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[Greenfields]

I'm just googling online to try and find out more information about the impact of HRT on ones bowels. Anyway, in the search listing, up came this private clinic in Guildford, Surrey which deals with menopausal issues: http://www.thesurreyparkclinic.co.uk/

Which set me wondering - I am seeing my doctor on Monday but I really would like to get things sorted out sooner rather than later given the situation I'm in. Has anyone tried a private clinic? And if you have, how do you know whether the one that you choose is any good? I've never gone private and it would be yet another chunk of money to pay out ... but on the other hand I've never been so sick in my life as I have been in the last month and I'd really like to get better soon. I live in Hampshire but close to the Surrey/Hampshire border so going to Guildford would work for me ... if anyone has any suggestions as to whether it's worth going private, how to choose a private clinic and things to avoid - I would be most grateful for that information. Thanks.

[Taz2]

I would think that it may be a waste of money as the HRT you are taking is shown to upset bowels and digestion? Surely it would be better to ask your GP for a change of HRT (patches instead of pills) which are kinder on the tummy and then see how you feel? Sorry that you have been feeling so ill.  Have you asked for a referral to an NHS menopause clinic or considered emailing Dr Currie on this site?

Taz x

[Jenna]

Ju Ju posted about this clinic earlier today:


Re: Can I get an referral to an expert? fed up with GP.
« Reply #5 on: Today at 08:48:02 AM »
ReplyQuote
Guildford isn't too far from you. The Surrey Park Clinic. Google them to see what you think. I'm so grateful for the help I have received there.

[Joyce]

I refused to pay for private clinic here. Turns out that local hospital run one weekly, which is where I was eventually referred to. Ask if there is one at your local hospital, alternatively ask for gynae referral.

[honeybun]

I have a sensitive stomach so have always been on patches. They actually help my IBS a little bit and don't cause any digestive problems at all. If you didn't want to wear a patch you could try an oestrogen gel and Utrogestan as a pessary.

I agree with Taz....explore the other options before you go privately, because they would probably prescribe a transdermal method of delivery anyway.
 I hope you manage to get sorted out very soon

Honeybun
X

[lancashirelass]

Ive been to a nhs meno clinic once was rushed and was very fixed on what the average level should be which is.dofferent for early meno ladies.  Im now private never rushed can have implants and if ive got any worries can email or call him.  Well worth the money.  If you have the funds its your health you do what is best for you!

[Hurdity]

I hesitate to say that I have an appointment with a private menopause clinic in a couple of weeks, much as I disagree with doing it! I have had really good service from the lovely gynae part-time GP at our practice, and have managed to get HRT no problem over the years, and the type that I want ( ie bio-identical oestrogen and progesterone) but it is hard to get appointments with her as she is very part-time. I have had to put up with some unsympathetic comments from my own - fairly new GP - about my being on HRT at my age, and cancer and I never want to go and see her again.

As I am 62 in a few days and want to remain on HRT I feel I need to have a proper discussion with a recognised expert about it all, and who will then write to my GP so that it's on file as well. My surgery will also not do anything about libido nor testing for it, and I just thought at this stage in my life, as a one-off, it might be worth seeing if there is anything that can be done before I completely write off ever feeling anything stirring again!

There is no NHS menopause clinic anywhere near here (60 miles) and I work on the day they do it. I am going to see Dr Annie Evans in Bristol (just as far!) who has a very good reputation - several members on here have been to see her.

Hurdity x

[CLKD]

Isn't it time that GPs, when they reach a 'certain' age, should go on a refresher course about menopause - have a 12 months' Sabbatical to enable them to read through recent Research findings and give them time to talk to ladies who KNOW what symptoms are and how they affect hour by hour life  ……. I think that GPs could probably find that they could fill a whole week of appt.'s with purely menopause problems 

It should not be necessary to have to pay for information ……….. we should have dedicated GPs in each area who deal purely with Menopauase - after all, many take an extra Obs and Gynae exam. !

[CLKD]

Probably not at all.  Which is why they need to take at least 12 months' so that they can get their heads down and read recent Research Papers etc. and not keep spouting what they think is correct information.  It can't be all about money, surely 

[marras]

Hi Greenfields, I go to the private clinic in Guildford that you mention. The lady gynae that I see is wonderful and she looks after me very well. I never bothered going to my GP for menopausal problems as I felt I needed someone who specialises in the subject as I had left it so late before getting help. I would never be put on HRT at my age, 65, under the national health so I pay privately for it and I'm very fortunate to be able to do so. At my last visit I had a scan to check the endometrial thickness and to check my ovaries and also blood tests for thyroid and a few other things. All done without question and on the day of my appointment. Yes, it is expensive but my health now comes first. All the staff there are very friendly and helpful. Good luck and I hope you get on OK.

