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Post by mickswife on Oct 4, 2012 6:32:45 GMT
I went to see my doctor today, to ask for a blood test to check hormone level to see if I still need 300mg of progesterone. She laughed and told me I'm 51 and my hormones are definitely stuffed. I talked to her about synthetic verses natural HRT and being a doctor she scoffed at that. She gave me a script for Premia-continuous 5mg which cost $24. Then l came home and rang the Australian Menopause Centre to cancel my script with them and they said they would put the price down for me to $60 a month instead of $99.
I am soooooo confused as what to do.
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Post by Robyn on Oct 4, 2012 7:36:45 GMT
This has to be your choice of course mickswife, but if I was you I would stick with your GP. Knowing what I know about the Aust Menopause Centre they are really only interested in making money. Even reducing it to $60 is still far more than any woman in Australia should be paying for hormones. At least the Premia that you have been prescribed is an approved and tested HRT. The hormones that you were getting from AMC are compounded and there is no approved standards for those types of hormones. Premia is one of the more expensive types because it's not covered by PBS for some reason (not sure why), so $24 is probably about the maximum you should ever have to pay for HRT. The ones covered by PBS can be as low as $10-$15 per month. The Premia that she has prescribed for you is a medium dose one. It may or may not be the right one for you. You will just have to see how you go over a period of a few weeks to a couple of months. Sometimes you might have to change your prescription a few times before you get it right, but hang in there. Things will get better for you. You might find this link helpful. It shows you the various types of HRTs that are available on prescription in Australia, and whether they are covered by PBS or not (those marked with * are not covered by PBS). www.menopause.org.au/consumers/information-sheets/426-ams-guide-to-equivalent-hrt-dosesbtw - it's not uncommon for doctors to be reluctant to do blood tests for hormone levels, because they are notoriously unreliable, and saliva tests are even more unreliable because they are usually collected in plastic tubes which can interfere with the results. My doctor won't test my hormone levels either. Most doctors prefer to prescribe based on your symptoms. |
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Post by Robyn on Oct 4, 2012 7:51:38 GMT
Just had a thought - rather than cancelling your prescription with AMC, would they be prepared to put your account on hold for say 6 months? That would give you the chance to try out some HRTs with your GP and if you're not happy with it you can still go back to AMC.
Mind you - the fact that they were so quick to drop their price by $40 just shows how much they were over-charging you in the first place, and that's really annoying.
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Post by Robyn on Oct 5, 2012 4:56:03 GMT
Bella - I understand where you are coming from, but I was trying to avoid confusing mickswife even more, because she's already been confused enough by the Aust Menopause Centre and their compounded hormones high pressure selling tactics. As I've tried to explain before, you have to remember that in Australia (and in America too I think) the term "bioidentical" is usually used to describe compounded hormones, which aren't regulated and can possibly pose some risks. We certainly do have regulated bioidentical oestradiol available, through regular GPs, but they are not referred to as "bioidentical". They are just HRT as far as we are concerned. Bioidentical is a "fad" name that was started here and in America by Oprah Winfrey and her cronies. AMC even have Oprah's name all over their website. I wouldn't be surprised if she had some kind of interest in the company. I've made enquiries through this company myself and they don't have the best interests of their patients in mind. They are only interested in making money, which is evident by them still pressuring her to stay with them by reducing their price so much. They aren't like the meno clinics that you guys have. You don't even get to sit face to face with a doctor. The consultations are done over the phone, so you really have no idea who you are talking to. When I had my "consultation", the alleged doctor (or whoever she was) was more interested in talking about how bad she felt, because she had a cold, than how bad I felt because I was experiencing menopause. Everything she said to me sounded like she was reading from a script, and then she passed me off to some other person (not a doctor) who read from another script about their procedure and how much I would have to pay. They have already been in trouble with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and had to change their name a few years ago. Despite being fined by the ACCC, they are still operating more