Mumsnet Zoomchat with menopause expert Dr Rebecca Lewis and Davina documentary producer Kate Muir

[AnnaCMumsnet]

Hello

We’re delighted to announce a Mumsnet Zoomchat with Dr Rebecca Lewis, a GP menopause specialist and Kate Muir, the producer of new Channel 4 show Davina McCall: Sex, Myths and the Menopause. Register now for one of our limited places

As well as being a documentary maker, Kate is writing a revolutionary menopause book out later this year. Both Kate and Dr Lewis are on the executive board of a new menopause charity.

Dr Lewis is an expert on the mental health effects of perimenopause and menopause too. She works for Newson Health.

Newson Health and its founder Louise Newson appears on Kate’s documentary, which aired on Channel 4 yesterday [Wednesday 12th May]. If you’ve missed it you can stream it on All4.

Dr Lewis and Kate will be chatting with Mumsnet HQ and answering your menopause-related questions on Wednesday 19th May at 1pm, and you can book your place now by registering

Please note 1 If you join the Zoom chat, your camera will be turned off by default. Your screen name may be visible if we ask you to read your question out ‘live’, so consider whether you’re happy to use your RL name or want to use your MN posting name, or something else entirely.

Please note 2 We can only take questions from Zoomchat attendees on the night - please don’t use this thread to ask questions in advance as we can’t promise we’ll be able to put them forwards.

Register for free (only 100 places are available) here.

Thanks
MNHQ

[JinglingHellsBells]

Might this be added to the Menopause forum on this site?

@AnnaCMumsnet

[CaptainAwkward]

@AnnaCMumsnet am I ok linking an ongoing perimenopausal thread on AIBU?

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4230814-Perimenopause-why-did-I-not-know-I-d-feel-this-shit

[AnnaCMumsnet]

@captainawkward yes please!
@JinglingHellsBells we're just working out if and how we can sticky this thread there.

Thank you.

[Oblomov21]

Yes please.
I am beyond furious. Not only of my own shocking treatment , from incompetent GPs who I needed to explain the recent guidelines to! But others - from all the other mumsnet'ers that are offered antidepressants instead of being offered HRT. the GP knowledge is absolutely shocking, it's frightening. this makes me mad.

[Mummacake]

Yes please. I'm getting fed up being pushed from pillar to post and the relentless brain fog is becoming overwhelming.

[MarkRuffaloCrumble]

@Oblomov21

Yes please.
I am beyond furious. Not only of my own shocking treatment , from incompetent GPs who I needed to explain the recent guidelines to! But others - from all the other mumsnet'ers that are offered antidepressants instead of being offered HRT. the GP knowledge is absolutely shocking, it's frightening. this makes me mad.

This is why I haven’t even bothered to see my GP about it tbh. I was offered ADs instead of thyroid testing after DC1 was born, leaving me in agony and falling apart for months before anyone took my complaint seriously. I come out in a rash when I take fluoxetine or sertraline so if that’s all they’ve got it’s not worth my time. Also my DM died of an “oestrogen sensitive” breast cancer, so I’ve always been reactant to take birth control or HRT. If I really thought my GP would know or do anything useful I might speak to them, but from everyone else’s experience I really can’t be doing with the fight.

[MarkRuffaloCrumble]

Reluctant

[ElizabethTudor]

Thanks - I’ve registered.

[NurseButtercup]

I think I need testeorone has anybody had any luck getting this on NHS as well as HRT?

[daisychicken]

@AnnaCMumsnet - will there be captions available for the talk please?

I've signed up for a place but I am deaf and the captions would enable me to do follow the talk much easier. Thanks

[Bufferingkisses]

Will.this be available to view afterwards? I would really like to join but I will not be able to because of work. This is something that would be really useful to me and my mother (who has been refused HRT for so long her daughter is now in peri before she is sorted )

[MarkRuffaloCrumble]

@Bufferingkisses

Will.this be available to view afterwards? I would really like to join but I will not be able to because of work. This is something that would be really useful to me and my mother (who has been refused HRT for so long her daughter is now in peri before she is sorted )

That’s awful Buffering - your poor mum

[Y0YO]

@NurseButtercup

I think I need testeorone has anybody had any luck getting this on NHS as well as HRT?

