Janice Turner on the Menopause Industry

[Hagiography]

A thoughtful and timely article.

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/menopause-industry-is-misleading-women-mpmh29p08

www.newsonhealth.co.uk/new-patients/#pricing

I didn’t know about that one. This was the one I was thinking of

www.themenopausecharity.org

it looks like a charity, promotes articles re the success of HRT and was founded by Newson

I’ve been listening to Empire of Pain which is excellent but also talked about seemingly independent bodies funded by the fee makers -the pharma company

'make menopause history'?

Bit of an odd angle.

www.themenopausecharity.org/

I presume that Dr Newson is also Dr Anderson, director of several companies related to healthcare.

find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/3oVCLnqICQAm7bzWSB5M5AhT5aE/appointments

Specifically:

NEWSON HEALTH (MANCHESTER) LIMITED (12497352)

NEWSON HEALTH HOLDINGS LIMITED (12495537)

NEWSON HEALTH RESEARCH & EDUCATION LIMITED (12098873)

NEWSON HEALTH LIMITED (11106782)

LOUISE NEWSON MEDICAL WRITER LTD (09636761)

A bit old but this study is interesting. It compares the use of alternatives to HRT in Italy. Italian study

It seems that alternatives are pretty popular and I would imagine pretty lucrative.

@Hagiography thanks do you know what's in the Vogel tablets?

405 mg tri magnesium dicitrate
63.5 mg soy bean extract
35 mg hibiscus extract
Essential oils if lemon lemongrass and litsea cubeba

Plus water, bulking agent etc

I think that's right, squinting at the wee writing!

The soy is 40 % isoflavones, that's the key ingredient.

Body identical hrt is all plant derived from yams and soya, and standardised - you must also take progesterone to protect the lining of the womb from extra oestrogen. I didn't want to touch soy as it can affect thyroid levels as does oral oestrogen of any sort as it goes through the liver (eg contraception or hrt.)

I don't understand why people are so suspicious tbh.

For me it's like taking thyroxine (and a few do need t3 which nhs do give if it's identified as a need) v natural dessicated thyroid from pigs which isn't regulated.

Newson has cashed in from the medical industry's neglect of womens health for sure, but she did initially seek out nhs funding and there was none. So she was forced to go private, I'm uncomfortable with all that but it's clear the nhs have failed women when most medical degrees don't even cover menopause.

The menopause industry is enormous and mostly expensive supplements.

Women are clearly struggling or there's be no need for either.

I devoured all the supplement advice form lara briden (taurine does help) but it eventually didn't work enough.

@Hagiography thanks I previously took menopace, saw no difference. I'm currently taking one containing ashwagana but again I can see no real difference and they are £20 a pop. That's the trouble with taking OTC supplements, it's all about hit and miss. I did think about going to see Andrea Newsomes lot but it's so £££ and I thought they'd just end up prescribing HRT anyway.

I don't understand why people are so suspicious tbh.

Because so much of the advice and guidance conflicts. And because Newson's approach confounds me. I can completely understand treating symptoms and addressing problems, but her framing of menopause as unquestionably and totally a Bad Thing that must be stopped is making my eyebrows crawl right up my face.

Its a stage of life. It's not a disease. Most women don't have bad symptoms.and don't need HRT. I find the aggressive marketing and negative messaging hugely off putting tbh.

You're entitled to your opinion about the campaign and marketing. It shouldn't be like that. I've not understood the messaging to be like that; I did get the message that not everyone experiences symptoms early on, but I'm not sure where from.

Basically if you're experiencing symptoms and no risk factors trial it.

I've used the menopause matters forum much more though for information which has been going for years. The BMA is also really useful for information. I've also referred to the menopause support network fb group - the woman who runs it had a medical menopause and wasn't given hrt at all, leaving her suicidal.

There's been horrific under treatment of this in women experiencing bad meno symptoms for years.

In that forum there are people going through meno without hrt.

The key issue was that not enough did know about hrt and the current forms being safer.