or less the same way, just with a different name, but they must be keeping their operations above board just enough that nothing can be done about them, but leopards don't change their spots. They are still basically trying to con women into paying well over $1000 a year for hormones, and making them believe that all the HRTs that are available from regular GPs are "dangerous" - even the bioidentical type. www.theage.com.au/national/menopause-experts-warn-against-doctor-pushing-untested-hrt-20110813-1is6g.html www.ratbags.com/rsoles/comment/menopauseoz.htmPremia may not be the most desirable HRT for mickswife to be on, but I think the main thing is that she is now going to a normal GP and now being prescribed regulated HRT, because what she was getting before wasn't anything like Utrogestan. Once she gets settled on something, and becomes more familiar with the available HRTs (which is why I gave her that link), and she gets to know what is bio-identical and what isn't, she can discuss her options with her GP, and she can make a more informed decision about what other types of HRTs are available. In the short term, and at her age, being on Premia isn't going to present any long term problems. I'm on Premarin at that moment, which is similar to Premia, except without the progesterone, but I don't have any choice at the moment, and I'm certainly not going to lose any sleep over it though - I have enough trouble with sleep at the best of times, so worrying about my HRT isn't going to stress me even further....lol..... |
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Post by Robyn on Oct 5, 2012 6:52:39 GMT
Mickswife - I you want to try an HRT similar to what Bella is recommending, have a look at the link I gave you to the Australasian Meno Society. In the blue section under "Medium dose" you will see the other HRTs that are available. You would need to go with one that has "oestradiol" in it, which would be the Kliogest (tablet) or Estalis (patch). However both of them contain norethisterone (a synthetic progesterone) and some ladies don't get on very well with that, but it may not affect you.
Perhaps you could print out that page and go and see your GP again, and discuss the whole thing with her. If you are concerned about being on a more "bioidentical" oestrogen (oestradiol) as opposed to the equine type, then talk to her about that and see what she can recommend for you.
If you are one of the ladies who doesn't do well with synthetic progesterone (norethisterone) then I can tell you how you can buy a regulated "bioidentical" progesterone online (it's called Utrogestan), and even though it comes from Europe it will still be much cheaper than what you are paying to AMC, plus it is an approved HRT and is not compounded like what you have been getting from AMC.
I hope this extra info hasn't confused you even more...lol...
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Post by jacksfullofaces on Oct 5, 2012 8:09:17 GMT
All personal choice - my late mother found Premarin a god send.
Jacks
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Post by Robyn on Oct 6, 2012 6:20:23 GMT
This is the link the website for Australian Menopause Centre www.menopausecentre.com.au/ This is what they say about BHRT. Not sure if there is a lot of information on the site though Bella that would help you work out exactly how they are operating. I'm not sure how they are supplying the hormones to mickswife, but it would probably be in either cream or trouches which seems to be the most common way of using compounded hormones. I guess I should say that as a general rule I don't have a major problem with women wanting to use compounded hormones. It might even be something that I might try myself in years to come. It's really just the way AMC operates that really bugs me. A friend of mine has been on compounded oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone cream for over 2 years now and she is doing great, but the difference with her is that she is going to a proper doctor and she is taking her prescription to a proper compounding pharmacist, so there is a lot more "face to face" contact with the way she is doing it, and she can just pop in to see her doctor or pharmacist whenever she wants to. However, that's not the way AMC operates. It's all far too impersonal, and you only have the person's word for it that they are actually a doctor or a licenced compounding pharmacist. My friend is also paying a lot for her hormones too though. About a year ago I know she was paying $60 per month, so I'm sure it's more than that by now. If you have medical insurance you would be able to claim back about $30 of that, so that makes it a bit more cost effective, but a lot of people can't afford to have medical insurance. |
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Post by Robyn on Oct 6, 2012 7:23:25 GMT
