to find it unnecessary to blame the menopause for needing a dog to get out of the house?

Well social media has partly led to a huge shift in sharing personal details and there’s certainly a gender dimension to this.

One argument is that women are more altruistic and so prepared to make themselves more vulnerable by sharing personal information (eg menopause sysmptoms) in order to benefit other women. And of course media of all types (digital, TV etc) further incentivise sharing with clicks and views.

Men are less likely to talk openly about their vulnerabilities to benefit either themselves or others. And as we live in a patriarchy, where most decision makers, legislators, leaders and bosses are men, that’s the respected norm.

Edit - this is a reply to @SoNiceToComeHomeTo ’s observation

Yes actually I do think more awareness needs to be raised about male aging issues too, having had a relative die very painfully from prostate cancer because he thought his symptoms were just part of getting older.

If you're of a sensitive enough disposition that talking about natural body changes and functions upsets you, that's entirely a you problem.

Isn’t that what that Grumpy Old Men movie was about?

And many men die of prostate cancer because they think that needing to urinate more often us just 'getting older'. I've worked with men who only went to their GP when it was far too late. Actually talking about ' sensitive' issues might well save lives.

Only if they're idiots.

only very stupid people.

Here's a quick list, off the top of my head, of things SOME people experience but that, when I hear about it, I don't assume ALL people in that situation will experience.

Hair loss during chemotherapy
PND after a difficult birth
Sore throat with Covid
Negative reactions to certain skincare products
Significant PMS in teenagers including cramps, bloating, irritablity

It's fashionable now to talk in detail about the menopause and this is correcting a very long bias towards pretending it isn't happening or making a joke of it. Maybe the openness has gone a bit far, I think it has sometimes, but it will probably rebalance eventually.

I’m not really comfortable with the public oversharing. I’m also a bit confused as to why there is a constant push to make everything private public. It seems any kind of modesty or privacy is under attack with people claiming it’s natural and we should all be more open. Men however get to keep things private

No, only the hard of thinking.

Did the dog program say "all women get anxiety due to menopause"?

That's the crux - any woman who wants HRT should get it. First time of asking, not having to make repeated appointments and get increasingly stroppy and having to practically demand it. Or buy it from an online pharmacy because your GP doesn't believe in it.

Would also love to know how CBT can help with vaginal atrophy and repeated UTIs.

Maybe just stop watching shit TV? Seems like that'd solve all your problems.

I truly don't understand why a woman sharing that she's getting a dog due to menopause related anxiety is any different to any of the other reasons people give on that show. It wouldn't be a very interesting matchmaking show if everyone just rocked up like "no reason really, just want a dog" would it?

Not wishing to bang on about it but, my MIL had an horrendous menopause. She bled constantly, couldn't leave the house, her husband and daughter (!) were really unsympathetic. She went to her GP who told her to just get on with it as it was natural. She ended up in hospital, anaemic with pneumonia.
I didn't have that bad a time, and did take hrt for a while. I did make my mind up that, if I was as bad as she was, I would just sit in the doctors until they took me seriously.

Good article. On balance though I've decided HRT is right for me, and as the article says, any woman who wants it should get it. I did herb tea and sage for a couple of years to no avail.

I am actually qualified in CBT and can't imagine working with a client to use it to lessen hot flushes.

Thank you for that. It's an excellent article.

@Lentilweaver but that's kind of my point - these supplements are successful because women are fobbed off by their doctors constantly and told it can't be menopause or they're too young or they need to have certain symptoms.

If men went through the menopause they wouldn't be forced to self-medicate with supplements.

Mate, if someone's on a TV show then they're oversharing, full stop. Who cares?

I agree. I’m not there yet but it’s really only in the last few years I’ve had any concept of what is looming - and that’s only because women discuss it now.

I remember a few muttered conversations between my mother and her friends who used terms like “ time of life” and a friend’s mum had a hysterectomy. But that generation really didn’t mention it and now, ironically, seem to have amnesia that it ever happened to them.

I’m hugely grateful to those women a half decade or so ahead of me who have demystified it. I’d honestly have had very little concept. I thought you got one or two massive periods like cleaning out the fridge before a long holiday then it all dried up. Done and dusted as an event over a couple of months not a process over years.

Your posts are getting more and more incoherent and silly now. Are you always this weirdly black and white in your thinking? If someone says, "here are three ideas that might help you" do you regualrly think tha tmeans they are telling you that you MUST do all three of those ideas, even if they aren't right for you?

The Lancet calling for a balanced conversation on menopause. www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)00462-8/fulltext