Testosterone for women, assessed properly

Yes, privately, and you do not need a GP referral to be assessed. Testosterone is prescription-only, so it starts with a consultation: Andrea goes through your symptoms and your current HRT, rules out the things that look the same and are treated differently, and prescribes where she judges it right. It is not available over the counter in any form.

No. There is no testosterone product licensed for women in the UK, which is why some GPs will not start it. It is prescribed off licence, either as a gel or cream licensed for men and used in a much smaller measured amount, or as AndroFeme, a cream made for women and licensed in Australia that can be imported and prescribed here. Prescribing off licence is lawful and routine, and the British Menopause Society sets out how it is done.

You can be assessed privately without changing GP and without a referral. If your HRT is already prescribed and managed by your own GP, it stays exactly where it is: Andrea looks after the testosterone alongside it. She needs to know what you are taking and at what dose before she prescribes anything, so bring that to your first appointment.

Yes. An independent nurse prescriber can prescribe testosterone for menopause in the UK, including off licence. Andrea Curtis is a registered nurse and independent prescriber specialising in menopause, at The Wirral Menopause Clinic, part of Face Kandi Limited, a CQC-registered service.

Sometimes, and it depends heavily on where you live and who you see. Some NHS menopause services and some GPs will prescribe it, many will not, and waits for a specialist clinic can be long. It is worth asking, and there is a guide on this site about how to raise it. Being turned down by your GP does not stop you being assessed privately.

It is 45 minutes, online by video, at a time you pick yourself. Andrea covers your history, your symptoms and anything you already take, and confirms your identity from photo ID during the call, as remote prescribing requires. You leave with a plan. If you decide to carry on afterwards there is a monthly membership, and the current figures are on the plans page.

Yes. Andrea will ask for a female hormone panel before she prescribes and roughly every three months while your dose is being settled, then less often once it is stable. You arrange it yourself and pay the lab directly, so it is not part of a membership. She tells you exactly which markers she needs, and she can point you somewhere if you would rather not choose. The result is yours to keep.

Around three months before it is fair to judge. The first four weeks tell you nothing reliable and are about getting the routine consistent. Some women notice something between four and eight weeks, often described as interest returning rather than a dramatic change, and others notice nothing yet, which is normal. The three-month review usually comes with a repeat blood test.

No, and the assessment exists to establish that. Broken sleep suppresses desire on its own, thyroid function and iron cause the tiredness often blamed on hormones, several common prescriptions affect desire, and vaginal dryness or painful sex reduce it for obvious reasons and are treated differently. If one of those is the real problem you will be told so.

You pay for the consultation first, and you only take a plan if you decide to carry on. There is a route for women whose GP already prescribes their HRT and a route where Andrea looks after all of it, and the current figures for both are set out on the plans page. Blood tests are arranged by you and paid to the lab, and are not included in a plan.