HRT to be sold over the counter!

I am 81 this month and have been on oral HRT for 30 years. At one stage my son who is a doctor tried to persuade me to come off it but I didn't. Weak bones are in my family and my mother and both grandmothers broke various bones. I have had several doctors over the 30 years and none of them have told me to come off HRT. I feel all right and sleep quite well and have been told I look nowhere near 80. I have no intention of giving it up. Good luck to all those grans who think the menopause is a natural process in getting older and don't want to interfere with that. Yes, it is, but remember that pre recent times women were considered old at 50.

If it helps some women with the dryness problem, I think its great. I'm on the patches as the flushes and night sweats were dreadful, although it took 2 years of seeing our practice nurse before I was finally prescribed with it. I glad though I can get checked every so often by her that it's still ok for me to take. I had bloods and a CT scan before Xmas to confirm kidney stones, but they also told me I've osteoporosis, so I heard HRT is used to help manage it, so I'm happy to stay on my patches long term.

saggi your situation sounds complex, can you attend a menopause clinic?

I’m not sure that it should be given over the counter. I was happily on HRT for several years and found it beneficial in reducing the negative effects of the menopause. I was diagnosed with breast cancer 3 years ago, it was a type which is hormone receptor positive. I was unlucky in the sense that I got breast cancer but fortunate that it was caught early, however it has meant I can no longer take HRT. I think being prescribed HRT means it is monitored by the GP, I remember having discussions with my GP about the risks and benefits of taking it and also about potentially coming off it after having been on it for a certain time.

Agreed. As far as I can tell, it is a vaginal product to stop thinning and dry skin locally? Plus there is such a long history of risks being reported and not much about benefits but I suspect that we all know of someone who has been on HRT and felt fabulous. I’ve read that there’s no upper age limit for HRT but I don’t know anyone who has been able to stay on it into their 60s,70s, even 80s because doctors want to get people off it as soon as possible. It is far from clear to me.

Hope that doesn't mean that I am going to have to pay for mine. I currently get hrt on free prescription.
Couldn't manage without it.

You may not have had a bad time Trisher. I was 40 and used to break bones as a child and I was scared stiff it would start happening again. Life expectancy of todays average woman is 75 plus (I am 77 now). Was I supposed to spend half of my life in fear of possible repetitions of my childhood injuries? There are plenty of women like me who suffer needlessly. As someone else said men got their Viagra, and over the counter.
Time for us now to cease some of the awful effects of the menopause.

I had HRT tablets for around 2-3 yrs, was told to come off it very gradually but as soon as I got to 3 tablets a week as opposed to 7 I had the full force of symptoms back again. Now early 70's and still getting hot flushes, night sweats etc. Seriously considering asking GP if I can go back on to it in some form, if only I could get an appt.

2507C0. I'm 69 and have been on HRT for at least 15 years on and off. Life is a misery when I have a break. My doctor says that as long as I am aware of the risks and accept them, then I can stay on them as long as I want.
TBH we wouldn't have any sex life if I stopped! I'd rather take the risks. If it's good enough for Joan Collins then it's good enough for me.

Oh that’s so interesting! Thank you for posting. I was refused HRT during menopause and was directed towards natural remedies. I had ten years plus of soaking sweats, restlessness, flooding periods for weeks at a time, poor sleep and feeling emotional for no reason. I do now wonder what life would have been like if I’d been offered it. I also don’t understand why post menopausal women are not offered it ? Osteoporosis is extremely common in women and HRT prevents it. Maybe even reverses it? I don’t know. I just really wonder if there is a place for HRT in the over 60s.

JennyCee

You may not have had a bad time Trisher. I was 40 and used to break bones as a child and I was scared stiff it would start happening again. Life expectancy of todays average woman is 75 plus (I am 77 now). Was I supposed to spend half of my life in fear of possible repetitions of my childhood injuries? There are plenty of women like me who suffer needlessly. As someone else said men got their Viagra, and over the counter.
Time for us now to cease some of the awful effects of the menopause.

