HRT: not just for menopause anymore

[thefirstmrsdewinter]

Is the hormone medication prescribed to trans people now being described as HRT? A third of the people cited in these articles about menopause are trans women.

"HRT shortage 'adds to the stress of menopause'":
www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-49304163
"HRT: UK faces shortage for menopausal women"
www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-49308083

Plus it's a great little pick-me-up.

Over50 Everol is one that’s already hard to find.

@MrsSnippyPants I only get 3 months at a time anyway. Wondering now if I should be asking for 6 🤔.

@Nat6999 last time I went into my local Boots they explained that now there is a timeline of events between them getting a prescription (in my case online from my GP) and having the items ready for pick up. So I give 3 days minimum between the two.

Spring - yes I realised that thanks - it’s what I’m on so will be asking my GP to either request Estradots or any estradiol patches if need be - though Estraderm ones don’t always stick on me

Reading this with great interest, I'm (apparently) on the wrong side of 40. I've been having some menstral issues in the past few months. My Mum (RIP) had a quite early menopause. Think I might be peri menopause. Need to arrange an appointment with my gynaecologist but putting off because I'm about to go travelling for a month and don't want to change anything hormonally.

I struggled to get kliofem a few weeks ago. I got it eventually but I had to try several pharmacies. I was given 3 months, but I might go back to my GP and ask for 6 months.
Surely a large number women needing to visit their GP due to supply issues is a massive waste of NHS time?

Hey girls, apparently the Government "rules" are "3 months supply max" at a time. That's why we always have to go back and I'm always denied 6 months supply. But that applies to any medication apparently but I'm sure some people still get 6 months.

I started on the Patches but gave them up quickly. They get so grotty within a couple of days and I was sort of hiding my "menopausal" status from my husband at the time, so the patch wasn't appropriate as it's not discreet once it starts collection clothing fibres etc. But the pill on the other hand is easy to forget to take!!

@heronontoast my local Lloyds have stock of Kliofem, maybe the company as a whole has stock, so worth popping into your local branch.

It’s not HRT for trans people it’s cross sex hormones. They don’t have oestrogen to begin with so they can’t replace it

THIS!!!!

And menopausal/post-menopausal women should have priority. Girls & women suffer All.Our.Lives to do with our bodies' natural capacity for conceiving & bearing children. Things that TWs have NO IDEA about ..

FFS this makes me so angry.

I don't know what current advice is but I used to work with a gynaecologist who was very definite - ALL women should have five years HRT to protect against osteoporosis and other problems. Different story when I went to my Gp though (female Dr specialising in female problems )

As oppose to men, who just want it because...

These are synthetic (man-made) hormones that suppress the hormones naturally produced by the body.

My bold and italics from the NHS website.

A male will take oestrogen and that oestrogen is also given to women without a uterus due to either elective or emergency surgery.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/gender-dysphoria/treatment/

Sorry to hear that people are struggling with replacements or aren’t able to find them

None of the ones I take are showing as being in short supply, and I’m really thankful because frankly, I don’t fucking function without it.

As an aside, did you know, though, that private medical insurers don’t regard menopausal symptoms as being medical issues and don’t cover any menopause related treatments? In contrast, my insurer recently made much fanfare over their recent inclusion of coverage of gender affirming treatments, including hormones.

I have many thoughts about that, as I reflect on going through the menopause at 42 and honestly thinking that I was actually physically and mentally falling apart, and how taking hrt transformed me back into an actual functioning human. But it’s not a medical issue!

I don't think the NHS takes menopausal symptoms seriously, I unexpectedly ran out of patches & rang the doctors for an emergency prescription, I got told that running out of HRT wasnt considered to be an emergency, because I wasnt going to die having to wait a minimum of 5 days without medication, but then again I got told the same when I turned up at my branch surgery to pick up my prescription for pain & antidepressant medication to find it closed for staff training the friday before a bank holiday, the main branch refused to reprint my prescription & get it signed for me.

private medical insurers don’t regard menopausal symptoms as being medical issues and don’t cover any menopause related treatments?

There's a lot they don't cover - pregnancy isn't coveted, though emergency treatment for a miscarriage would be. Chronic conditions like diabetes also aren't covered. I read through the booklet recently, as our work provider changed, and realised unless I break a bone or suffer a sports injury from aquafit, anything I'm likely to seek medical help for isn't going to be covered.

Not that going private would help when tell problem is with the pharmacist manufacturing.

There's a lot they don't cover

Oh, absolutely, if they can get away with not covering something, they will. It was the concept that menopause isn’t a medical issue that I objected to, and the contrast that there are situations requiring hormones that are medical issues.

