Menopause is having a moment. And more women are using hormone replacement therapy to help with menopausal symptoms like hot flashes. But that has led to prescription estrogen shortages or delays.
Late last year, the FDA announced it was removing black box warnings on hormone replacement therapy products, specifically estrogen. Dr. Shaida Molloy is a physician at Banner University Medical Center.
"The demand for this medication has grown exponentially with providers actually prescribing the medication appropriately to women who would benefit from this medication," she explained.
And some of her patients who rely on estrogen have had a hard time getting their HRT.
"It's more specifically related to the patch. Other forms of estrogen — the vaginal estrogen cream, there are gels, there are pill products that you can use — that hasn't, at least certainly in my practice, I've not noticed a shortage in that area."
Molloy says depending on the dosage, some of her patients who use estrogen patches have struggled to get their prescriptions filled in a timely manner.
Molloy says if brick and mortar pharmacy is out, she has been referring patients to online options including The HRT Club.
"I think the fear of using this medication has kind of been removed and has become very public, because there are several studies that support the use of estradiol and hormone therapy in women."
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