain fog, anger and low mood left me feeling like a totally different person. Within 24 hours if HRT the joint pains stopped, low mood and fog lifted within a week.
Please don’t make such sweeping generalisations. HRT also has many protective factors which I value as much as the ability to loose the meno symptoms.

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Same here. I gave up with the GP. I had to go private. That’s what is so shocking that we have to pay.

Blanketyre · 30/09/2024 21:53

I am amazed that there is a really good medicine out there that makes life so much more enjoyable for many, many women, and yet other women are bickering over whether they should take it or not.

If you don't want to take it, don't. It's not mandatory.

greengreyblue · 30/09/2024 21:53

LivelyGoldOrca · 30/09/2024 21:47

https://thebms.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/WHC-Infographics-JANUARY-2023-BreastCancerRisks.pdf

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Yes I know this already but most women don’t look at that. So many women ( and men) are overweight now that it’s become the norm.

Autumnismyfavouritetimeofyear · 30/09/2024 21:52

WitheringHighs · 30/09/2024 16:29

Good lord. There is so much misinformation on that thread linked above.

I do think there is a ?widely-held misunderstanding that HRT is somehow necessary for all women going through menopause, which seems to have been perpetuated by well meaning TV personalities who have had a bad time during menopause, or by those with a vested interest (LN included). Plus social contagion.

It is also sold as a magic bullet. I'm a GP, and I will never say no to any woman who comes to me wanting HRT if there are no contraindications. If they have made a decision to seek help, then I believe that their subjectively-experienced symptoms are bad enough to have done so. But I do try to be crystal-clear that many women do not benefit - maybe I come across as unwilling to help or unsympathetic , neither of which would be true. And there ARE risks and there ARE side-effects.

Plus there is the opportunity cost to the NHS of over-treating women who do not really need it. I am not singling out women's health; there are so many other areas of medical overtreatment. I also feel this expectation that medicine can - and SHOULD IN ALL CASES - be able to turn back the clock so we all feel 21 years old for the rest our lives despite normal ageing and bad lifestyle choices.

I accept and agree that women's health is completely underprioritised - but I would rather see the funds and energy go into PCOS, endometriosis and migraine.

And this is why it took me 2 years of feeling desperate and overwhelmed - and stepping down from a management job because I could not cope any more - to get HRT. IME menopause symptoms are massively under treated and women are fobbed off.

greengreyblue · 30/09/2024 21:50

I think risks of drinking and smoking are well known.

KnottedTwine · 30/09/2024 21:49

greengreyblue · 30/09/2024 21:44

Why isn’t is made much clearer that obesity increases breast cancer risk? I don’t think most women know this .

And drinking. And smoking.

LivelyGoldOrca · 30/09/2024 21:47

greengreyblue · 30/09/2024 21:44

Why isn’t is made much clearer that obesity increases breast cancer risk? I don’t think most women know this .

https://thebms.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/WHC-Infographics-JANUARY-2023-BreastCancerRisks.pdf

bringslight · 30/09/2024 21:45

I discovered that less food in day time, a physical job in well aired room, green views out of the window, tons of coffee, few bites of food later on and sweet drinks make me alive

greengreyblue · 30/09/2024 21:44

Why isn’t is made much clearer that obesity increases breast cancer risk? I don’t think most women know this .

NameChangeUser183794639 · 30/09/2024 21:42

KnottedTwine · 30/09/2024 17:22

What the BBC should be focusing on is why so many women are forced into paying £££ to private clinics for consultation and private prescriptions in the first place.

Because the average NHS GP has zero interest in menopause, zero knowledge about menopause and fobs desperate women off with antidepressants or other pointless advice. That's the real scandal.

This with bells on!

Stop fucking fobbing women off!

WitheringHighs · 30/09/2024 21:42

HRT and dementia risk is not straightforward. Certainly not enough evidence to say it helps, and some evidence suggests it increases risk. So HRT not licensed for dementia prevention.

www.alzheimers.org.uk/about-dementia/managing-the-risk-of-dementia/additional-treatments-for-dementia-risk/hormones

Heartfullofcheese · 30/09/2024 21:41

Just adding my experience of LN. Had a consultation a few years ago. No blood tests, didn’t take my blood pressure even. Just asked about my symptoms and dished out the gel with (what felt like) a hint of impatience at my questions and worries. As someone else said, it was not a warm experience - I was left feeling slightly uncomfortable. Makes sense reading this.

LivelyGoldOrca · 30/09/2024 21:39

Angrymum22 · 30/09/2024 21:02

I did risk assess, considered options but went for HRT. I think what changed my mind about the safety was developing hormone positive bc and large fibroids within 3 yrs of starting HRT. My breast surgeon would neither confirm nor deny a link with HRT but I got the strong impression that it was a common denominator in her work. Certainly when I asked a large group of women with bc if they had had a similar experience, postmen bc while on HRT, within an hour nearly 50 women replied with the same experience.

No one is recording the incidences. Most of the advice is from historical trials where HRT was only prescribed to post menopausal women.

No data is available for HRT use in normal perimenopausal women ( this does not include women who have had premature menopause, surgical or iatrogenic). And certainly no data is available for the high dose HRT being prescribed.

What shocked me was just how high a risk we have of developing bc regardless of HRT. So although HRT increases the risk by a very small amount, the risk is already 1 in 7.

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Yes the risk is high and doubled by being overweight, bmi over 30 in those over 50 doubles the risk, this risk is much higher than that of combined hrt. The key thing is that there is a spectrum. Doctors who know little, doctors who know a lot. Some may be private some may not. It’s just such a shame it’s a lottery and like the weight loss jabs access to better health choices and options is squarely with the better well off. I am glad she has been curtailed, her appraisal of evidence that weakly supported or was of poor quality is not ok, but good menopause treatment IS available, if women would like to try it. As the BMS says, it should be individualised to you.

WitheringHighs · 30/09/2024 21:37

Re breast cancer risks, have a look at

https://thebms.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/WHC-Infographics-JANUARY-2023-BreastCancerRisks.pdf

Worth remembering that although bc risk higher with dual HRT, mortality isn't increased. The way it was explained to me us that it us likely early bcs were already present and HRT promoted earlier/more rapid growth so they became apparent sooner but don't contribute to earlier mortality. Hope that makes sense.

Angrymum22 · 30/09/2024 21:33

WarriorN · 30/09/2024 21:26

Glad you're ok on that @Angrymum22.

Radio floored me and I felt a total wus as so many people seemed fine with it. But everyone is different

I had high dose over 5 days rather than older method of low dose over 3 weeks. I think a lot of women on the high dose suffer post radio fatigue.
Hope you are well too. I have my 3yr scan next week so reliving the magic again. Hoping for NED because my younger sister has just been diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer so really don’t need my own little drama again.

Angrymum22 · 30/09/2024 21:29

WarriorN · 30/09/2024 21:11

However, I want protection against dementia

there's actually more evidence around exercise improving risks of dementia than hrt. I now know thanks to Liz.

I believe Newson blocked her.

The only evidence Newson quotes re dementia is not high quality or conclusive.
Dementia is more common in older women because women live longer.

soupfiend · 30/09/2024 21:27

This explains why I got an email today from the Womans Hormone Clinic who I had a consultation with a couple of years ago. Trying to reassure clients of their model of work and prescribing methods.

Also just to add, I read that lots of physios recommend collagen for bone protection