AMA with Kate Muir about her book: Everything you need to know about the Menopause - Thursday 12pm

[JuliaMumsnet]

Hello,

We’re delighted to announce that Kate Muir, author of Everything you need to know about the menopause (but were too afraid to ask) is joining us for an Ask Me Anything on Thursday from 12 to 1pm. Kate is also a film-maker and you may remember her name from Channel 4’s Davina McCall: Sex, Myths and the Menopause last year.

Kate will be joining us - live from MNHQ! - on Thursday 3rd February to answer all your questions on the menopause

Here’s a long blurb of Kate’s book: Everything You Need to Know About the Menopause (and were too afraid to ask) is the thinking woman’s guide to the menopause, bringing you answers to all those questions that have been hidden behind a veneer of misplaced shame, bad science and centuries of patriarchy.

· What’s the perimenopause and when will it strike? (It’s sooner than you think)
· What’s happening to my body – and my mind?
· Why can’t I stop thinking about sex in perimenopause?
· How do I get my sex drive back after menopause?
· How do I look after my body and brain when my hormones disappear?

Muir draws on interviews with the leading medical experts in the field, interlaced with her own tumultuous journey through the menopause and the personal stories of women from all walks of life, sharing their varied experiences and hard-earned wisdom.

Muir also questions why the current medical establishment is getting the menopause so wrong, and why it’s essential that we understand the biology of our own bodies during this critical period that will define the latter half of our lives.

Join us on Thursday at 12pm - or post your question here in advance.

Thanks

MNHQ

I’m on hrt

Please can you tell me whether anything I need to consider re sex, as just started a relationship and not had sex since started hrt patches 5 years ago and so anxious

Hi Kate

What a great idea for an AMA.

My question is concerning HRT. I was on HRT, but had to come off because I started to bleed and investigation found that my womb lining had thickened to an unacceptable level.

I was quite worried, and stopped immediately. And subsequent tests showed it returned to normal.

However, libido is down, sex is painful, and don't get me started on the insomnia.

Do you have any advice for the symptoms either using HRT which wouldn't affect my womb lining, or an alternative solution?

Unfortunately, I can't remember which HRT it was, either. Quite a common one, I believe (I want to say it sounds like a female name?).

Hi Kate - thanks so much for doing this chat! I was wondering what you think about the reports yesterday that HRT will be available over the counter for the first time?

Good news - Kate's in the building and is going to get going now!

@Summerhillsquare

Not afraid to ask but haven't yet read anything about this: what is the relationship between PMS and perimenopause and their respective treatments?

As a sufferer of both, the treatment for the latter has brought the former back, with a vengeance. But I couldn't live with the menopausal symptoms either. What can I do?

Hello! Welcome to the menopause chat. Researching my book, I found experts who said that women with difficult PMS are and post natal depression are often the ones more likely to suffer from hormonal depression, which body-identical HRT really helps with. For progesterone intolerant women vaginal Utrogestan is also easier to tolerate, so go ask your doctor!

Is all this promotion of HRT just another chance for male drug companies to control women? Isn't it possible menopausal women could change society?

@Toanewstart22

I’m on hrt

Please can you tell me whether anything I need to consider re sex, as just started a relationship and not had sex since started hrt patches 5 years ago and so anxious

For everyone who's suffering low libido - and 51 per cent of women say menopause affects their sex life - look into getting testosterone prescribed on the NHS to add to your HRT. It's in the NICE guidelines for low libido, but it also helps with energy and cognition. Sometimes you have to ask for a referral to a menopause clinic to get it. But worth it. I've been on it for five years!

@GTafter

Is all this promotion of HRT just another chance for male drug companies to control women? Isn't it possible menopausal women could change society?

🙄

No you misunderstood

I have a fine libido

Just wondering about dryness or anything else

Any downsides to testosterone?

@WaltzingToWalsingham

Hi Kate

Please can you advise me on any effect HRT might have on the likelihood of developing dementia. I have read conflicting reports on this: some seem to suggest that taking HRT reduces the risk, others that it increases the risk!

Thank you.

Lots of new good news on HRT helping prevent dementia - I'm making another documentary with Davina McCall on the menopause and we're covering the latest research. But we do know that estrogen protects the female brain, and women who have hysterectomies and don't get HRT tend to be more likely to get Alzheimer's.

I realise i wrote a comment, started and posted without a question.

