Dee Murray, CEO and founder of Menopause Experts Group, said: “Getting access to HRT without a prescription will be a positive for self-educated women who have found themselves let down by haphazard menopause knowledge among some GPs.
‘Women need professionals to answer serious questions for them about HRT, like will they be on it for life? What age should they start it at? What are the increased risks?
‘It takes time to get the dosage of HRT correct, and every woman is different, plus it can take three months for the medication to take full effect,’ Dee Murray added.
There’s no doubt that some women really suffer with the menopause and find life impossible while they are experiencing hot flushes, anxiety, aches and pains and night sweats. They become desperate to do something about it, so they go to the doctor. Many GPs will recommend that they go on HRT. How wonderful, all the symptoms go and they feel like a human being again.
But what you may not realise is that when you come off HRT in your 50s, 60s, or even 70s, you get all the symptoms of menopause back again. So now you’ve got much older and you are supposed to cope with the hot flushes, anxiety and night sweats. That could be an even worse time to go through it.
Many older women who have been on HRT for 20 years (more than even the manufacturers now recommend) struggle to come off it. People who do come off HRT after any amount of time often find that their symptoms are much much worse and they become depressed as well.
It is possible to deal with menopause in a natural way – through nutrition (for example eating lots of soya), through appropriate supplements (especially made supplements for menopause) or with herbs such as Red Clover or Sage – they get it over with without too much pain and they never have to go through it again.
Interfering with nature can prove problematic There is a very good reason for the menopause because your body is past its childbearing age. Admittedly there are some women who find that it menopausal symptoms are ruining their lives and HRT is the only answer.