I don't think it's available on the NHS, I had it prescribed privately.

It was a fairly low dose but it didn't seem to do anything for me so I stopped using it.

[TurquoiseDress]

Hang on a minute, anti-depressants are part of NICE guidelines for menopausal symptoms treatment.

I imagine that's why GPs were offering them...rather than because they (the GP!) are utterly incompetent/useless/insert preferred derogatory adjective!

[bluedomino]

Yes please as I was horrified to learn there only 3 menopause clinics in the whole of Wales.

[LizzieSiddal]

TurquoiseDress Hang on a minute, anti-depressants are part of NICE guidelines for menopausal symptoms treatment.

Could you link please? The last time I looked (a couple of weeks ago) at the guidelines it said they should NOT be used in the first instance for hot flushes.

[TurquoiseDress]

cks.nice.org.uk/topics/menopause/management/management-of-menopause-perimenopause-or-premature-ovarian-insufficiency/#non-hormonal-treatments

Towards the bottom of the page

[TurquoiseDress]

Sounds like anti-depressants for those unwilling/unable to take HRT eg contraindications or it's ineffective

[LizzieSiddal]

This is from NICE

1.4.3 Do not routinely offer selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) or clonidine as first-line treatment for vasomotor symptoms alone.

My young male Dr offered me Anti Ds a couple of weeks ago and I was able to point him towards these guidelines. It infuriates me that so many GPs lack this knowledge.

[TurquoiseDress]

My mum tried the anti-depressant route for her hot flushes and it did the trick, she was really grateful to her GP for it

She was v much uncertain/reluctant re starting HRT- perhaps that's why her doctor steered her down the above route

[RowanMumsnet]

@Bufferingkisses

Will.this be available to view afterwards? I would really like to join but I will not be able to because of work. This is something that would be really useful to me and my mother (who has been refused HRT for so long her daughter is now in peri before she is sorted )

Hi @Bufferingkisses - we don't have live captions I'm afraid but we can download a transcript and send it to you afterwards, I think, if you want to email us on [email protected] to let us know where to send it.

[RowanMumsnet]

[quote daisychicken]@AnnaCMumsnet - will there be captions available for the talk please?

I've signed up for a place but I am deaf and the captions would enable me to do follow the talk much easier. Thanks[/quote]
Sorry @daisychicken my previous reply to @Bufferingkisses should have been to you!

@bufferingkisses - Zoomchat recordings are exclusive to Premium subscribers.

Sorry for the confusion - clearly it's too early on a Monday for my brain to be working properly

[jennyfromtheblock22]

@NurseButtercup you can get testosterone on the NHS. I'm on it. The only issue is it's not licensed for women in the U.K. so will need to be prescribed 'off label'. When I asked for testosterone my excellent GP referred me to our area's menopause clinic and the consultant I saw there wrote to my GP with advice on dosing and when to check testosterone blood levels. I've been on it for the last 3 or 4 years prescribed by my GP.

[Y0YO]

[quote jennyfromtheblock22]@NurseButtercup you can get testosterone on the NHS. I'm on it. The only issue is it's not licensed for women in the U.K. so will need to be prescribed 'off label'. When I asked for testosterone my excellent GP referred me to our area's menopause clinic and the consultant I saw there wrote to my GP with advice on dosing and when to check testosterone blood levels. I've been on it for the last 3 or 4 years prescribed by my GP. [/quote]
Good to know, thanks!

[over50andfab]

Thank you @MNHQ, Kate Muir & Dr. Rebecca Lewis doing this. It was very informative