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The shortage of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in Northern Ireland is distressing for women and challenging for pharmacies trying to access it, according to a community pharmacist. Loretto McManus advised women to leave plenty of time for ordering their prescriptions. The Health and Social Care Board said there were "some treatments which are currently experiencing supply issues". HRT helps many women control their often difficult menopausal symptoms. There is a national shortage of HRT with officials citing several reasons including manufacturing delays, an increase in demand and possibly Brexit. Ms McManus said certain products were out of stock in pharmacies across Northern Ireland and that this was "distressing" for women who have become used to particular treatments. "As a community pharmacist the utmost care of our patients is premium to us," she said. "Trying to source the prescribed product in a timely manner for the patient can be challenging." Several women have told BBC News NI that they were being offered substitutes or had to source the medication themselves. Kathryn Schreuder, part of a Northern Ireland menopause support group, said: "For a lot of women, their concern is, if their medication isn't available and they have just maybe spent six months to a year getting the right level of what they need, for that suddenly to be changed because of the limitation of what is available is very distressing." Read full story Source: BBC News, 7 November 2021

MP Carolyn Harris is part of a movement determined to smash the remnants of the menopause taboo, pushing a private member’s bill to turn up the volume on a debate about the menopause that is growing louder by the day. As an increasing number of countries, businesses and individuals mark World Menopause Day today, Harris says she is ready to shame whoever stands in the way of progress. Harris will lead a small army of supporters to Parliament Square in London before her bill, which is due to be heard on the 29 October, to demand free prescriptions for hormone replacement therapy in England – already available in Scotland and Wales. The government is said to be “interested” in the bill, with Harris adding that she has cross-party support from dozens of MP. “In the last two years the narrative has completely changed,” says Harris, who adds that since the private members bill was announced she’s had calls from countries from Canada and the US, to Australia and Japan. “People are waking up to the fact that we have to find a better way of supporting women through the menopause,” she says. “Women are enhanced coming through this process, but only if they get the support they need.” The evidence suggests they all too often don’t. There are more than 13 million currently experiencing menopause or perimenopause in the UK. Menopause campaigners argue that medical sexism and a lack of training means many women are left to suffer the symptoms of menopause – which can include depression, anxiety, insomnia and brain fog as well as hot flushes. Harris’s own experience with the menopause was brutal. Twenty years after losing her eight-year-old son in a road traffic accident she blamed herself for not processing her grief when she was hit by a deep depression. “It took me six years, having conversations with women, for me to realise I was going through the menopause,” she says. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 18 October 2021

HRT used to be a dirty word. Now it’s a battle cry. Women will begathering in Parliament Square in London later this month to support the menopause bill to demand free prescriptions for hormone replacement therapy in England. The bill could help thousands more women to access this life-changing treatment and will put the menopause under the microscope. For years, a combination of medical sexism, hysterical reporting and outdated science has held women back from asking for the health care they need. HRT replenishes the oestrogen, progesterone (and sometimes testosterone) that women lose when having the menopause. As a result of previous misleading reports linking the treatment to a risk of breast cancer and dementia, HRT has long been considered controversial. Last week, however, a BMJ paper studying more than 100,000 HRT users over two decades in the UK found that there was no overall association between hormone replacement and an increased risk of developing dementia. Meanwhile, the science lumping the many different types of HRT together in one “causes-breast-cancer” basket is being questioned by menopause experts. A sexist, ageist culture has kept the menopause – and the stigma associated with it – hidden for decades. In a TUC survey of 4,000 women, 85% said the menopause affected their working life. Many women have lost their health, jobs, relationships and even their lives at the time of their menopause, when rates of suicide peak. But now, Labour MP Carolyn Harris is pushing the second reading of her menopause bill through parliament later this month. Aside from making HRT free in England (it’s already free in Scotland and Wales), the bill will also cover broader issues around menopause rights and education, particularly in the workplace. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 6 October 2021

A third of women who have suffered symptoms of the menopause say they hid them at work, and many think there remains a stigma around talking about the subject, according to a survey of workers in five countries. More than 5,000 women in the UK, Germany, Spain, Italy and South Africa were interviewed about their experiences of the menopause and work in research for the mobile phone provider Vodafone. In all of the countries except Italy, about a third said they had hidden symptoms, while in Spain more than half felt a stigma around the subject in the workplace. South African women seemed most comfortable discussing the subject with colleagues, with 37% saying they thought there was a stigma, while in Italy the proportion who said they had hidden symptoms was lowest at 28%. The survey found those who experienced symptoms before they were 45 were most likely to say that they were too embarrassed to ask for support in the workplace. Of those in the UK, 63% of adults under the age of 44 said they had shied away from asking for help, while across all ages the figure was 43%. The figures were similar in the four other countries. In recent years, businesses have begun to introduce policies to help women who are suffering from menopausal symptoms such as hot flushes, anxiety and fatigue. However, there are concerns that many women are still leaving the workforce because they struggle with some of the effects, and feel they are not supported by their employers. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 8 March 2021