Doctor, doctor

Dr Rosemary Leonard MBE is a GP with many years’ experience working in London’s top teaching hospitals

I began HRT two months ago – two blobs of gel daily, plus progesterone tablets – and my breasts are so sore. Oestrogen and progesterone can cause breast tenderness. It usually settles with time, but if it persists, reducing the oestrogen dose to one blob daily for a few weeks could help, as your body adjusts to the hormone. Or switch the tablets for a mirena coil. It gives the hormone where needed, in the womb, with only a small amount going to the rest of the body, including the breasts.

Contact Dr Leonard at S Magazine, One Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 5AP, or email dr.leonard@ express.co.uk. Dr Leonard regrets that she cannot reply personally to letters. Read her column every Tuesday in the Daily Express