I’ve been reading the excellent The Price of Life and was so inspired I thought I would take a sober look at the cost of changing hormones. Because noone is writing about this in the Guardian but they should.
Before being ‘allowed’ to start HRT*: £4074/year
- 2 big bottles of magnesium tablets to try to help with sleep because that’s what a friend recommended: £18
- 4 bottles of sage tablets because a friend’s mum was prescribed it by their oncologist when she was complaining of night sweats: £75
- Speaking therapy to manage increase in anxiety levels: £3400 (£85/weekly session)
- Yoga classes to try to help with increasing hip and joint pain: £576 (£48/month)
- Earplugs to help with difficulty going to sleep £5.95
After being prescribed HRT: £226/year
- NHS Prescription certificate which covers both HRT and my perimenopausal rosacea ointment: £114.50
- Rosacea moisturiser (total waste of money): £45
- 2 bottles of tinted day cream to cover the rosacea (very good) £60
- Hydrating gel because everything gets *super* itchy £7
Other costs: unknown/harder to assess
- Buying larger sized clothes to deal with the totally normal weight gain means buying clothes more often than in the last 10+years
- Choosing a non-alcoholic drink (because i value good sleep over a hangover) is not a cost-saving
- Cost of not taking a sick day at work when I suffered from a bad night of sleep
- Cost of increasing protein intake as recommended in Perimenopause Power
- Opportunity cost of saying no to doing things very early in the morning in case I haven’t slept well
As soon as I was on HRT, my anxiety receded, heart palpitations are gone, joint and hip pain disappeared and things got much cheaper as a result. The sleep is a work in progress. I am still investing in yoga and magnesium tablets but not because I’m looking to treat my symptoms anymore. As for the other costs, i may choose to look into those more closely in the future. But for now my bank account and I are breathing a sigh of relief.
* this phase lasted 3 years as I was in my early 40s