Women seeking testosterone treatment for menopause symptoms in Wales are turning to online pharmacies where they misrepresent their gender to obtain the hormone, a practice linked to difficulties accessing prescriptions through the NHS, according to healthcare professionals interviewed by BBC Wales.
Dr. Michelle Olver, a menopause specialist, reported observing women with testosterone levels up to 12 times the safe threshold due to unsupervised online purchases. She emphasized that persistently elevated testosterone levels can produce permanent adverse effects including hair loss, voice deepening, and clitoral enlargement. Olver advocated for a coordinated approach across Welsh health boards to ensure equitable access and proper medical oversight, with patients maintained within the female physiological range for the hormone.
Access to testosterone prescriptions varies significantly across Wales’s seven health boards, which employ different traffic light systems for authorization. Some health boards restrict prescribing to specialists only, while others allow general practitioners to prescribe with varying degrees of hospital specialist involvement. Dr. Rebeccah Tomlinson, a GP running an NHS menopause clinic, attributed inconsistencies to reluctance among some doctors to prescribe medications off-license and workload distribution concerns within practices. This fragmented approach has resulted in patients experiencing different treatment pathways depending on location and local clinical policies.
Testosterone is a naturally occurring hormone in women that declines with age and is currently prescribed off-license to address reduced libido in post-menopausal women, though no licensed female testosterone product exists in the UK. A study is underway in Wales to investigate anecdotal claims that testosterone improves cognition and energy levels. Women’s health advocates reported that many patients struggle to obtain prescriptions from GPs who question the medical necessity, while others face discontinuation when relocating to different health board areas. Support group co-founder Emma Thomas noted members frequently cite GP resistance or outright refusal to prescribe the hormone.
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