ARCHIVED - British women turn to Spain for HRT medication
ARCHIVED ARTICLE
A medication shortage in the UK has led to many women paying to have pills flown in from Spain
The use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to treat the uncomfortable symptoms of menopause has grown exponentially in recent years and in the UK alone, one million of the 13 million menopausal or premenopausal women use these drugs to replace oestrogen and progesterone, which decline with age.
However, the shortage of supply of some products, such as the ever-popular Oestrogel, had led to an increasing number of women resorting to the black market, Facebook groups and even sharing medications with friends.
Another worrying phenomenon which has arisen is people ferrying back copious amounts of HRT drugs from Spain, where they are available in many places without a prescription.
This is an extremely risky business, and medical experts across Britain have warned women against paying for drugs flown in from Spain, with co-chair of the UK Menopause Task Force Carolyn Harris going so far as to say “we will turn women into drug mules if we don’t watch out.”
The trouble is that HRT treatments are prescribed on a case-by-case basis; there are several different brands and strengths of medication, and taking the wrong dose could have serious health implications.
Dr. Sam Nabli, a London family physician, pointed out that “If you need, for example, an antibiotic such as amoxicillin, the dose is unique and always the same for an adult person, but in the case of HRT the doses change and are adjusted to each patient woman”, which makes self-medicating a very complicated affair.
The situation hasn’t gone unnoticed by the powers that be, and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has blamed the shortage of HRT medication on the global supply problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic, while the manufacturers of Oestrogel have promised that they are doing “everything possible to increase the supply.”
The Minister of health, Sajid Javid, has vowed to do the same: “I know how much women trust HRT and that some have had difficulties obtaining certain medications”, so “I will urgently call a meeting with providers to find ways in which we can work together to improve supply in the short and long term”.
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