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[Pageup]

Hello, I am a new member and would be very grateful for some advice.

I have been taking Elleste Duet 2mg for nearly five years and have been left in the lurch by my gynaecologist who retired and didn't refer me on. 

I vigorously resisted starting HRT, but was convinced by my gynae that it would deal with various problems - urinary frequency, vaginal atrophy, a family history of osteoporosis and heart disease.  This gynae was a staunch advocate of indefinite use of HRT and he convinced me of its benefits.  I am hoping to stay on it until I die, having seen two people stop and wither into little old ladies I am hoping to avoid this if possible. 

I have made an appointment to see John Studd in November, but am wondering whether anyone knows of any other gynaecologists who are proponents of long term use of HRT?  I think the reviews for John Studd are mixed and he is now 76 so if I saw him I will be in the same boat again quite soon (ie without a gynae)! 

[Maryjane]

TBH , I think the NICE guidelines say it is up to us to stay on as long as we want to , so long as no issues.

I will be seeing Mr Panay. London.


So if all good can you just stay as you are ? if your GP will carry on prescribing , thus should do.

[Annie0710]

My NHS gynae, although in a rush to get me out of the door, said I can stay on hrt for life and doubled up Vagifem dose x

[Mary G]

Pageup, as far as I know, Professor Studd sometimes works with another menopause/HRT specialist who is very good (Dr. Michael Savvas I think?) and a new member saw him recently and was very impressed.  This is not gospel, but I imagine Dr. Savvas (or another similar professional) would take on Professor Studd's patients if he did decide to retire so nobody would be left high and dry.

I am an HRT lifer and a patient of Professor Studd and I think he's great.  Consulting him was a life changing experience for me but obviously someone with his high profile will always have bad reviews as well as good.  You are obviously happy with your current regime but if you have already booked the appointment, why not have a consultation with Professor Studd and have a general review of how things are going for you and talk over any concerns you may have?  He is a huge advocate very long term HRT and he will also write to your GP with his prescription (which would be the one you are on now in your case) which will save you money. 

He may suggest you add testosterone to your current regime so that would be worth thinking about. 

[dazned]

Cant your current gp just keep prescribing what you have been on for past 5years surely its on repeat 

[Pageup]

Thank you all so much for your replies.

I have been using a private prescription for ages as my gynae would just send me a repeat when asked and for Elleste Duet there is not much difference between an NHS and private prescription, but recently when I tried to order a repeat prescription online with my GP I was asked to make an appointment, so who knows what their stance on HRT is - I've never seen the same GP twice there either and its one of those surgeries which makes you wait 3 weeks for an appointment.

Mary G - I will look up Michael Savvas - thanks very much for this.  My mother-in-law went to see Prof Studd over 40 years ago and said he saved her life.  She was on HRT for over 30 years and sadly, about 10 years ago her GP persuaded her to stop taking it.  She is one of the ladies I mentioned who, after about 18 months off it, shrivelled up.

Maryjane - will you be posting how it went with Nick Panay?  I was thinking of seeing him as he is still quite young and unlikely to retire for some time; do you know what his take on indefinite HRT is?

I really appreciate you all taking the time to answer my post!

[Maryjane]

Well Panay was one of the contributers to the NICE guidelines , so I am assuming I will be able to stay on it.

I have no choice my vaginal/ bladder atrophy is bad but truly awful without HRT.

Would top myself without it anyway TBH.

Yes will report back . It was a 6 month wait to see him privately.

My own GP is happy with life HRT anyway.

I want to see if he has more suggestions re vaginal , hoping for something else to add to the mix.

[Mary G]

Pageup, I should have mentioned that it would be very helpful if you could have some blood tests via your GP surgery before your appointment and take the results with you.  Make sure you have all the hormone tests like oestrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and of course all the usual tests and also try to include B12.  This will make life easier for the doctor because they will have your results in front of them and it will also save money because you will not have to pay to have them done privately.  Another member (Freckles) did this and it saved her a lot of money.

Good luck and please let us know who you end up seeing and how you get on.

[CLKD]

 

An NHS GP is not allowed to give a Private Prescription to a patient.  Go along and have a chat, if you can't get to see a GP is the Practice Nurse an option, I get on well with mine. 

Like Maryjane - if I wasn't prescribed treatment for vaginal atrophy or if my GP had to stop giving me anti-depressants due to yet more Government 'guidelines', I wouldn't survive for long  .  He goes through the tick box every year in that he asks the question: how do you feel about not taking your medication :  - for me, VA was like razor blades up there  .  Atrophy treatment really did ease symptoms.

