Friend to me recently: “How do I approach talking about menopause to my wife without having my head bitten off?”

He wanted to know how he could best suggest to his wife that she would benefit from reading my content and learn more about life before, during and after menopause.

Ohhhhhhhhhh. Interesting I thought. Lots to unpack here! 😜

We had a chat about where his wife was at in regards to her menopausal stage and worked out that given her age, what he knew about her periods and the symptoms he was aware of, that it was likely she was now postmenopausal. No, he didn’t think she would have spoken to her GP about it and no, she wasn’t taking any treatment.

Suffering silently.

For too long.

My heart broke. For her. For him. And for them as a couple.

And I fear this story is far too common.

Talking about menopause to your GP and not feeling heard.

I had another friend tell me this week that when she mentioned increased brain fog, memory lapses and concentration issues to her GP during an appointment, they suggested sending her for a cognitive assessment.

This is a woman who knows herself and her body really well, she’s done her research around perimenopause and menopause. She’s already been prescribed hormone therapy and was curious to know if her dose should be increased to help her manage her symptoms.

Not be sent for a cognitive assessment.

I had a similar experience which you can read about at the link <<here>>.

​​Education

There is so much work to be done to highlight and reduce the knowledge gap of GP’s, to bring conversation’s about menopause out into the open, to educate women so they can become more comfortable and aware and to help men support their partners.

I truly hope that we start to see some cultural and societal changes soon. I’m working madly behind the scenes on the education part!

In the meantime, talk to your partners, ask questions when you need to and stay stellar.