7 months hunting for my gel
FOR the last seven months, Leigh Campbell’s life has revolved around ‘chasing’ her prescription for HRT.
‘Each morning the first thing I do is look on the Boots website to see if they have the gel in stock. One day I drove around 14 pharmacies,’ the 46-year-old psychotherapist said. ‘I work with women who feel suicidal when they walk of the GP surgery without their HRT.’
Miss Campbell first experienced menopausal symptoms, including heaving bleeding, insomnia and joint pain, when she was 41.
‘Even though I was told by my GP I was too young to be peri-menopausal, I went private and was prescribed Oestrogel. Within 24 hours my symptoms stopped. I felt like me again.’
After being unable to get hold of Oestrogel last September, Miss Campbell found the alternative treatment didn’t effectively treat her symptoms. ‘Even on the maximum dosage my peri-menopausal symptoms returned... I couldn’t work for eight weeks.’ By February this year, Miss Campbell, from northern Ireland, was offered an alternative gel, but she added: ‘I’m chasing my prescription constantly.’