When I've started looking at the data and research for myself, more is positive than negative.

The guidelines are all NICE approved.

What's been the issue is the public health messaging, partly affected by erroneous and incorrect conclusions from a poor study done in the past and the usual mix of sexism in medicine along with sexism in society that women just lump it.

Ideally Davina should have centered nhs consultants and not a private dr, who is using marketing which does raise suspicion, except that that private dr has been trying to make sure the nhs gives the same as she provides via free training.

Hmm… ‘Fobbed off with antidepressants’ ?

My GP talked me through the pros and cons of HRT - asked me to try Prozac for the anxiety first. I did and it’s been brilliant for me.
I don’t feel fobbed off at all.

Yep - one of the things they do is advise you how to get HRT on the NHS. If they're just in it for the money, it looks like a pretty crap business plan. And Newson don't sell the drugs anyway - that's done by an independent pharmacy.
I had one appointment with Newson Health while waiting for my NHS menopause clinic appointment. The NHS clinic made exactly the same recommendations as the Newson pharmacist. Newson advised me to get my Mirena IUD replaced on the NHS rather than coming to them. When I called Newson to say I'd had good treatment on the NHS & wouldn't need any further appointments, the response was "That's fantastic!".

Newson charges for the consultation though? So as a business it’s fine, it’s got loads of awareness and increased demand from women

I’m not sure about Davinia targeting her though, would it have been the other way round? Asking various celebrities to be ambassadors for the charity

'make menopause history'?

Newson seems to be suggesting that no women should go through menopause, ever. That all women should take HRT for the rest of their lives.

I find this message very surprising.

I am not criticising Newson for making money; I'm just pointing out that the fact she has a financial interest means I am more wary about listening to her than the NHS.

Make Menopause history is off to me as a tagline - I am rather glad to be post menopause- and menopause wasn't a trial for me

Most women live most of their lives in a none fertile state - it's the fertile years that are unusual in that regard - why prolong the misery

Warrior I meant to say thanks for the useful points about various treatments that you made yesterday. I will look into them.

I've also found 'menopause matters' helpful.

On a general point, may I chip in with the (researched) Scarborough Fair diet protocol for those who are interested?

Bone resorption inhibiting properties have been ascribed to a limited range of common fruit, vegetables and herbs. These include the herbs dill, sage, garlic, parsley, thyme and rosemary. Vegetables and fruit with BRIPs include tomatoes, green beans, cucumber, broccoli, lettuce, prunes and oranges [28]. The minimum effective dosage of fruit/vegetables and herbs (F/V/H) with BRIPs calculated in the animal model is 170 mg/day. This corresponds with 6.2 grams of fresh F/V/H per kilogram human body weight. This amount is equivalent to 3–5 servings /day [35] of any F/V with BRIPs for a 60–70 kilo woman. Culinary herb servings were to be additional and usual culinary measures in meals were advised to all intervention participants (2–3 cloves garlic, 0.5-1 teaspoon for dried/fresh culinary herbs and up to 0.25 cup of parsley (Group B-BRIPS) and basil (Group A- non-BRIPS). The effect on bone resorption of the foods with BRIPs is said to be additive [39]. Vitamin K is also known to affect bone

Gunn, C.A., Weber, J.L. & Kruger, M.C. Midlife women, bone health, vegetables, herbs and fruit study. The Scarborough Fair study protocol. BMC Public Health 13, 23 (2013). doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-23

www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/13/23

Thanks, Embarrassing! I can eat herbs.

I recommend watching this video, taking the principles, borrowing the workbook if you can, and finding a trainer who can support this (not straightforward). Well researched programme. NB: I would always recommend talking about the calcium supplementation with someone knowledgeable as I think it needs careful nuance in the context of someone's personal and family medical history.

Fab, thank you Embarrassing!

Also found lots of info and downloads on the website of Lauve Metcalf on exercise/diet tips:

lauvemetcalfe.com/index.php/wise-words