Can I ask you about menopause?

[Lavender14]

So was talking with my friends recently, we're all 35, and we realised that we all knew very little about menopause. So can I ask a few questions as I've heard it's different for everyone?

How did you know you were approaching menopause ?

How did the change affect you?

Did you have symptoms before full menopause (perimenopause)

Where did you get your information to know what treatments were available/ how to manage things?

I've read that some women get blood tests done, can anyone ask their gp for this?

I've been having some real hot flushes recently and pain in my joints but I'm on the mini pill so I don't get periods and it did make me wonder as we'd like another child in the next few years but I know some women go though it earlier than others. Just made me wonder what I should be watching out for!

Yes it varies between women. Just as pregnancy does. Just as child birth does. Just as child rearing does.
In the past women just got on with it, rather like they did in having 10 children. They didn’t have the luxury of nannies, childminders, white goods or any other help.
Times move on. Women are now part of the paid workforce and as such the menopause has a much more detrimental effect. I think working full time, in full view of others, makes a huge impact too especially if your employer isn’t particularly up to speed.

I don’t think this is very helpful advice.

HRT significantly reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis. Women on HRT were also shown to be significantly less likely to die of Covid during the pandemic. There are many, many reasons why HRT is a very good option for women and criticising others for “medicalising” the menopause is really unhelpful.

There are so many women out there who are trying to battle on without getting the help they need or feeling like they’ve failed because they’ve opted for HRT.

HRT is a brilliant intervention and women should be getting much better and more up to date advice about it than they are currently.

I agree it varies and now impacts paid work more.

However I take issue with your 'women in the past just coped' - some might have, others would have been carted off to the asylum, found their husbands ran off, etc. Or just had miserable lives, or foisted themselves on a daughter as a live-in granny and made her miserable. And many women today don't have nannies, can't afford to use washing machine much etc.

I don't think it's helpful to pretend people in the past were tough and today we're all pathetic creatures.

You have misunderstood my post. It was in response to those who appear to sneer at those who take HRT. There are women implying the menopause isn’t bad and what’s all the fuss about when in the past women didn’t moan about it, they just got on with it.
Well yes they did. However women weren’t made to work until they were 67 were they? Having to stand up in front of others and present a business meeting with sweat pouring from you and brain fog making you panic is hardly on a part with sitting on your backside in the comfort of your own living room. That’s the point I was making.

I’m mid peri now. My first signs were periods getting closer together and heavier. I wish I’d had the mirena coil years ago, instead of putting up with the bleeding and getting anaemic before I did anything.