Browse round.  Make notes.  Let us know how you get on.  Take along a list of symptoms in order of priority and ask how the GP can help treat these in order to benefit yourself and to keep costs for the Surgery as low as possible 

[Pageup]

Thank you all for the very useful tips. 

CLKD - that is a good idea to list the symptoms that have been alleviated with HRT.  I will make an appointment to see my GP and see what the surgery stance is - I'm coming up to 5 years so that should be interesting.  You never know they may be enlightened and fine with HRT for life.

Mary G - having the tests on the NHS is a very good idea - thanks for this.

Maryjane, I hope Panay is able to help you with the VA.

Will report back with outcome - thanks again.

[Freckles]

Hi Pageup,
I'm a patient of John Studd's and saw him in April this year, as my patronising 12 year old GP wanted to put me on anti-depressants and "wean ladies like you" off HRT. At the grand old age of 55 years!
My oestrogen levels on Femoston were lower than the average adult male, so no wonder I felt awful, as for me, it was hormonal deficiencies that caused my problems. 
As you'll see by my previous posts, I found his regime life changing (for me) and so pleased I saw him 
He wrote to my GP  and I now get it all prescribed (including Testim) by the NHS.
Mary G suggested to me to get my hormone blood tests done on the NHS, which saved me about £250- £300 and I took a print out of that with me to the first assessment.  The NHS where I live don't do Vit B12, D, tests but Studd's clinic does a blood test analysis of everything you can think of.
I recently spoke to Dr Michael Saavas (he works on a Friday at Studd's clinic) by telephone re a  small query I had on my regime.  Really nice and helpful man who explained things very well. And quite young too.
John Studd I also found very helpful and charming and saw him within four weeks of making the telephone call.
Good luck and let us know how you get on?
Right, back to work for me x

[Pageup]

Thanks Freckles for your reply, I'm glad to hear that you had a good experience with John Studd and that you managed to get a proper and easy response  to your query - it is good to know that you found him user-friendly.

Michael Savvas sounds excellent (and young! which is reassuring), thanks for this.

An update on my GP appointment - I went this morning and saw yet another locum who gave me a repeat prescription.  I asked him whether the surgery had a policy on long term HRT; he avoided the question twice, but said he thought 8-9 years on it would be fine.  So I will suck it and see, I expect that I will get a different opinion with each locum I see when I go for a repeat prescription.

I think I will cancel the Studd appointment as I feel great on the Elleste Duet 2mg and don't fancy the trial and error involved in changing over to gel and tablets.  My retired gynae recommended yearly smears and 18 month mammograms and I will continue these privately ( last week I had a mammogram through BUPA); we also discussed changing over to bio-identical hormones, but agreed that provided I did the smears and mammograms I should continue with the Elleste Duet.

If or more likely when I come up against a brick wall with my GP practice I will, if I may, ask you all who I might go to see for treatment.

Thanks everyone for your replies. 



 

[Hurdity]

Hi Pageup

Thanks for updating us.  One thing I don't think you've mentioned is your age and whereabouts in menopause you were when you started HRT? The years you take HRT before the average age of menopause of 51/52 don't actually count in terms of risk anyway because your body should have been making sufficient oestrogen and progesterone anyway.

Hope you continue to feel well on your HRT.

Hurdity x

[Pageup]

Hi Hurdity

Thanks for your reply and kind wishes.

I am 59 and started taking HRT at 54 about a year or 18 months after my last bleed.  I had a uterine artery embolization procedure for fibroids at 52 and was warned that it could trigger the menopause.

I am thinking of keeping my appointment with John Studd as I have been reading lots of posts here about hair loss which I have been experiencing since the menopause.  I see that the Elleste Duet may be part of the problem (I also have hypothyroidism) and a change to either Femoston 2/10 (is this dosage available do you know?) or oestrogen gel and progesterone pills might be the answer in terms of the hair loss issue and reducing risk from long term HRT.

How do people remind themselves to take the progesterone 7/28?  I'd be very interested to hear what methods are used!

All the best 

[nothappybun]

How do people remind themselves to take the progesterone 7/28?  I'd be very interested to hear what methods are used!

Mobile phone reminders  you can set up fortnight ones or repeat every so many weeks, I couldn't live without my phone alerts!