[CLKD]

   Marras - I hope that you have told them how good and supportive you have found them! also how difficult it is to get good advice etc. from the NHS!

[GypsyRoseLee]

Hi Greenfields

I felt so desperately low and despairing with mood swings and anxiety last year, that I enquired about seeing Professor John Studd at his clinic in London. It was through reading his website that I first realised what was wrong with me. I wasn't losing my mind and suffering with clinical depression/anxiety for no reason. I was just peri menopausal.

I identified so much with the women in his case studies. I could have written so many of them. The cost was roughly £300 for the initial consultation with added costs for medication etc. Then a further follow up appointment 12 weeks later. To be honest I was so desperate that I talked it over with my husband and we agreed that my mental health was worth more than just a few hundred pounds.

But, just the next day my mood dipped so dangerously low that I got an emergency appointment with my GP. Thanking my lucky stars but I saw a different male GP (2 female GPs had dismissed my symptoms as being hormonal related 'you're 10 years too young') and he took me and my symptoms seriously.

He quickly agreed to refer me to a new NHS PMS/menopause clinic which had just started at our local teaching hospital. To my surprise I got an appointment within 3 weeks! Unheard off, but it was brand new I suppose.

I saw a consultant who immediately diagnosed me with early ovarian failure and hormonal anxiety/depression. Just 5 minutes into the appointment I felt 100% better. I felt listened to. My symptoms were acknowledged as being 'perfectly normal during peri menopause.' I felt reassured and comforted. Most importantly I felt VALIDATED. Not dismissed as being neurotic.

I was also offered HRT. But to my eternal regret I said no (don't ask, I think I just felt too scared).

However...after that first great experience, it all went a bit wrong and confused. Partly my own fault for not knowing my own mind and partly because the clinic got incredibly popular (what a surprise) and I couldn't get another appointment for 5 months! Also my attempts to leave messages for my consultant were futile, and I was given the run around by the uninterested secretaries. I even wrote a formal letter which was never replied to.

I very much doubt I would have been treated like this by a private clinic?

Eventually, again in desperation I went back to the male GP and he sorted me out with Estradot 25mg and 200mg of Utrogesan. I finally go back to see my consultant in 2 weeks but I will only report that my lovely GP seems to have sorted out my hormonal issues.

[Greenfields]

Thanks for all these replies. I am going to see how things go on Monday with my 10 minute GP appointment which I've been waiting for for 2 weeks (yep, that's how it is where I live). I'm told the GP I will see is very nice and respectful - several people have said that.

Depending on how that goes and the outcome of it, I will either stick with the NHS for another month or try the Guildford clinic.

My main concern is time - I just don't have months and months in which to sort this out as I need to sort my life out - either move back to Canada and reapply for the MSW course I had my heart set on doing before all this blew up or get work either in the UK or Canada.

I do have savings but they will run out - probably in a year ot two if I can't get this fixed ... and I don't even want to go there in terms of thinking of the implications of that - as I will be homeless.

The other big issue for me is that if I move back to Canada, I need to make sure that whatever medication I take in the UK I can get in Canada and also that I can afford to pay for it in Canada if I don't have access to a good employers drugs plan.

Life is never simple is it? But at least physically I feel better today and my mind is as sharp as anything

I've also been thinking about why I went to get HRT in the first place - my body could not regulate it's temperature at all, I thought I'd had some kind of breakdown connected to my hormonal imbalance, my brain wasn't able to make decisions and I was in severe shock at what I had done in withdrawing from the Masters course I intended to take and I had severe anxiety (which I did not connect with menopause but thought it was stress I was under). All these events were triggered by an experience of terror I had on waking on March 21st - like nothing I have ever experienced. 

I'm still struggling to make sense of it all.

[MrsMopp]

I agree that it isnt just a refresher course that GPs need.  My GP is youngish (30s) and female but offers no help whatsoever to my meno problems and had to be persuaded to let me try patches.

It just isn't good enough.

[GypsyRoseLee]

MrsMopp my female GP refused to consider my issues could be hormonal, purely based on my only being 42. I later discovered she had been treated by the same cinsultant who I saw at the meno clinic.

So presumably my GP must have struggled with the menopause quite badly? Yet dismissed my symptoms out of hand.