No, I’m not kidding…My specialist has been struggling to find the right HRT (hormone replacement therapy) for me. I’ve tried over 10 different combinations of hormones – none of which have worked long term unfortunately.

So, you’d expect my health plan to have understood that I can’t simply take any old formula, right? Wrong! But it’s easy to figure out why my health plan chose to try to pressure me into using a particular HRT – again!

You may have heard of Premarin. That stand for pregnant mare’s urine (yes, that’s right – a horse’s pee). Premarin was promoted as the anti-aging drug for middle aged women – almost a fountain of youth. Premarin was supposed to eliminate hot flashes and other, more debilitating menopause symptoms. In addition, Premarin was thought to reduce heart attacks, strokes and cancer among women.

Sound too good to be true? You bet! In fact, the NIH cancelled its study of Premarin before it was completed –why? Because it was causing too many women to (get this) experience increased heart attacks, strokes and cancer! Well there’s mud in your eye!

After that study was cancelled, most women on the drug ceased using it. Initially, Wyeth, its producer, sent letters to doctors and patients saying that Premarin was safe if used only for four or five years. So women should feel safe continuing Premarin for that time. Nonetheless, most women did not renew their prescriptions.

But it appears Wyeth came up with another approach. When I tried to fill my new prescription for a non-horse-urine HRT medication, my health plan rejected it, saying I should use Premarin instead! This despite the NIH cancellation which I had told them about the previous time they tried to refuse my non-Premarin prescription. Makes you wonder what kind of a deal Wyeth offered my health plan, doesn’t it?

I had to pay in full, call my health plan, call my doctor to fill out a form, now I’ll have to call my health plan back again so I can fill out a form --- Phew! Once again, this demonstrates that the patient’s health is not a priority in our current healthcare system.