As regular as Medical Forum arriving in thousands of WA letterboxes each month, so is the menstrual period for women – an event that will span across their lives for 40 years or more.
And when their periods eventually taper off, marking the end of their reproductive life, it can be highly liberating for many women – no more tampons or pads on the grocery list!
While menopause is a biologically inevitable event, the part that is not a given is how it impacts on a woman’s physical and mental wellbeing.
The experience is highly variable, with some women gliding through that life stage, barely aware of their giant hormone reshuffle and grateful that their periods have come to an end.
For others – research suggests one in three midlife women – menopause is life-altering, but not in a good way, with symptoms so severe they struggle to get out of bed or even string together a sentence. This can last for several years.
This month, we look at how the conversation around menopause and hormone treatments is still not clear-cut, even among health experts.
This month, we look at how the conversation around menopause and hormone treatments is still not clear-cut, even among health experts.
Some argue that the recent release of a series of opinion papers in The Lancet, which collectively argued that menopause is over-medicalised, has further muddied the water.
The call now is for fewer population surveys (do we really need them, still?) and less use of language that perpetuates the myth that women should just follow a healthy lifestyle and “get on with it.”
If doctors can’t agree on the use of menopause hormone therapy, how confusing must it be for their patients.