The more you know the more you don’t know. That’s been true for almost any ‘beat’ I’ve taken on in life, from Ottawa City Hall to midlife and menopause. In a recent WhatsApp chat, women’s health expert and author Lara Briden expressed her frustration at how confused we all seem to be on the basic matter of what to call things.
And why it’s important that we name them correctly.
I couldn’t agree more, or think of a better topic to share with you during the first Perimenpause Awareness Month. And I guess considering 10 years ago I didn’t know what perimenopause was, it’s not surprising that we are still sorting this stuff out.
Here’s Lara:
Menopause — also called post-menopause— is the life phase that begins one year after the final period or cycle.
Perimenopause is the two to 10 years leading up to menopause or post-menopause. In other words, the time of transition leading up to the one year after the final period.
The menopause transition means exactly the same thing as perimenopause, which is the two to 10 years leading up to the one year after the final period. This is where the confusion comes in. The shortening of the phrase “the menopause transition” to just “the menopause” is how menopause mistakenly became the word for the perimenopausal transition years, especially in the UK.
That conflation of terms is very unfortunate because women hear that symptoms occur during “menopause”. At the same time, they hear they’ll be in “menopause” for the rest of their lives. No wonder they’re freaked out!
I really wish the international bodies would provide clear guidance around which terms to use for the transition phase + life phase:
a) perimenopause + menopause
b) the menopause transition + post-menopause
For more on this:
>> See endocrinologist and researcher Dr Jerilynn Prior’s article Naming Women’s Midlife on Menoclarity
>> Follow Lara’s Instagram and blog
>> Read my article Clarifying WTF we are talking about here
Are you confused about what we call this? I’d love to hear in the comments.
SCIENCE STUFF
SEX: The Kinsey Institute at Indiana University teamed up with the Lovehoney Group (the company that produces the Womanizer vibrator) for some research. They have released early results on the benefits of masturbation for managing symptoms of menopause. Of 1,500 women surveyed, 36.2 percent reported that their symptoms improved.
HOT FLASHES: Women with higher levels of activity in the specialized fat that helps regulate body temperature, aka their brown adipose tissue (BAT), were three times more likely to experience hot flashes, according to researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. biological anthropologist Lynnette Sievert, the paper’s principal investigator, told Technology Networks Cell Science that the relationship between BAT activation and hot flashes is ‘a brand-new direction of research’. The study, involving 270 women between 45 and 55 published in the American Journal of Human Biology, also found that women exposed to cold as children were more likely to experience hot flashes as adults. This builds on previous findings suggesting that our individual ‘thermoneutral zone’ is set in childhood. So many questions: What does ‘childhood cold exposure’ even mean? Is BAT activity bad, and if so, what can you do about it?
VAGINA STUFF: After analyzing 11 ,993 citations and 46 randomized controlled trial, a meta-analysis of prescription-medication treatments for genitourinary syndrome of menopause published in the Annals of Internal Medicine concludes: “Vaginal estrogen, vaginal DHEA, oral ospemifene, and vaginal moisturizers may improve some GSM symptoms in the short term. Few long-term data exist on efficacy, comparative effectiveness, tolerability, and safety of GSM treatments.”
“HRT is real and can be great, but it’s not something you take a Cosmo type quiz to choose your VERY specific, sometimes complicated needs... mine involved two specialists, observation and bloodwork.”
Neko Case, American singer-songwriter, on Instagram
NEWSLINKSNEWSLINKSNEWSLINKS
Most people have no idea what the hormonal fluctuations of perimenopause can do to their mouth
Millennials are super anxious about the ‘millenopause’: report
Over in Australia, the Senate inquiry into the current state of perimenopause and menopause has 25 recommendations. They cover everything from the workplace to classifying hormone therapy and include creating a national awareness campaign, putting menopause into the school curriculum and requiring it to be taught in medical school.
Scottish television presenter and menopause investigator Kirsty Wark (she had a sudden, surgical menopause at 47) investigates the business of menopause in the UK in The Menopause Industry, a documentary dropping on BBC One’s Panorama. She’s tackling the typical – menowashing products, for example – but the promo also says this: “While many women struggle to access the support they need through the NHS, a growing number are choosing to seek help privately. Panorama examines the prescribing practices at an online clinic run by one of the world’s most successful menopause specialists and hears from former patients who feel they were not properly informed of the risks of treatment.” (I wonder what that could be about?) The programme is screening September 30 and looks to be available online shortly after.
Amy Schumer, Connie Britton, Brandi Chastain, Meena Harris, Sheryl Sandberg, Tekendra Mawakana and Tory Burch have pitched in for Midi Health’s latest funding round.
Clarissa Kristjansson wrapped up her Thriving Thru Menopause podcast this week, chatting to The Wiser Woman’s Tania Elfersly. Highly recommend a listen, not just because these women are my colleagues in MenoClarity, but because it’s important to listen to a variety of perspectives on this transition. I also loved Clarissa’s Substack piece this week, The Yard Sale of Our Lives.
Are you, like me, rethinking everything you ever thought about your body? Then check out this IG post by women’s weight loss expert (and man) Jaymie Moran and be prepared to get very, very angry.
Podcast
Meet Joe Sealey and find out how a former footballer became the Menopause Man of TikTok. (Hint: It has something to do with The Real Housewives of Cheshire)
Events
UAE: First GCC Menopause Summit at Dubai’s Museum of the Future (I’ll be there - watch IG for a ticket giveaway)
US: 2nd Life Annual Pause Festival in NYC
UK: Equity in Menopause Festival October 18 at London’s Holland House.
Editor’s note
I didn’t sleep for three nights before, during and after the full super moon this week. The fourth night I slept like a teenager and felt like a rock star. I don’t need a wearable to tell me what was going on, either.
It’s little reminders like these that keep me secure in the knowledge that while I don’t know what I don’t know, and that is a whole lot, one thing I am absolutely sure of is that we are so much more than hormones.
AMx
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