All personal choice - my late mother found Premarin a god send. Jacks Yes, while I would prefer to be on oestradiol, I have other things to sort out first, so I’ll probably stay on the Premarin for around the next 12 months. Interestingly, when I talking to my chemist about it, she said she actually dispenses far more Premarin/Premia than she does oestradiol, so it is still certainly a very widely used HRT – well in Australia anyway. My problem at the moment is that I have a dependency on diazepam, which was brought about because of my initial hormonal insomnia. While I’m not on a high dose (5mg), it is proving to be a nightmare to withdraw from. I am now wondering if some of the problems I have been experiencing with HRT and synthetic progesterone intolerance has actually been caused by withdrawal symptoms of trying to reduce the dose of diazepam. Benzos are incredibly hard to withdraw from. With diazepam, the smallest dose I can reduce by at a time is 0.25mg which is the smallest benzo dose you can take of any of the benzos, but even that is still giving me grief of giving me insomnia as a withdrawal symptom. So I’ve learned, through another forum, about “titration micro dosing” which is basically mixing a small dose of crushed tablet with milk and reducing the mixture by a very small dose every day. I’m my case I will be mixing 0.5mg with 100ml of milk and reducing that mixture by somewhere between 2-4ml per day, which will take anywhere from 25 to 50 days per 0.5mg. It will take a long time, but at least the decrease each day will be such a minuscule amount hopefully my body won’t notice it and I won’t get any withdrawal symptoms. So, sorry if I don’t seem to be spending as much time here, but I now have to divide my computer time between this forum and my benzo forum…lol….. Anyway, sorry, I’ve gone totally off topic. This is mickswife’s thread. |
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Post by jacksfullofaces on Oct 6, 2012 9:06:56 GMT
Rambo
If I were you I would stop trying to withdraw from diazepam for six months. If you continue with your hormone regime but leave the diazepam until a future date you can monitor for yourself the precise cause of your symptoms - diazepam is worse then heroin to withdraw from which is why I would not stop using it.
I managed to drop my dose years ago and now keep it at a managable level but withdrawal is awful speaking from experience.
I got hooked on it back in the 80's when my thyroid and other illnesses were ignored and written off as all being in my head.
Jacks
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Post by Robyn on Oct 7, 2012 0:29:54 GMT
Rambo If I were you I would stop trying to withdraw from diazepam for six months. If you continue with your hormone regime but leave the diazepam until a future date you can monitor for yourself the precise cause of your symptoms - diazepam is worse then heroin to withdraw from which is why I would not stop using it. I managed to drop my dose years ago and now keep it at a managable level but withdrawal is awful speaking from experience. I got hooked on it back in the 80's when my thyroid and other illnesses were ignored and written off as all being in my head. Jacks I appreciate your concerns Jacks, but the reason I am withdrawing from it now is because my HRT routine is fairly stable, so I need to withdraw or at least reduce my diazepam dose to actually find out how my overall symptoms are. While I am still taking the diazepam I will never know what is doing what. You need to do one thing at a time, and I've got a stable HRT dose now, so now is the time to tackle the diazepam issue. Plus with any kind of benzo you stand the risk of needing to increase your dose the longer you are on it. I've been on varying doses of between 2 to 5 mg for almost 12 months now, and I am already noticing that I'm needing to increase my dose to get the same effect. Six months ago I was getting by quite easily with 2.5mg, but now I can't do with anything less than 5mg. So potentially in six months time I might be needing 7 or even 10mg, and that scares me. So it is very important that I try to reduce the dose now. In assessing and monitoring the pattern of all my symptoms, and what I've done in the past with probably trying to withdraw too quickly from the diazepam, I have now come to the conclusion that it's very likely that the root of my problems hasn't been HRT at all, it's been the diazepam. Withdrawing is very difficult, and you are right with what you have said about heroin, but I'm lucky that diazepam is actually one of the easier benzos to reduce with because it's available in such small doses - much smaller than other benzos. However, while some people are able to do dry cutting quite easily and have no major problems, I am not one of them. I seem to be particuarly sensitive to even making a 0.25mg dry cut reduction, so that's why I'm now trying the titration micro dosing method. If it's done slow enough hopefully my body won't wise up to the fact that I'm decreasing the dose it's getting..lol... |
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Post by Robyn on Oct 7, 2012 0:33:06 GMT
Thanks Pinky.  |
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