MASTERING MENOPAUSE
Advice on everything from medication to mental health
Across the country, women are navigating a wide range of menopausal symptoms – with little or no support. We call in the experts, and ask, what do women need to know to get through this life stage?
The menopause is one of the biggest events in any woman’s life and yet it is also one of the least talked about. Most women cope with this confusing rite of passage by keeping quiet or making a joke of it. It doesn’t help, of course, that it occurs at one of the busiest stretches of a woman’s life. According to Annemarie Byrne, a nutritional therapist and coach, “Most of the women who come to me have the foot on the pedal. They have young kids, a career, ageing parents who need care. Stress levels are high. They are slow to realise they are in this period of change because they are last on their own list.”
“Why do we know so little? Menopause should be taught in schools. This is a huge event in a woman’s life. It’s also inevitable. It will happen to you, so why don’t we know more?”
Loretta Dignam is the founder of The Menopause Hub, a clinic for women going through the menopause that offers, among other things, GP assessments, nutritional guidance, physio and acupuncture.
“I give menopause education and awareness training in the workplace and when I present the 40-odd symptoms women can get during the menopause, I see women connect the dots often for the first time. Because most know about hot sweats and loss of periods, but how many of us know about anxiety, panic attacks, joint pain, brain fog and memory loss? They are hugely relieved when they understand what’s going on because many of them thought they were going mad.”
Why do we know so little? “We are simply not educated about it,” says sexologist Emily Power Smith. “It should be taught in schools. This is a huge event in a woman’s life. It’s also inevitable. It will happen to you so why don’t we know more?” In her experience, women don’t seek help until the symptoms have become overwhelming. This is why Annemarie likes to catch women in their late thirties. “Catch them later, and they tell me they don’t have time for self-care. And then
I have to tell them that getting out of the downward spiral is going to take a lot more time than the self-care ever would have done.”
But attitudes are changing. Last year, Vodafone announced its own employee commitment on the menopause, providing awareness training, sick leave and flexible hours. And there was the Joe Duffy show. Since it covered the menopause over five days in
May 2021, menopause clinics and mentors around the country have found themselves inundated with calls. And this September 25th sees The Menopause Success Summit, a live online event featuring some of the top menopause experts (menopausesuccesssummit.com).
So what do you need to know? “Don’t suffer in silence,” says Loretta. “Get the right help from the right people.” With this in mind, we’ve assembled some of Ireland’s leading voices...
“I went into menopause early. I was very unwell with anxiety. I also had chronic tinnitus, migraine with an aura and body pain. At 37, I got night sweats. Looking back, I’m lucky I got them, because they were a real clue I was going through the menopause, even though my blood results weren’t showing anything. I lost four years of quality living, back and forth between doctors and specialists. This is why I do the work I do now, offering one to one mentoring, workplace talks, information sessions on Zoom. The suicide rate in women is at its highest at 51. That’s the average age a woman experiences menopause. I say to every woman who comes to me: educate yourself. Seek out evidence-based information and check out menopausedoctor.co.uk. One of the biggest myths is that women go through menopause. No they don’t. They go into menopause. Hormones drop in our thirties and they don’t come back. Everyone should know this and everyone should have the right to choose if they want to replace them. Find a GP who has an interest in the menopause and has received specialist training on the subject. Symptoms can get better. You can thrive.”
“Twenty-five per cent of women have debilitating menopausal symptoms. I say to women, never suffer in silence. Go to HR or speak out amongst colleagues in the same age group. Go together to HR. Say there is an issue in the organisation. Request awareness training. If you have an unsympathetic boss, judge the culture and its individuals, look for support in empathetic areas. This is a recruitment issue
– in the UK, ten per cent of women leave the workplace because of menopausal symptoms and even more consider it. Employers don’t want to lose female employees they have invested in, and increasingly I find they want to offer support. They might have a wife in a similar position or a mother that went through it – they want to get it. They know they need to start being menopause-friendly. I’d like to see flexible hours, lunch and learns, menopause champions in the workplace women can reach out to, access to cold water, rest rooms. People don’t realise what a big economic issue we are facing. Women are now living a third of their lives without oestrogen. They are more at risk of low bone density, dementia and heart disease and their health is declining. It’s time to take control.”
“Every woman’s needs are individual, so I don’t have a one-size-fits-all diet plan. I find a lot of the women who come to me are overdependent on caffeine, sugar and stimulants, so we work on that. I recommend a wholefood diet – less bread, more cruciferous veg – work on blood sugar levels, gut health. In terms of supplements, I find magnesium can be a gamechanger, while ashwagandha can be really helpful in times of stress. If there has been weight gain, I start with insulin. I recommend good fats, protein, carb restriction. I am also a fan of HRT.
It’s incredible the amount of women who tell me that their anxiety or depression began when they started menstruating. These women may have had a hormone imbalance their whole lives. Why is this whole area so under-researched? But it’s the coaching, not the diet plan, that really helps women get unstuck. The real change happens when the woman reconnects with herself, rediscovers her intuition and discovers for herself what her body truly needs.”