Call for publicly funded medication for breast cancer survivors who cannot take HRT
Breast cancer survivors who cannot take HRT should have some post-cancer medicines funded instead as they are 'invisible' in the menopause debate, one Cork survivor has urged.
Some cancer treatments can push women of any age into medical menopause. Symptoms are usually harsher and longer lasting than for natural menopause, according to the HSE.
Marguerite Herlihy was just 40 when she was diagnosed last year. She praised Cork University Hospital for her successful initial treatment.
However she has oestrogen-positive cancer meaning it can be stimulated by hormones. This is why taking HRT is ruled out.
'You gear yourself up for the chemo and you gear yourself up for the radiotherapy and all of that, but there is no such thing as being finished then,' she said.
'The hormone-blockers I am now taking are part of the cancer treatment. In fact my oncologist told me the hormone-blockers are probably more important for me and more effective than the chemo.'
The blockers prevent oestrogen from bringing back cancer for the mother of three.
She said:
But I went into menopause immediately like I fell off a cliff.
'So I've another 12 years of a lack of oestrogen (before my natural menopause starts).'
She stressed: 'I'm so happy for other women to get free HRT lately, but while women are getting that I am paying the €80 a month to block my oestrogen under the Drugs Payment Scheme.
'So over the next 10 years that is going to mount up, it will be thousands I could invest in my kids. I do think with the HRT we're invisible in the debate about free HRT.'
Ms Herlihy, a secondary-school teacher who lives in Aherla, said: 'I would love for the Government to offset the €80 a month for me like they are doing for the women getting HRT.'
She feels health services generally are good, but said: 'Going forward I am paying to block my oestrogen when the government are paying to give women extra free oestrogen.'
She was also 'devastated' to miss out on an international clinical trial for an advanced breast cancer drug. 'It was like a shining beacon for me,' she said.
'I missed out on it by a couple of weeks because cancer trials are too slow coming in Ireland. I missed out because of the red-tape, the legal work or the GDPR was taking too long to navigate. I was on my hormone blockers for too long by the time they were ready.'
Marguerite Herlihy: 'I'm so happy for other women to get free HRT lately, but while women are getting that I am paying the €80 a month to block my oestrogen under the Drugs Payment Scheme.' Picture: Dan Linehan
About 3,600 women in Ireland are diagnosed with breast cancer annually. The Irish Cancer Society said figures are not available for how many are affected by medical menopause.
'This affects a large amount of our patients,' a spokeswoman said. 'I think that the unmet need speaks for itself, given that we have no statistics as to how many women this can affect.'
The society has published a free booklet with University College Cork containing targeted advice on nutrition for women in Ms Herlihy's position. She described food as a minefield with many things to avoid, saying: 'This is probably the first book that specifies anything for us.'
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