Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Kathleen]

Hello ladies,

Did anyone hear the conversation about the menopause on BBC radio 5 Live this morning? I missed it but my husband heard it ( poor man, is if hearing me going on about the menopause 24/7 isn't bad enough ).

I wonder if it's worth trying to find it on catch up?

Take care ladies.

K.

[Dotty]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09llg6q#play

Starts at 2:48

[racjen]

Trouble with this is it's a 3 hour long programme and there's no way of knowing from that link when the menopause discussion is. I'll see if I can find anything more specific, cos I don't think I want to listen to 3 hours of 5live for 10 mins we probably already know about...

[Dotty]

I've put where to start....2:48

[racjen]

Do you mean 2 hours and 48 mins into the prog? Cos I just listened and according to my iplayer it starts at 1hr 26 mins, lasts for 7 mins.
Quite interesting - entirely focussed on how women going through the menopause might be helped in employment, based on a study by Dr. Clare Hardy of Kings College Hospital. But disappointingly it focusses entirely on the physical symptoms - hot flushes and night sweats, which although I realise are really horrendous for some women, are only a very small part of the story and kind of perpetuate the stereotype of the menopausal woman. I think far more needs to be said and publicised about the awful psychological effects of the menopause - the dreadful anxiety, endless depression, loss of confidence etc. which no-one out there ever talks about.

[dangermouse]

I think it’s because doctors only focus on menopause and not perimenopause when all the more debilitating and insipid symptoms occur. It’s all too vague and different for every woman so docs don’t seem to want to acknowledge it. Plus it isn’t just caused by low oestrogen, like in menopause, but can be more volatile hormonal fluctuations which they can’t do much about unless you get docs that think outside of the box (by prescribing high oestrogen to suppress the cycle etc.) I suspect most are too busy to though.

It would be good if peri was publicised more and it was mentioned that many women suffer worse then than at menopause. My docs certainly don’t acknowledge this to be true. They are all quite young though!

[Hurdity]

Actually I thought it was peri-menopause that is the more publicsied phenomenon - as in - many docs (and women) think once you've been through menopause ( ie end of peri) then all is stable and all is well and all symptoms disppear. I agree that the psychological symptoms need more emphasis - but mood swings due to dramatically fluctuating hormones are as often given publicity in the same way as hot flushes I would say? More GPs should know about cycle suppression through either high doses of oestrogen or the contraceptive pill (for women under 50) -  I agree too!

Hurdity x

[wombat62]

It's just not Peri....many ladies as we know from this forum continue to suffer for many years well after post. My hormones are still up and down in post, I'm too scared to come off HRT certainly whilst working as I'd be one long hot flush and no sleep.

There was an article online the other day about anxiety and weight gain and several ladies said they got hit by both in their 50's but none mentioned hormones, so perhaps this stuff is happening to women and they have no idea it's probably hormone related. If they weren't affected by hot flushes much, then they probably didn't connect it to hormones as everyone just thinks that is all it is.

I had no idea oestrogen played such a wider part in our functioning until I joined this site! Nature is so cruel sometimes and obviously it's not keeping up with our lives today! Maybe women of the future whilst juggling young families (later pregnancies), the oldies, work, etc maybe meno might hit later or maybe they'll finally come up with a wonder drug without the risks.