I take my utrogestan in the morning when i wake up and also put my oestrogel in the morning after a shower.

is this ok or is it really more effective in the evening?

I am exhausted and sleepy by 9pm!!

@SleepQuest33

The menopause has caused me to suffer with insomnia and I’m desperate to find a solution. What can you recommend?

Hormone replacement really helps with sleep as it lowers anxiety and gets rid of hot flushes. Also meditation (beditation?) before sleeping and during the day has been shown to be beneficial. And obviously keeping your phone out of the room

@Toanewstart22

No you misunderstood

I have a fine libido

Just wondering about dryness or anything else

Dryness is a problem eventually for 80 per cent of women, and topical vaginal estrogen is great at making it all juicy again and helping with avoiding urinary tract infections. So your doctor can prescribe Vagifem pessaries, or Ovestin cream etc on the NHS, and you can take them forever. Science shows no clot or cancer risk.

is this a live event, can't see a link to join?

@Periperinotchicken

is this a live event, can't see a link to join?

This is the event

@Redshoeblueshoe

Does it ever end ? (15 years in I believe I actually caused global warming)

It never ends! So sorry to hear how long you've been toughing it out. In my book there's research on Swedish women aged 85, 16 per cent of whom still had hot flushes. It's also never too late to take HRT if you can, starting slowly with a small dose - doctors will often suggest one pump of estrogen gel. Also some doses of certain anti depressants and certain blood pressure medications can help with flushes. Ask your doctor!

When to make the call to come off it

Just wondered, is there anything in your book about adenomyosis? After years of biblically heavy periods I've finally been told that this is likely the cause. I've also been suffering from night sweats and insomnia and aches and pains for several years but have been told that taking HRT may exacerbate the heavy periods, and to wait until my periods have fully stopped before taking it.

I'd like to know about this as well please. I haven't had a period for about 3 months now (bliss) but up until they stopped suddenly they were so heavy (avoided going out for the first couple of days). Since they stopped I've had horrendous hot flushes at night and I am losing so much hair. But my understanding is that as I haven't been period free for a year I'd have to have seq HRT which would mean going back to having periods which I really can't face at the moment. I don't know what the answer is.

@SpinningTheSeedsOfLove

Hello, Kate, thanks for doing this AMA and for your work on menopause and HRT.

When do you think we can expect to see HRT available in pharmacies in the UK? I saw a couple of articles on this today in the papers but they were quite vague, touching on 'proposals'.

My GP is pretty obstructive and scare-mongery about prescribing HRT, even after intervention from the Gynae consultant surgeon who removed my ovaries, and GP will only prescribe me 4 weeks supply of low-dose Estradiol (oestrogen) gel at a time and sometimes she just stops it without notice.

I imagine I would benefit from being able to access Estradiol via a different pathway.

Hi the headlines yesterday were crazy saying HRT was being prescribed over the counter - but when I fact checked it turned out the medicines agency were just consulting on possibly making one type of vaginal estrogen - Gina - available in chemists in 2023. So that's not exactly helping you now. Your doctor should not be withholding HRT and you can ask for another opinion or a referral to a menopause specialist. Estrogen will protect your bones, heart and health as well as helping with symptoms, and in one study women who took estrogen only HRT over 18 years were 23 % less likely to get breast cancer!

@Toanewstart22

Any downsides to testosterone?

Yes I'd like to know the answer to this, too. I had The Surge, and it was amazing. But I've heard that taking it artificially can cause cancers.

@ChickenStripper

My GP practice has just started a policy whereby I have to apply each month to get my Oestrogel and it will not be included on a list of my regular meds. When I queried this, they said it was to ensure that women " take their HRT properly as many don't" and "to ensure correct monitoring". They don't do any monitoring other than the annual interrogation of "when are you coming off HRT?". Why would they possibly do this? I do notice that a poster above has raised a similar issue.

This is just so sexist! I get my prescription every three months and this is just wasting time. Complain directly to the practice manager, and then the healthcare authority. You are just getting your own hormones back and if you're on body-identical HRT your risks are low to zero

Hi Kate, thank you for doing this.
only three weeks in of Evorell 50 (patches and utrogestan 12 days/cycle), too early to know if it will sort out my anxiety, insomnia and low mood. I'm also on supplements (Mag, B complex, vit d and fish oils). Any other tips? and any advice about what to ask for at 3 month review eg blood tests?

Hi can you take HRT if you have high cholestoral and also, does it help with hair loss?

So where is this discussion? I can't find the live?