Hormones

[Irnmyk]

...so going straight to an HRT specialist wouldn't be helpful if that were the case.

Unless, of course, the HRT specialist you chose was already a qualified Medical Doctor in their own right, just specializing, as many Doctor's do, in HRT.

A really qualified HRT practitioner - the type that I have recommended that you seek out - would already have medical credentials that give them qualifications in other than just their specialty.

DW and I use different Specialists, but each of them is properly pedigreed in the medical profession.

Interestingly, earlier in a post, @David mentioned Thyroid issues, and it was my TRT specialist that spotted this and had me on medication before my GP ever caught it.

[David]

You've completely missed my point.
If you see a specialist for something that's outside their specialism, then they will need to refer you to the correct specialist.
Given that the wait to see a specialist is usually longer than the wait to see a GP, this will result in a delay in getting appropriate treatment.
Because a GP is a generalist, they are likely to be better qualified to help you than a specialist operating outside their specialism.
I work with specialists every day. They are good at what they do. For some of them, medical school was over 30 years ago, so if I ask them a question that's outside their specialism, they may actually be less likely to give the correct answer than a newly qualified doctor.

[Irnmyk]

You've completely missed my point.
If you see a specialist for something that's outside their specialism, then they will need to refer you to the correct specialist.
Given that the wait to see a specialist is usually longer than the wait to see a GP, this will result in a delay in getting appropriate treatment.
Because a GP is a generalist, they are likely to be better qualified to help you than a specialist operating outside their specialism.
I work with specialists every day. They are good at what they do. For some of them, medical school was over 30 years ago, so if I ask them a question that's outside their specialism, they may actually be less likely to give the correct answer than a newly qualified doctor.

No, I got your point completely.

The OP came on this board to this category to ask a question about women's hormones as pertained to his DW's situation and fears. I ansered one way, but your answer was to go through a GP, with several subsequent posts beating that drum.

I'm glad that for your DW, when she did her HRT, that it worked out well by going through her GP, and that you have that firsthand experience to bring to this board to promote and substantiate your answer.

Our firsthand experience, both mine and my DW's was different. It wasn't that we didn't have good GP's. We picked them as the cream of the crop, the pick of the litter, so they better be good, they better be the best. That just wasn't their cup of tea, however, and they were ambivalent about it.

I can't speak to DW's exact firsthand experience, but I can mine. My GP said that he had recommended TRT for another patient about our age (we are both in our 70's) because he was an active senior citizen doing farm work, hefting bales of hay, and the like, and needed the energy boost. But, note that he sent him to a Specialist to get it done, since that wasn't a mainstay part of his practice.

When I told him who my TRT Specialist was (who was also DW's HRT Specialist at the time), his reply was "Oh, I know that Doctor, we worked together at such and such time and place in the past - you picked a good one". That was about the extent of my TRT/HRT conversations with my GP.

We found our specialists by word of mouth based on other's firsthand experience as described earlier in this thread, not to be repeated here.

And, speaking for me, at least, consultation with specialists isn't a new thing to me. I've been to Dermatologists, Oncologists, Urologists, Proctologists, Orthopedists, Cardiologists, Surgeons, Plastic Surgeons, to mention those that I can recall for now. But, I don't live in a country with nationalized medicine, so my experience may be different than yours - getting appointments with them was about on a par with getting an appointment at the GP's (on other than an emergency basis), so your argument against specialists due to excessive waiting time holds no water here. Might be in yours and in the OP's country, however, so it should be considered by the OP if it applies.

So, in the end, the OP has two points of view to consider - yours, where your experience was good with your GP, and ours, where we went a different path as described several posts back, and have had overall good experiences (DW is on her third specialist for me to be able to say that). Whatever it takes to get the OP's DW to get over her fear and get the treatment that she might need - AND, to get away from self medicating.

I didn't misunderstand your point at all.

[David]

There's a backlog in elective care, so if you go straight to a specialist you'll be on the waiting list. If you go to the wrong specialist because your google diagnosis was wrong, they'll refer you on but the wait to see the right specialist will be longer than if you went via your GP. That's what General Practice is for - to treat common ailments without the need for a specialist and to refer those needing specialist care to the right specialist.

If you go via your GP, they'll usually arrange some basic tests so that when you see the specialist they've already got some diagnostic information, thus making the appointment with the specialist more useful. This is why in the UK most specialists won't see you without a referral.

In this case, the lady is presumably already under the care of a specialist, so it would be best to speak to the specialist she's already seeing as this could be a side effect of medication, or a symptom of her underlying disease.