HRT - nobody gives a fuck about women

[Missproportionate]

Angry face 🤬

Can't get Estrogen Gel for love or money. Having been on it a year I know I can't function without it - as in I have to lie perfectly still and not move for hours on end due to vertigo, flushes dizziness, palpitations... (not posting for advice as I've done lots of posting about that elsewhere and researched myself coz GPs know fuck all)

I have spent many, many hours I won't get back being misdiagnosed, minimised, etc before finally getting a prescription. Now it's totally unavailable and I have to spend hours on the phone getting GPs and pharmacists to re-prescribe whatever estrogen is available within a 20 mile radius, taking time off work, cancelling appointments for myself and all the people in my family I care for (sandwich generation of course 🙄 - = I provide free care for elderly rels as well as DCs)

I've had it and angry. Aibu to think this is a fundamentally mysoginistic problem I have and I feel like this stuff is being witheld by almost deliberate means?

Even when I do get it they won't give me enough as they are too stupid to do the sums. The pharmacist managed to work it out so I only got 2 weeks worth (when GP agreed to 3 months) and now I'm off on another phone spree round the pharmacies!
Congratulations if you've read all that. I felt this board the only one that will sympathise!

I'm also angry at the general schooling of women into health woo because we don't get our health problems properly addressed and the women I know who won't take HRT and suffer this shit because they 'don't want to take hormones' or 'GP said not suitable for me' or 'I will suffer and then take this ineffective herb and pretend it helps'

Just asked my Trans friend and they are on three squirts of Oestrogel a day and can't get any either. She has no testosterone so if she doesn't get it she suffers menopausal symptoms just like us.

You could at least say "oestrogen withdrawal symptoms " because they ain't menopause

Thanks for your insight @ChloeHel



@agent765

WTAF! I mean!


GPs don't seem to be able to do the sums at all @ChloeHel (have a good friend who is a pharmacist and she tells me this is so )


I have 4 pumps of Estradiol - so 0.75mg x 4 = 3mg per day (it's not that difficult is it?). I told them the pharmacy had 1mg Sandrena Gel sachets and could I get a prescription for them? Instead, they prescribed me .5mg Sandrean (which they were told the pharmacy didn't have) - and prescribed two packets. I would have needed SIX sachets per day. When I got them to prescribe the 1mg they still could only bring themselves to prescribe enough for 2 weeks 😡

Shortages happen. Currently the U.K. has zero stock of over a 100 medications of all types. www.mims.co.uk/drug-shortages

So I don’t for a second believe that a HRT shortage is deliberate or caused by “misogyny”. You’re only noticing this particular medication shortage because it’s affecting you personally.

Do you really think that?

Have DMed you. No promises but will do what I can.

I’ve just heard that the female health clinic I see uses a private pharmacy and they apparently still have a supply

I’ve placed an order for a private prescription this afternoon and will see if they are able to supply and I’ll PM you if I hear anything

I do have an order in the regular repeat prescription, but it’s delayed by 3 weeks and I’m not even sure if that’s firm, I’ll run out before then.

@BenCooperisaGod It might be worth having a look at somewhere like the Hackney Ark for ideas. It was built for children with complex needs and had lots of different professionals working together. A child would only have to go to one building for physio, OT, enuresis support, psychological support and social work. The teams had multi- disciplinary meetings and were able to speak to each other day-to-day as they were all in the same building.

Really they don’t.
My DD (late thirties) has, like others on here, had her ovaries surgically removed. Running out of oestrogen is catastrophic for her. There is absolutely no comparison.

Sign!

https://www.change.org/p/menopause-mandate-make-hrt-prescription-one-annual-charge-sooner-that-april-2023?recruiter=false&utmsource=shareepetition&utmcampaign=psffcomboshareeinitial&utmmedium=whatsapp&utmmcontent=washarecopy331042399en-GB%3A0&recruitedbyyid=9fa61470-c4e1-11ec-9789-9ba532f2f28a

Exactly, ask them for a banana and they’ll give you a bloody apple. No, they don’t like doing the equation side of things, even simple ones like yours! That’s why I always give my patients a hand written note with the exact alternative medication, quantity and dose! So they can get the GP to copy it exactly as it is, otherwise you could end up with anything!

I stopped taking hrt a year ago. I have gel and kliovance left over. They are well before expiry date. If I take them to the pharmacy they will be thrown away. I would like to give them away on a Freesite. Not sure if is legal?

Please advise.

But that's a well woman clinic. That we used to have. Staffed by experienced knowledgeable women. Who closed them? Probably the Conservatives, while they were closing Sure Start centres.

They believe in the free market. But not freedom of women to run their own lives, clearly. Bastards.

Who is the manufacturer of the gel?

Besins

What made you stop?

Couldn't agree more, and most GPs are woefully ignorant about the various menopause options for women and what works for some doesn't work for others, including side effects. Not to mention the difficulties getting it without what the pharmacist deems appropriate blood pressure checks, even though doctors have said it's fine. It's depressing and infuriating all at the same time.

You'll never see viagra being difficult to get.

They were talking about menopause and HRT on This Morning today. There's a clip here of Dr Louise Newson

www.itv.com/thismorning/articles/dr-louise-is-here-to-bust-the-biggest-myths-about-hrt

but they also did a phone in (starts around 45 minute mark) which was more about the issues of getting HRT

www.itv.com/hub/this-morning/2a6292a0828

Thank you so much.
You are a star.

Any idea which country Besins HRT manufacturing is in?

www.theindependentpharmacy.co.uk/menopause-hrt/oestrogel

Havent read the whole thread but they suggest an alternative there which says its the same dose (Im not up to speed on it all)

@ChloeHel I take it back.
You are actually a superstar.
Thanks again.

Ah you are very welcome!!!

My GP got over this issue during the last shortage by prescribing generic oestrogen patches in any combination that totalled my dosage. That way the pharmacist could dispense whatever they had available. Not always convenient for me (I have no issue with having to stick three 25 patches on my bum, but hate using one massive 75 patch) and not always my preferred make, but nonetheless vastly better than no HRT at all.

What make this extra infuriating is that they have been talking about shortages of HRT for at least 2 years now, and yet it does not seem to be any different that it was when this was first discussed. It is totally a downplaying of womens needs - it took me 2 years to get HRT in the first place after being dismissed by the GPs (finally printed out the NICE guidelines and said I was not leaving until they gave me a full explanation if they would not prescribe) and another year to find one that worked well for me, this boils my blood. Bet if it was Viagra it would be sorted in a few weeks.