"What we’re seeing is an incredible emergence of a for-profit industry associated with menopause"

[GoodOldEmmaNess]

Not sure why we need researchers to tell us this, since it should be flaming obvious to anyone how the menopause has been pushed and pushed to us all over the last few years as some sort of glitch in femaleness that makes us ALL go faulty in middle age.

It is so flaming regressive. Some women are ill as a result of menopause, and need proper medical help and support, but the menopause itself is not an illness.

Until just a few years ago, we fought against the idea that 'women of a certain age' were defined by their transition to a post-reproductive phase in their life. That was part of feminism. Now we are being sold a false narrative that seems to regard pathologising the menopause as a form of empowerment.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/mar/05/companies-portray-menopause-as-medical-problem-and-push-women-towards-ineffective-treatments-papers-find

Maybe media attempts at discussing menopause or advertising/advising on menopause should start with a disclaimer regarding conficts of interest and non-medical/medical background of the author(s), just like any author of a published scientific article.

Celebrities playing doctor and celebrity-status doctors, often advertising their own brand of products, or being sponsored by pharmaceutical/supplement companies, dominate the debate, and many seem to find pleasure in discrediting scientific data (and lack thereof), as if the lack of scientific data or a couple of flawed HRT studies justify potentially dangerous treatments.

This would definitely help women seeking unbiased evidence-based information.

This has been my point for some time. Menopause has been medicalised in a way that makes it look like an illness all women have. It's a massive pile-on to make profit out of women, who are 51% of the market. None of the stuff being pedaled has any use for most women - most of the stuff are placebos which 'might' make you feel better because you think it will! The real problems women have with menopause require visits to GPs not off-the-shelf remedies.

With bells on.

Dr Margaret McCartney who I hugely admire, wrote the Patient Paradox in which she describe the phenomenon of the 'Worried Well' in which she describes how huge portions of society are now conditioned to be worried about their health so they are vulnerable to health marketing that plays on their insecurities.

The flip side to this is just how HCP don't listen to patients and dismiss their symptoms as being nothing.

It leaves women in this void between the two, unsure who to trust and who really has their best interests at heart.

I do believe that for some women, HRT is quite honestly life changing and does make all the difference both in the short term for their mental health and in the long term for their physical health.

But for others its not the solution and I actually have deep concerns about them. I have at least three friends for whom HRT just isn't an option. What happens to them? They won't be prescribed by an NHS doctor for those reasons. But still could potential buy the drugs on line elsewhere quite legitmately.

The hype surrounding HRT means there is this risk. There isn't a a discussion about how you support women for whom its NOT suitable. Its one of those magic bullet theories.

It results in either women being deprieved of a drug thats pretty much going to ensure their well being or at the other end of the extreme, being exploited for something which is whole unsuited for their needs. And fuck all understnading or options in between.

In every situation women are screwed over.

@RedToothBrush

"It leaves women in this void between the two, unsure who to trust and who really has their best interests at heart."

This link from The Lancet (March issue) has 4 free articles (+ editorial) on menopause and some other interesting ones including Richard Horton's comment "Offline - Towards Shangri-La" on trust.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)00462-8/fulltext

You can buy oestradiol cream or pessaries over the counter from a pharmacy (Vagifem).

you can, but you still have to talk to the pharmacist (quite rightly)
Just woman up and go and speak to the doctor, then you will get it free

Menopause is the beginning of proper sickness and death for women. Ofc we should medicate the arse out of it.