Get loud about menopause
It’s hard to ignore 1.2 billion women, especially if one of them is Oprah.
When it comes to changing the conversations about menopause, you have power too. Part of conquering the fear of menopause is bringing it out from the shadows and losing the shame.
It’s sad that very few women feel they can discuss their symptoms and experiences with their friends, partners, or colleagues. A study conducted by Bonafide showed that only 20% of women talk to their friends about their experiences, while another study showed that only half of women felt they could talk about their symptoms at work, even though 62% said it was affecting their work-life.
The more we talk about menopause, the more we normalize it.
By shaking off the shame of what you’re experiencing (after all, there is no shame in experiencing something every other woman will eventually experience), we can start to normalize our experiences.
If you need adjustments at work, whether it’s turning up the air conditioning, having access to showers, or even just letting your colleagues know you are having perfectly normal hot flashes, then speak up! The odds are you are not the only one.
It’s the same with your home life; by opening up to your family and friends about your experiences, not only are you giving them an understanding of any changes they may be noticing in you, you’re also giving them the opportunity to support you.
Considering Bonafide’s study showed that only 9% of women talk about their experiences with their mothers, you also have an opportunity to change the experiences of the next generation. The more that younger men, women, boys, and girls are exposed to this phase of life, the less scary it will be when they or their friends/partners/coworkers experience it in the future.
Take control of menopause
The fear of menopause is probably felt more in the West than in other cultures, and we can learn a lot from them and their attitudes towards this stage of life.
One thing we can do is stop treating menopause as an ending. Women spend approximately one-third of their lives postmenopause, this is why, in many cultures, it signals the start of a new beginning.
In China, menopause is considered a time of rebirth, while in Japan, the word for menopause, Konenki, means renewal, season and energy.
In many Arab, Asian and First Nations cultures, moving on from childbearing years brings social freedom and higher status in society. You are honored for your wisdom, not ignored because of your age. You become the elder, the wise woman, and someone to be respected.
Seek help for menopause
Some symptoms of perimenopause can be awkward, unpredictable, and at times, scary. But that doesn’t mean you have to put up with them. There are many management options available:
Hormone replacement therapy
Many of the symptoms experienced during menopause are triggered by falling levels of estrogen. Hormone replacement therapy seeks to correct the hormone balance by returning estrogen, and sometimes progestin, to the body. This can be done through tablets, creams, gels or patches.
While hormone replacement therapy is the most effective treatment on the market, it does come with risks and isn’t an appropriate treatment for everyone, especially women with a history of breast cancer.
Hypnotherapy for hot flashes
Hypnotherapy to manage hot flashes aims to reduce the frequency and severity of hot flashes by targeting the mind-body connection. In clinical trials, hypnotherapy was shown to reduce the frequency of hot flashes by 70% after five weeks, and 80% after continued practice.
Hypnotherapy has also been shown to help improve sleep quality and feelings of anxiety.
Counseling
While menopause doesn’t need to be scary, it’s OK to not feel OK! Hormone fluctuations at this time can affect your mood, so it’s not uncommon to experience anxiety or depression at this stage of life.
Around 20% of women experience feelings of depression during menopause and many more experience anxiety.
If you’re feeling like menopause is getting the better of you, not the other way around, then it can be a good idea to seek out counseling or talk to your doctor⸺they can be a big help.
Also know that you are not alone in feeling like this. Oprah has said of her experiences, “Suddenly my attitude toward most things was “whatever.” I wasn’t vibrant. My whole world dulled down a couple of notches.”
After speaking to her doctor, she found management tools that helped her to see her world, “returned to technicolor.”
The Wrap Up
The time leading up to menopause can feel scary. Symptoms can include hot flashes, insomnia, weight gain, and brain fog. In the past, women have managed this natural change privately. But with an estimated 47 million women reaching menopause each year we have a lot to gain by normalizing this experience. Aside from tackling the social stigmas around the menopause experience, we can also improve our journey by managing our symptoms and reducing their impact on our life.
References
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Kulkarni J, Gavrilidis E, Hudaib AR, Bleeker C, Worsley R, Gurvich C. Development and validation of a new rating scale for perimenopausal depression-the Meno-D. Transl Psychiatry. 2018;8(1):123. Published 2018 Jun 28. doi:10.1038/s41398-018-0172-0
Obama M, Episode 3: What Your Mother Never Told You About Health with Dr. Sharon Malone, The Michelle Obama Podcast, Updated August 2020, Accessed 6 October 2021. https://open.spotify.com/show/71mvGXupfKcmO6jlmOJQTP
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