I know it’s weird, but I rather enjoyed my menopause

Being hormonally disturbed was a great excuse – now when I behave badly, I have to face the fact that it’s because I’m a terrible person, writes Jenny Eclair

‘Davina McCall’s documentary revealed a shocking statistic’ (Channel 4)

Last week I saw Davina McCall talking about the menopause in a well-made and personal documentary on Channel 4, in which the most shocking statistic to be revealed was the fact that in 2021 only 10 per cent of menopausal women took HRT.

I’m surprised at this, mostly because the uptake of hormone replacement therapy hasn’t altered much in the 10 years since I went trotting off to the doctors, insane; with moods swinging from incandescent rage to snivelling, confidence-sapping anxiety. After a ridiculous tussle with a GP who couldn’t use the word “vagina” to my face, I was eventually given a prescription for hormone replacement therapy – and have been positively evangelical about it ever since.

Now that the supposed increased risk of breast cancer (for those with no history of the disease in the family) has been widely dismissed by the medical profession, I’m bewildered by the fact that so many women are still prepared to suffer really tricky mental and physical menopausal side effects without asking for the one thing that really can help: HRT.