HRT shortages and swapping of products have led to us hearing of all sorts of unsafe practices.
Here’s a quick reminder of what is important to keep you safe, and your symptoms under control.
HRT shortages and swapping of products have led to us hearing of all sorts of unsafe practices.
Here’s a quick reminder of what is important to keep you safe, and your symptoms under control.
The progesterone part of your HRT is vital if you have a womb. It protects against endometrial cancer (where the womb lining gets overstimulated by unopposed oestrogen).
Many women are unable to get their utrogestan at the moment. We have found some who have continued the oestrogen on its own. This is unsafe.
The British Menopause Society have produced clear guidelines on the amounts and types of progestogens to be used in HRT.
These follow the evidence base: the doses shown to be adequate in protecting against endometrial cancer.
Don’t increase your oestrogen without also increasing the progesterone.
The ongoing shortages have led to much confusion in dose equivalencies.
Here is a reliable table to follow from the BMS and WHC:
We have seen women who have been prescribed the wrong dose of testosterone recently.
TESTOGEL PUMP is not equivalent to TOSTRAN PUMP. Each metered dose contains around twice the testosterone.
Women usually only need 5mg daily – testogel 40.5mg/2.5ml over 8 days, a tube of Testim over 10 days, ot 3 pumps of tostran weekly.
Products like gels and spray only work properly when applied properly.
Read the instructions and follow them carefully, or you risk losing half the dose.
Utrogestan also needs taking on an empty stomach, or it absorbs too quickly from the stomach leading to excess drowsiness.
Also, don’t forget to read, and follow instructions about applying new products. We find big gains in symptom control when we simply tell women how to use existing products more effectively.
For safe, supportive advice, contact us here at Spiced Pear Health.
Throughout this website, we use the term women when describing people who experience hormonal symptoms. However, we acknowledge not only those who identify as women require access to menopause and hormone health information. For example, some trans men, non-binary people, intersex people or people with variations in sex characteristics may also experience menopausal symptoms and PMS/PME or PMDD, and we warmly welcome everyone who needs this support in our clinic.
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