Hannah Charman’s Post

Transcript

I don't know whether you've seen any posts today regarding the article that came out on The Lancet website yesterday. Because it's causing quite a bit of debate and it's basically saying that perhaps there's a need now to step back with medicalizing menopause and have a bit more of a balanced approach to it. So, you know, a few people who are fairly high profile in the menopause world have jumped on this and given their responses, and I just wanted to offer my thoughts on it as well. So in short, I do absolutely agree with what The Lancet is saying. On the one hand, I think it's brilliant that we're all talking about menopause more and particularly it's impacting the workplace. But I do wonder if perhaps the the pendulum has swung too far the other way now, and it's becoming quite a frightening prospect for younger women who've yet to go through menopause, and for women who are going through it themselves. We are being constantly fed a kind of quite fearful narrative, particularly around post menopausal health, and how we're not going to make it safely, healthily and happily into old age unless we have some kind of treatment for it. But common sense, and, you know, my my background reading and my research tells me that, you know, there's more to it than that. And yes, estrogen as it drops, is a risk factor for things like dementia and heart disease. But there's a lot more to it than that. It's not the only factor and there are other things we can do. We also need to be mindful of those ladies who have been through cancer treatment for estrogen receptor cancers and are unable to take HRT and those ladies. More than anyone, I think, desperately need to know what's safe, effective alternatives that are out there. And getting that information to them isn't always easy because there are other narratives which overpower that. So you know, we need to, we need to be fair to everyone. We need to trust ourselves and each other to make the decisions that are right for us. And we need. A balance of information that will help us to do that. You know, there's a a thinking that well, it's not a natural transition, but I think it is. It's the undoing of our adolescence. And you know, we shouldn't be going through any pain or discomfort, but actually, you know, that's life. You know, we we do go through difficult times. Adolescents had its perks, I suppose, but it wasn't always pleasant. It's not always plain sailing for everyone. Neither is pregnancy. Neither is childbirth. And it's OK to be a little bit uncomfortable. The question is how uncomfortable we each prepared to become and what interventions we would like to use if it it becomes too much. So those are my thoughts on it. I would love to know how it lands with you. Please feel free to link to comment below and I will also post the link to that Lancet article as well. I will see you again soon. Bye.