Dr Louise Newson offered me a lifeline

Having watched the Panorama documentary on Monday about the menopause industry I felt compelled to write about my own experience as feel it was incredibly one sided. I am hugely supportive of a conversation on the industry as a whole. I think as a perimenopausal woman I feel bombarded with products supposedly aimed at midlife women, from skincare, to protein powders and supplements, it has overtaken my news feed on social media. However, 5 years ago, I recognised I might benefit from HRT and was experiencing crippling anxiety and an incredible anger that seemed to bubble up from nowhere. My GP offered me prozac and said I was too young for HRT. I didn’t want to be sent away with antidepressants. Instead I made an appointment to travel 90 miles to Louise Newson’s clinic.

I knew I wasn’t suffering from depresssion, my symptoms were very cyclical. When I arrived at the clinic, I wasn’t rushed through, the Dr actually listened to all my symptoms, the fact I have endometriosis and low ovarian reserve was enough evidence to start me on a very low dose of estrogen gel and progesterone as I was still having periods.

I remember crying, I wasn’t actually going mad, I felt seen and heard. From a personal perspective I think the clinic became completely overwhelmed with patients that weren’t being supported by their GP and the follow up appointments were perhaps too short but at no point was I told to up my estrogen. I feel the documentary on Monday was very headline grabbing and fear it could set women back who will fear taking HRT when it could genuinely help them.

The answer to managing through perimenopause is a very personal one, HRT isn’t the only tool in my arsenal, but 5 years ago it had a profound and almost immediate impact on my mental health. Yes, there are lifestyle adjustments we can make, and I have, I quit alcohol, I weight train but I have found a low level of Estrogel & daily Progesterone (Utragestan) works well for me. I would hate for a 60 minute documentary on a Monday night to set women back.