"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?

Here’s another poster who feels the same

maybe the rude pp could help post useful stuff rather than berating people

typical though

I think you were very clear.

'maybe the rude pp could help post useful stuff rather than berating people'

It is a definite theme on hrt threads. Someone points out peope like Davina are stating things as fact like protects against dementia when no such evidence exists and we get told to Google. We do, it's all conflicting and that is the problem.

I’m starting to wonder if these threads are targeted by invested people

if a question re dementia is that problematic

otherwise it’s very odd

Yes brain fog can be an issue too.

From the Alzheimer’s Society website

Studies looking at whether replenishing oestrogen levels using HRT can reduce women's risk of dementia have been inconclusive and contradictory. For example, some studies of women who were already using HRT during menopause found that their risk of dementia was lower than those not on HRT. However, other studies found no strong evidence for this. There is some evidence that HRT may even increase dementia risk. Clinical trials looking at the use of HRT to treat Alzheimer's disease in women, rather than prevent it, did not show any beneficial effects on cognition.

Until there is better evidence, the potential benefits of HRT as a way to reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease do not outweigh the potential risks of HRT, which includes an increased risk of certain types of cancer, heart disease and stroke

www.alzheimers.org.uk/about-dementia/risk-factors-and-prevention/hormones-and-dementia

Yes brain fog can be an issue too.

what for you do you mean? Otherwise you’d be aware some things aren’t straight forward but still need research

not sure why you are having such an issue though

maybe the hot weather

Thank you

Finally a thread with info not just how dare you ask go Google

Your reluctance to Google and arm yourself with information about your own body is strange. Let's hope there are more educated women out there.

Ok get it out

I see how angry you must be

I don’t care. I now know the definitive statements below were not really correct

And maybe that’s how myths are built - definitive statements that can’t be questioned lest people get very annoyed

There are so many women posting on this thread who know very little about the facts of HRT. Read the guidelines! eg not knowing if you can stay on it for life etc. Take some responsibility for your own body and find out

There's not actually one consistent answer, which is the problem. So google will throw up no don't/ yes you can. On MN it feels like you've got to go on it and stay on it forever. There are risks to that.

Your reluctance to Google and arm yourself with information about your own body is strange. Let's hope there are more educated women out there

lol google isn’t the most reliable source of health information.

fwiw you can’t get much more educated than I am, and I have spend several years working in medical research.

but I am not up to date with HRT, “google” is not synonymous with research and you just end up spending hours trying to filter out anything sensible from the mountains of crap and opinion.

most people don’t have access to primary research in peer reviewed journals either.

asking other people how they have arrived at their conclusions is research. Collaboration with colleagues, asking them how they’ve reached their opinions is part of it.

if you use google as your main research tool you are likely not to reach a balanced, or correct opinion.

thank you @Blossomtoes

You’re more than welcome @Reallyreallyborednow 😘

Is it the heat making some people very cross? Or maybe the HRT isn't helping with the mood swings?

Yes agree with this and well put

it’s a shame people become so combative

It’s the heat. There’s a right old barney going on over that well worn chestnut of paying to prebook plane seats! The insults are really picking up pace!

Naa everyone’s a twat today.
its the heat.

that may just be my hormonal view of the world today though

At least I haven’t had any hot flashes today….or have I? Im basically a puddle of sweat at this point.

This is sort of how I feel - though from the very naive position of being pre-menopause, so I'm sure posters will (probably quite rightly) tell me how wrong I am. I've read so much and seen so much about menopause leaving women completely unable to function at work and I do sometimes feel like the message is that I'll never really be on my A-game at work again - as soon as I don't have children so young that they affect my work I'll be left useless by the menopause. I'm very grateful for the raised awareness, which I'm sure will make things much easier for me than for earlier generations of women, but it is a terrifying message and it doesn't make me feel like people would much want to invest in my career, or that of any other mother in her mid-30s, if all my good years have gone...

It hits some people hard and it's not predictable

But do the general healthy living things - it does seem to decrease the chances of you having a bad time

people who have a bad time usually can try HRT

So be aware, know what to ask about if needs be , but not scared

I had a hormonal condition called PMDD and had a total hysterectomy so was plunged into medical menopause overnight. I had a range of different oestrogen and testosterone HRT until I started having oestrogen and testo implants which I now only need changing once a year. (They are marvellous and I don't even think about HRT these days they just let me live my life!)

My Gynae is one of the world's best and a world expert on menopause and HRT and has patients that fly in from Italy and even the States sometimes for his services and he sits on various NHS boards and has had numerous papers published on HRT etc. He has patients in their 80s and 90s still on oestrogen for their bones and He knows his stuff.

I have BRCA1 & BRCA2 genes for breast cancer so was very worried about inflaming the risk of cancer through HRT and he has told me many times they now know HRT does NOT increase the risk of breast cancer and that it staves off dementia even in women who have a genetic predisposition to it (my Dad had Alzheimer's so this was fantastic news for me)

I would strongly urge any woman who is suffering to get bio-identical HRT. Our bodies naturally produced oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone before meno so why anyone assumes you don't need those 'adding back' baffles me. If one type doesn't agree with you try another, there's loads of different gels, patches, pellets, tablets and implants.

I never understand why women seem to wear suffering as a badge, you really don't need to suffer at all. If you sail through menopause without it then that's fantastic but if you're not then please don't suffer. Either way your body still needs oestrogen.

I expected to ‘sail through’ menopause had no worries as I’m fit, slim, healthy eater, don’t drink etc.

I suffered years of drenching night sweats, chronic insomnia and anxiety before I went on HRT. The nights were a living hell and I wanted to die just to end the misery.
The peak age for suicide in women is between the ages 50 and 54 (6.4 deaths per 100,000 in 2016) and I can’t help thinking that menopause plays a part.

If you sail through menopause without it then that's fantastic but if you're not then please don't suffer. Either way your body still needs oestrogen

so your consultant thinks all women should be on hrt? What’s his name and I’ll have a read of his papers.

Our bodies naturally produced oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone before meno so why anyone assumes you don't need those 'adding back' baffles me

pre puberty though our bodies didn't have these hormones, so why do we need them adding back when it is clearly possible to function well without..

No, doubtful menopause plays any statistically significant role at all because suicide risk for men and women both peak at the same ages and men have 3x the risk women do:

”Males aged 45 to 49 years had the highest age-specific suicide rate (27.1 deaths per 100,000 males); for females, the age group with the highest rate was also 45 to 49 years, at 9.2 deaths per 100,000.”
www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/suicidesintheunitedkingdom/2018registrations

Its been well documented for decades that middle age is when our unhappiness as humans peaks. It’s more to do with realising you’re likely more than half way through your life and that is also the age when over half of people develop chronic health conditions/mobility limiting disabilities.