The GP joined Lorraine Kelly in the studio on Thursday
ITV doctor Hilary Jones joined Lorraine Kelly in the studio on Thursday to highlight a “pretty awful” condition thought to affect millions of women in the UK alone. Dr Hilary spoke to host Lorraine amid news of a new pill being made available on the NHS.
For the first time, a daily pill for treating endometriosis symptoms has been approved for use on the NHS in England. However, the treatment will only be made available to patients who have tried all other options.
There are around 1.5 million people in the UK with an endometriosis diagnosis, with many more thought to be undiagnosed. Dr Hilary explained that the condition is caused when “cells that line the womb spill out into the abdomen”.
This, he said, causes “very intense pain, particularly at period time, very heavy bleeding, pain when you go to the loo, fatigue, pain during sex”. The GP added: “It’s a pretty awful condition, and can lead to infertility as well.”
Explaining the new treatment, he continued: “Relugolix is a combination of therapy and a tablet which you take at home so no longer do you have to go to hospital every few weeks to get an injection of a certain treatment. Relugolix, what it does is, it gives you the hormones that you need but blocks the ones you don’t want, which is what causes the problem.
“About £72 a month it costs the NHS, available on the NHS, approved by NICE, and this is for women who’ve tried every other option. So they’ve tried the oral contraceptive pill, they’ve tried the intrauterine devices like the coil, and they’ve tried surgical remedies as well. When those don’t work this one will be the one that they can take at home and it can make a huge difference.”
Sharing a staggering statistic, the doctor further explained: “Some women wait 10 years or more for a diagnosis. The symptoms can mimic other things and it often is a very much delayed diagnosis which is not right, we need to help those women. “
