Meet Amy Bennie, Trustee and Chair of the Daisy Network. Daisy Network is a charity dedicated to providing information and support to women diagnosed with Premature Ovarian Insufficiency.
We discussed what is Premature Ovarian Insufficiency (POI) - a term used to describe where the ovaries stop working before the age of natural menopause. Some women with POI can be as young teenagers. Daisy provides support and medical advice, local support but also aims to raise awareness among medical professionals.
Sadly POI occurs in 1:100 under 40, 1:1000 under 30, and 1:10,000 under 20, however other women may also be diagnosed following cancer treatments for example.
It can be difficult to diagnose POI and may be incorrectly diagnosed initially. Symptoms include periods not starting as a teenager, periods stopping, noticing menopause symptoms such as mood swings, night sweats, anxiety, tiredness, etc. Diagnosis is obtained by taking an FSH Blood sample and repeat 4 weeks apart
Like fertility, POI or menopause is not routinely discussed in schools, and therefore there is a lack of awareness. Treatments for POI include HRT or the Combined Oral Contraceptive pill. HRT replaces the estrogen that is lacking and helps to protect bone density.
Daisy offers a variety of different support networks such as medical support, local support for meet-ups, and connecting with other women suffering from POI, a Private Facebook group. Daisy also has an annual conference called Daisy Day.
Daisy Network aims to be the first point of call for women who are diagnosed and encourage early referral from medical professionals once diagnosed.
Women who are diagnosed with POI are more likely to conceive with egg donation and IVF. All the Daisy Network team are volunteers. The charity fundraises through their annual conference and by members who do fundraising events such as climbing Kilimanjaro and 100k walks. The majority of POI is spontaneous but it can be hereditary and therefore this makes it difficult to detect and more research is needed to understand POI more.
HRT and breast cancer risk – for POI HRT replaces hormone levels that have been lost and does not increase the levels and shouldn’t increase the risk of breast cancer. Most recent studies did not consider POI and therefore do not relate to a woman suffering from POI.
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