That's always been my theory Dotty....the longer the imbalance, the harder it is to find the right thing and the longer it takes to sort itself out.
Countrygirl - makes me mad, mad, mad
that it takes this forum to stop us thinking we are "unhinged waste of space" as you put it! It is outrageous that for years we go to doctors explaining how we feel and they look at us like we are a bunch of hypochondriacs. You only have to look here on the forum that it happens over and over again. Hormones affect fertility, pregnancy, contraception, menopause....more than 3 quarters of a women's lifetime experiences could be governed by them and yet they are dismissed off hand. I broached the subject of hormone imbalances on a regular basis with my doctors and all bar one looked at me like I was a "nutter" and the one who did listen was powerless to have the tools or get the tests at the age I was to do anything about it!! If I could work out what was needed to be done to stop it happening I would be on it like a shot. Maybe this shortage thing will be some kind of blessing in disguise because its now in the press on a regular basis about what happens when women can't get their hormones. In this case it's due to shortage but having a GP who wont give you the right thing means you end up with the same results for women.
Stellajane - the celebs have access to private specialists because they have money...they don't rock up at their GP's practice looking sweaty and generally deranged in case it ends up in Hello Magazine! It might improve things if they did though!
NHS GP's do not even get training on menopause. It is a separate module that they must "choose" to take if they want to learn anything about it. Yes celes make it look simple which is not a good thing, but on the other, just lately, it has made the issues around meno much more in the public eye...bit of a double edged sword. We just need one of them to have the b*lls to stand up and say that NHS GP's need proper training...but I suppose that's not a good story really!!!