Sex, myths and the menopause - channel 4 tonight

[Theeyeballsinthesky]

Looking forward to this. Clips I’ve seen look good and there’s lots of focus on how women as a class have bern ignored and let down over this issue

I signed up for this app trial recently but I am happy with my private doctor so haven't used it.

www.onstella.com/#:~:text=Stella%20gives%20you%20personalised%20treatment,your%20health%20in%20later%20life.

www.onstella.com/#:~:text=Stella%20gives%20you%20personalised%20treatment,your%20health%20in%20later%20life.

I was prescribed anti-depressants too.

@2Rebecca my experience is that HRT improved my mood, anxiety and weepiness. You sound dismissive that women want to take HRT but you're not offering any other solutions.

What are the alternatives for VA? No sex, is that considered acceptable in your 40s? My belief is that women are entitled to good sexual health as part of their overall health.

You ask how long we should stay on HRT, I'd say as long as we feel the need. If I hadn't been given it I think I might have taken my own life. To be offered anti depressants because your hormones are out of balance and you bleed if you have sex is an insult to women and an insult to your profession.

HRT worked well on my moods. Since I commenced I've faced one parent dying, another struggling with blood cancer, a big health scare of my own, the collapse of my career and on top of that, the pandemic.

And I'm still standing and most of the time I'm fairly cheerful. I can't imagine how I'd be oestrogen-deprived on top of it.

Women my age, 57, prop up so many other people. Give us the tools we need to keep on going. Don't expect us to manage this while feeling the lack of a hormone we really need.

Can you imagine the outcry if mens' penises bled painfully every time they had sex and they were given anti depressants to help them deal with it?

Or trans women were given anti depressants and told to increase their exercise to come to terms with their change?

What baffles me is why GPs are so reluctant to prescribe HRT? What's stopping them?

It's great for reducing hot flushes but less great at improving weepiness and irritability.

Not in my experience.

This was an interesting programme. I assume "10% of women take HRT" is 10% of menopausal women, not 10% of all?

About 60% of the adult population of the UK is over 50. Which means that if 1 in 6 women over 50 use HRT, 10% of women use it.

And as women in their 50s are more likely to use HRT than women in any other age group, it's likely that far more than 1 in 6 women over 50 use HRT while going through the menopause.

Redundant "over 50 ".

And as women in their 50s are more likely to use HRT than women in any other age group, it's likely that far more than 1 in 6 women use HRT while going through the menopause.

@JustGotToKeepOnKeepingOn

What baffles me is why GPs are so reluctant to prescribe HRT? What's stopping them?

When I've asked the GPs at my surgery about this, they are adamant that it's 'because of the cancer link'. I've also been told estradiol patches cause strokes.

The new menopuase charity in the UK is offering free training from Dr Louise Newson to every GP practice in the country :D

www.themenopausecharity.org/training/

When I've asked the GPs at my surgery about this, they are adamant that it's 'because of the cancer link'. I've also been told estradiol patches cause strokes

I was told if I took it for more than 5 years I'd be at HUGE risk of a heart attack!

[quote Kit19]The new menopuase charity in the UK is offering free training from Dr Louise Newson to every GP practice in the country :D

www.themenopausecharity.org/training/[/quote]
I'm tempted to email that link to my GP practice

Do it

Watching now.

Shocking how little is known. But I would like alternatives to HRT.

Trying supplements, exercise and diet, first.

@thenightsky

When I've asked the GPs at my surgery about this, they are adamant that it's 'because of the cancer link'. I've also been told estradiol patches cause strokes

I was told if I took it for more than 5 years I'd be at HUGE risk of a heart attack!

There's a great fb group called the menopause support group run by menopause matters; women there seem to be being allowed to remain on it indefinitely.

I've been on it for over ten years, and have told the GP that I have no intention of coming off it. Their response: fine, as long as I am aware of the risks and monitor my health.

I am also aware of how lucky I am, compared with the way many women have been treated. (Though there was one male GP who insisted that I was depressed, not menopausal.)

I am on Everol patches but a low dose , it doesn’t completely eliminate the symptoms but it does enough. I have a fabulous GP who worked with me to experiment with doses and delivery methods until we found the right balance. I look back now and realise that I was completely mad for a couple of years but at that time I was prescribed anti depressants

If anyone is interested she is also involved in something called The well Hq which has an Instagram account and free webinars etc and is all
About women’s health and excercise etc for example they did a campaign on the how training schedules for female athletes should take into account hormone changes and they cover the whole age range from teenagers onwards and how little coaches even at elite level know about women’s health. It’s shocking.

instagram.com/thewell_hq?utm_medium=copy_link

That's interesting Glen, thanks. I believe Chelsea womens fc use cycle based training regimes.

They developed and use a free app called FitrWoman

@ArabellaScott

Watching now.

Shocking how little is known. But I would like alternatives to HRT.

Trying supplements, exercise and diet, first.

If anything works please say.

I’m in peri menopause (I’m 48) and i went from having a baby at 40 to the coil for 5 years to a pit of despair. I’ve been on antidepressants twice in the last 4 years that have been utterly useless. Now I realise it’s more likely menopausal symptoms but I didn’t realise that low mood and anxiety were connected. It’s been miserable and only having a chat with someone at work about this program last week has made me realise why.