"Doctors warn against over-medicalising menopause"

[flashbac]

"Writing in the British Medical Journal they said there was an urgent need for a more realistic and balanced narrative which actively challenges the idea that menopause is synonymous with an inevitable decline in women’s health and wellbeing..."

www.theguardian.com/society/2022/jun/15/doctors-warn-against-over-medicalising-menopause-after-uk-criticism

I must admit, the raising awareness of how shit the menopause can be has created some worry about my impending menopause, so much so that I've decided against a career change in my 40s.

Are we making too much of a big deal and being overly negative? Or are these doctors just being patronising? Anyone had an easy menopause?

No, we're not. We are pointing out there is no indication from any largescale study over the last 30-odd years that would suggest HRT is a preventive for dementia. Different smallscale observational studies are inconclusive or contradictory with regard to preventing or enhancing dementia risk.

Just saw a Twitter post from Warwick Uni about research they are doing into meno looking for women to take part - I am trying to paste a link but it isn’t working from Twitter. Sarah Hillman clinical lecturer and other letters after her name has put out the call.

It outlines that hrt ‘helps with long term health matters such as osteo and heart health’. Also women who are ‘less well off’ are more likely to suffer from symptoms but also not to take hrt. It seems to be in assoc with nhs etc so yes! More research is definitely happening.

I know… this goes round in circles

Fine. Don’t take it. Your choice.

And that’s what it’s about. Women having a choice and access to medicine that can help them. If you choose to believe outdated studies that have been shown to be flawed then fine. Nobody is forcing HRT on you.

From the many more recent studies I have read I am happy to take it when the time comes. I believe it can be hugely beneficial in many areas.
That’s my choice and finally we are getting more info in this area.

Fine. Don’t take it. Your choice.

What are you on about?

Yes, it is about choice. Informed choice. Not telling women HRT will protect them from dementia when there’s no firm evidence that it will.

There’s lots of studies out there saying different things unfortunately. If you’re waiting for firm conclusions in this area you’ll be waiting a very long time.

Meanwhile, those who are suffering debilitating symptoms should be offered choice and information. It really is up to the individual. That’s what is quite tricky. Even my GP told me it’s up to me. So off I go to do shit loads of research and reading as the consensus isn’t there.

The BMJ article really is undoing all the good work in this area that has happened only just recently. It’s like going backwards in time.

The BMJ article really is undoing all the good work in this area that has happened only just recently. It’s like going backwards in time.

It isn’t. It’s offering another perspective. Inconvenient in an echo chamber.

It’s not as though it’s been a balanced argument for the past 20 years though is it?

Women fighting to be listened to, given antidepressants and sent away.

Let's face it - dementia isn't the reason women take HRT. It is the here and now things that are affecting them on a daily basis ( or not as the case may be). I don't want to have thinning hair and skin, an atrophied fanny and a prolapsed leaky bladder with constant UTIs. My choice is therefore to take HRT and have been for years. I'm happy people are talking about it because I knew very little about it until it hit me. It was never mentioned by my Mother or Grandmother. I don't think there is anything working with talking about it.

Sorry - cut off again...Anything WRONG with talking about it .....We talk about mental health or diabetes or autism - should none of this happen as it scares people? Would you not prepare your daughter for periods or just leave her to wonder what the hell is happening as happened to me at 11?

'again...Anything WRONG with talking about it .....'

Of course there isn't anything wrong with talking about it but women should be allowed fo voice their concerns without someone barking 'take it or don't take it, your choice'. It is our choice but again with such conflicting info it is no wonder women don't know what to do. For example is thinning hair and an atrophied fanny as you put it really that bad to increase your risk of really serious illness in years to come, stuff far far worse than thinning hair and an atrophied fanny.

It is a dilemma for many women and there isn't anything wrong with chatting about it on a chat forum.

Absolutely nothing wrong with talking about it - unless you are the authors of the article this thread is about, apparently.

It's how you prepare people

We have swung from the great unmentionable to oh my you need to know about this it will be so bad

At the moment it's like saying we should all go on metaformin even if we have no diabetes symptoms , it's like saying everyone will get diabetes

Women go through menopause and experience it very differently from dreadful and debilitating to fantastic and freedom

All the stories need to be told not just the women leaving work and needing to buy incontinance pads

And if lifestyle factors do influence what it's like we should know - just like with diabetes.

actually, it would very much be the reason I took it, if I were convinced that it was going to help!!

I have no bad symptoms at the moment, other than a few hot flushes and very few periods, although I suppose some of the other things like really sore feet or various other things that I just put up with as part of getting older might be symptoms. I don't particularly plan on taking it, unless the results of my recent dexa scan show I need to for bone density reasons, but I would seriously consider it if it were thought to help prevent dementia. Of course my symptoms might well get worse when periods stop totally, and I'd consider it for those reasons then, but at the moment, dementia really is the main thing I'd be considering it for.

And it sounds like it's not a researched enough thing to be able to say that yes I should take it for that, for the case of familial Alzheimers at least. That's why i'm hoping that more evidence will be forthcoming eventually.

I personally am not going to worry about a few years extra sitting in a nappy in a care home and everyone has their own choice ( no barking there) . The medical research is as it is currently. I see women on here who seem to want some certainties about HRT - you don't get this and you don't get it with any medical treatment. As I have said on here numerous times it really is only up to a person and the medical professionals they consult. It is certainly interesting to talk.

I had my hysterectomy well over 20 years ago. My doctor talked me all through about HRT, I decided not to have it at the point and as I got no symptoms I never had it but I can't say it wasn't balanced 20plus years ago. I was offered it, I was told about the plus and minus points. Just because there weren't TV programmes about it doesn't mean there wasn't information. Unless my GP was a one off which I doubt because he wasn't all that great, pretty hopeless with my hypothyroidism which he missed and the nurse practitioner diagnosed.

Bot I’m similar to you

None of it scares me, I’m glad it’s a topic that has awareness, if symptoms get worse I’ll ask for it

On this thread the definitive statements re dementia etc were what I wanted clarification on

Luckily a fair few posters have provided good information, past the initial reactions

That’s where all the indications of HRT preventing osteoporosis come from…and people are happy to discount the higher breast cancer risks it found but equally happy to believe the lower fracture risks (osteoporosis protection) it found.

I am on the other side of menopause and except for a couple of hot flashes I never had any symptoms (bracing for the onslaught). Maybe I was just too busy raising 5 sons born within 5.5 years to notice. LOL

But no one makes programmes saying you will get autism (can you get autism?) or you will develop mental health problems, with diabetes with type 2 there is information about how to avoid it which is good.

I think the issue with menopause at the moment is it does seem like a scare story and people on here have said it has scared them. Nothing wrong with preparing people for possibilities but give them the other side as well, no more period pains, no more periods, no more contraception, no more PMT or whatever.

I don't know if you are meaning this to be funny but it certainly isn't and menopause symptoms are not confined to women who are not busy - are you suggesting they have nothing else to think about? @momtoboys

Admit it - you ran out of advantages @ancientgran 😂

I’m not sure what you are saying but I meant no disrespect to anyone or their menopause symptoms.