I don't know what current advice is but I used to work with a gynaecologist who was very definite - All women should have five years HRT to protect against osteoporosis and other problems
I don't think thats ever been official advice. I think most women only seek medical intervention if they feel they need it rather than as a preventative measure. In any case there are other ways of reducing the risks of osteoporosis and other post menopausal problems.

I started a thread about this a couple of days ago, that was later deleted for being too divisive (there was a poorly worded line in my OP which MNHQ felt set a divisive tone to the thread).

I'm on Evorel 50 and have been for several years. I went through a (very, very) premature menopause in my early 20's. I need to take hrt for bone protection (I already have low bone density), migraines and for my quality of life. Full blown menopausal symptoms are bad enough when you're at the 'right' age, without having to deal with it when you're decades too young.

My GP has said they can no longer get the Evorel 50 at all, and that it'll be trial and error finding an alternative if there are still options available when my current prescription runs out.

I appreciate that no one knows why this has happened, but I can't help but feel that if there were an equivalent male specific drug it wouldn't be allowed to simply run out the way this situation has occurred.

Re the issue of transwomen having hrt. In an ideal world there'd be enough to go round, but I'm concerned at what (if any) prioritisation is being done with regards to the competing demands on what limited supplies are still available.

@RapidlyLosingThePlot there are a couple of links upthread on why there is a short supply.

I take Evorel 50 too and the 2 alternatives AFAIK are Estradots and Has your GP considered these? If they too were out of stock I’d probably be looking at an estrogen gel? And if I had no access to any suitable HRT I’d be researching the hell out of any alternative ways to help myself - sleep problems, anxiety etc. I already eat right and do resistance exercise for bone health for example.

As for prioritising demands for shortage of any medication - that is always going to be difficult to address - other than for those who might die if they don’t have access I guess. I certainly don’t feel my need to be greater than that of anyone else.

In the meantime there are still alternatives for my HRT - I do feel for those who’ve posted - and others - who don’t have any alternative 😟

Rapidly you're the kind of patient who should be prioritised in my opinion, it's obviously a finite resource and people who need it the most should come first.

Whoops - missed out from above - the 2 alternatives for Evorel are Estradots and Estraderm

@over50andfab thanks for your reply, I've got the links open to read this evening when I'll have more than two minutes straight to concentrate once the dc are in bed! I didn't realise they explained why it's happened, I should've waited before posting! My GP won't discuss alternatives until my prescription runs out and is very much minimising the situation, telling me if the worst happens I'll just have to manage without until the supply is sorted. I'll have a look into alternative therapies, I hadn't thought of those as an option so thank you. Re. diet and exercise I already try to eat right due to a variety of heath issues and unfortunately my exercise options are very limited due to the other health problems.

@feelingverylazytoday It's kind of you to say I should be a priority, but I really don't feel I should be prioritised, I'm young, fairly healthy and if it comes to it I'll just have to brazen out the hot flushes! I'm sure there are thousands of others in much worse situations, (like the poster above with PMDD, I'm sorry I can't remember your username) but if how I'm feeling about it is an indication of general feelings; there's probably an awful lot of women very, very worried (if not now, then in the coming months when they try to renew their prescriptions).

I guess I just feel very abandoned over it all. I think perhaps my age is part of it - I have no one to talk to IRL who's going through it too, so I'm very much on my own with it (which is a long term issue really but when on HRT I don't give my menopause status much thought so don't need RL support). In addition to this my GP really doesn't seem to understand the effect no HRT would/will have on my quality of life (and I'm guessing on more 'traditional' HRT patients either).

but I can't help but feel that if there were an equivalent male specific drug it wouldn't be allowed to simply run out the way this situation has occurred

To put it mildly!

Men do not ingest Hormone Replacement Therapy [HRT]; they ingest Cross-Sex Hormone [CSH].

HRT is intended to replace the hormone that is in decline in women at a natural stage in their lives; that hormone is oestrogen.

Men who ingest exogenous synthetic hormone that is oestrogen, while suppressing their natural production of testosterone, are doing so to achieve a redistribution of fatty deposits.

By the way, most men undertaking such a process fail to suppress their testosterone:

www.medscape.com/viewarticle/893280?src=soc_fb_180302_mscpedt_news_mdscp_transgender&faf=1

This from 'Is it just me?" on facebook pretty much covers it for me:
www.facebook.com/menopausalwoman/?

@MrsSnippyPants

Thanks for that link .. have followed!