When you’re struggling with menopause symptoms, it can sometimes feel as though you’ve lost the person you used to be.
For one of our patients, finding the right support with her HRT was the starting point for a much bigger change. Living in France, she had struggled to get the help she needed and came to The Female Health Clinic feeling frustrated, miserable and unsure where to turn next.
“I first consulted The Female Health Clinic in desperation as my GP was making a terrible mess of my HRT.”
Feeling unheard and misunderstood
At the time of her first consultation with Dr Joanne Horgan in November 2025, her HRT treatment was not working for her. She was taking high levels of progesterone alongside the contraceptive pill, but no oestrogen.
She describes struggling with her weight despite being active and sporty, alongside feeling “miserable, angry, irritable and depressed”.
What she needed most, however, was to feel listened to.
“Dr Horgan listened to me (that was new), explained the importance of HRT, identified the lack of oestrogen in my treatment and quickly sorted out the prescription.”
The difference getting her HRT right made
She noticed changes surprisingly quickly.
Her mood improved, she began sleeping better and even noticed a difference in her relationship with her husband.
“The results were almost immediate in terms of mood, better sleep and being nicer to my husband.”
But while getting her HRT treatment right made a significant difference to how she felt, she was still struggling with her weight.
This became an important part of a subsequent conversation with Dr Horgan, who discussed insulin resistance and encouraged her to learn more about the relationship between menopause, metabolism and lifestyle.
Looking beyond HRT
When she was reviewed again in January 2026, she reported feeling better, although she remained frustrated by her weight gain.
This provided an opportunity to look beyond HRT alone and consider the wider factors that can influence health and wellbeing during menopause. Different approaches to nutrition, blood sugar regulation and exercise were discussed, including the 30-30-30 approach, the work of the Glucose Goddess and Vonda Wright’s podcast.
The aim was to look at the bigger picture and explore practical changes that could support her health and wellbeing alongside her HRT.
By July 2026, she reported feeling very well. She had incorporated the principles she had learned from the Glucose Goddess into her lifestyle and was also doing online personal training.
This ultimately led her to an online fitness and weight-loss programme. Over six weeks, she lost 6kg (13lbs) – but perhaps more importantly, she discovered that she genuinely enjoyed going to the gym.
Weight training became part of her routine, something she now feels passionately about as a menopausal woman.
“I started loving the gym – weight training is so important for menopausal women. I have now become the sort of person who says things like that!”
She retained the personal trainer and lost 2 stone compared to where she was at during the initial consultation with Dr. Horgan.
But for her, the biggest changes aren’t measured on the scales.
“I feel 10 years younger”
Today, she describes feeling happier, more positive and more like herself.
Her joints no longer ache. She sleeps well. She has become stronger and more active, and she feels optimistic about the future.
“I feel 10 years younger. My joints don’t ache, I sleep well and I feel so much happier and positive about the rest of my life.”
She remembers feeling that life was somehow “over” – despite being just 55.
Now, she sees things very differently.
It started with getting the right support
Looking back, she believes that getting her HRT treatment right was an important first step.
“All this started with getting my HRT right. Without that, physical activity tended to result in injury.”
Her experience also changed her perception of private healthcare and personal training. Previously, she had assumed that these were things reserved for other people.
“I used to think private health consultations and personal trainers were only for the super rich and not for ‘the likes of me’.”
Her view is very different now.
“Honestly, given the life changing results of that first consultation – it was worth every penny and I wish I had done it years ago.”
The actual “wake up and smell the coffee” moment for me was when I realised that for the two weeks prior my sleep was also disturbed, I would wake up with matted hair from sweating and my general mood and ‘get up and go’ had got up and gone…and slammed the door on leaving!
Every menopause journey is different
There is no single approach to managing menopause, and what works for one woman may not be right for another.
For this patient, getting the right medical advice and reviewing her HRT treatment was an important starting point. From there, she was able to make changes to her exercise and lifestyle that have had a lasting impact on how she feels.
Her story is also a reminder that struggling with menopause symptoms doesn’t mean you simply have to put up with feeling unlike yourself.
Sometimes, the first step is finding someone who will listen, understand the bigger picture and help you work out what is right for you.
Patient experience shared with permission. Identifying details have been omitted to protect confidentiality. Individual experiences of HRT and menopause treatment vary, and this story should not be taken as a guarantee of a particular outcome.
Read the full testimonial
We’re very grateful to our patient for sharing her experience with us. If you’d like to read her story in her own words, you can read her full testimonial below.
“I first consulted The Female Health Clinic in desperation as my GP was making a terrible mess of my HRT. I live in France and the French are very suspicious of HRT and very unsympathetic about the menopause. I was on weirdly high levels of progesterone, and the contraceptive pill and no estrogen at all. I had really struggled to maintain my weight despite being quite sportyand active and was miserable, angry, irritable and depressed.
Dr Horgan listened to me (that was new), explained the importance of HRT, identified the lack of estrogen in my treatment and quickly sorted out the prescription. The results were almost immediate in terms of mood, better sleep and being nicer to my husband. But I was still struggling to lose weight.
At a subsequent appointment we discussed this and Dr Horgan explained about insulin resistance and recommended some Instagram accounts to follow.
Through this route I eventually found an online trainer and did a six week weight loss and fitness programme where I lost 6kg. I started loving the gym – weight training is so important for menopausal women. I have now become the sort of person who says things like that!
I retained the personal trainer and have now lost 2 stone compared to where I was at during that first meeting with Dr Horgan. I feel 10 years younger. My joints don’t ache, I sleep well and I feel so much happier and positive about the rest of my life. I had felt like it was all over and I was only 55.
All this started with getting my HRT right. Without that, physical activity tended to result in injury.
I used to think private health consultations and personal trainers were only for the super rich and not for “the likes of me”. But honestly given the life changing results of that first consultation – it was worth every penny and I wish I had done it years ago.
Thank you so much to Dr Horgan and The Female Health Clinic.”