No you were supposed to get proper treatment if you had osteoporosis JennyCee. You chose one route. I chose another. I'm 76. Do 2 Pilates classes a week, walk about 10K a week. Have great skin (thanks mum,) Grey hair I love (No more highlights, although DGD put me a pink and purple stripe in at Christmas). No drugs, Vitamin and calcium supplements. No HRT
Mum, GM and GGM all lived into their 90s- it's the genes!

Judib27 thanks so much for sharing your experience. You seem to have a very forward thinking doctor? Are the risks mainly developing breast cancer ? I would like to try HRT because I’m in pain from lumber spine problems and I experienced stiff joints and brain fog, probably from the pain meds prescribed! I really do wonder if life would be different if I had a GP who was willing to prescribe it for a 67 year old for the first time. Sigh.

If men suffered menopause or period problems, it would have been cured years ago

As an ex continence nurse specialist I think that women being able to buy Vagifem etc. Vaginal creams containing oestrogen can help with pelvic floor problems and with urinary urgency if it caused by atrophic vaginitis which causes dryness and soreness.

Sorry meant to say it can only be a good thing to be able to buy it otc

It isn’t yet decided that it will be sold over the counter. A public consultation began this week relating to one particular medicine - Gina10. The consultation period ends on 23rd February. I don’t know how long the process takes after that.

Schumee as an incontinence nurse did you teach the stopping when you pee method , or the contract exercises for yur pelvic floor? www.getthegloss.com/article/urinary-stress-incontinence-how-to-avoid-peeing-when-you-sneeze-laugh-or-cough

trisher

I don't mind women taking it if they want to. I do question why a perfectly natural process has suddenly become an illness which needs treating and will of course make millions for drug companies. I also dislike the fact that some of the drugs involved still necessitate the mistreatment of so many horses who are kept in foal just so their urine can be collected. There was a thread a bit ago about a woman who kicked a horse and she was roundly condemned, yet thousands of women are taking Premarin and thousands of horses are suffering because of this www.humanedecisions.com/premarin-horses-the-suffering-of-premarin-mares/
If you want to take it ask for a plant based one.
But I think there are benefits to being post menopausal. The idea of old wise women didn't spring from nowhere.

You don't have to take the horse ones. Mine are Tibolone, an entirely lab-made compound. Been on them for about 14 years now and have no plans to stop!

Vagifem is also available in pessary form enclosed in an applicator

Marydoll

I thought that free period products were now available in all schools in Scotland and England.

The bill in Scotland was passed in November 2020.

they are but I guess females still need them for use in shelters and so on and of course adults can't access the school ones. www.gov.uk/government/publications/period-products-in-schools-and-colleges/period-product-scheme-for-schools-and-colleges-in-england

I was told by my DiL that I look wonderful for 75 despite taking a tablet every day to reduce my oestrogen and biophosphonates to strengthen my bones. I also have had 7 doses of chemo and radiotherapy which is supposed to age us.
I am sure it has more to do with genetics than hormones.

I totally agree 100 percent I has a full Hysterectomy I am also a full time carer for my daughter I have asked many times over the years but because of all the scares .I couldn't get it I am a tough cookie I am in my late fifty's but I have lost me !! I am still having terrible night sweats and many other symptoms any advice would be truly appreciate

I think maybe women are now working at responsible jobs and it must have been hard to maintain them well, before the advent of HRT. I know I really benefitted from it as the Head of a school- I found I was becoming woolly in my mind, hot flushes were difficult and embarrassing, and generally working well below par. As soon as I started HRT - things changed - I regained my positivity, good sense, confidence and drive. I stayed on it until I retired at 60. However, there was a downside - I had breast cancer which may or may not have been caused by HRT. Fortunately it was found early - I had a mastectomy and apart from some pills which I didn’t take for long as they made me feel awful, I had no chemo or radiotherapy - so far so good. Who knows?

I have the same question 2507C0 - is it even worth asking my GP about starting it for the first time? Is it possible? I had a bad time with my GP around menopause and was told 'I don't have time for all this' so I never went back about it and ended up having to take early retirement. I am still having a few skeletal issues that are getting worse plus other symptoms and would like to try it. I have a different GP surgery now, is there any point?