I'm a journalist critical thinking my way through my own perimenopause.
In searching for good information, balance and context for myself, the Substack I publish on the subject, various social media accounts, and the interviews and solo episodes I do on this podcast, sometimes I just get floored at the things I see and hear on social media and in traditional media about menopause.
The reality is, I interview doctors all the time and they are knowledgeable and doing good work and passionate and all over the world, and they are also all over the place on the basics, and have loads of blind spots.
But you wouldn't know that to look at social media.
The research is scant, considering half of women go through peri/menopause, and I just don't think as a journalist and a researcher there is room for this much certainty.
Hence, this episode.
As always: listen to the disclaimer at the end: this is not health advice.
Among the things I talk about here:
• the promise of HRT for prevention of dementia and cardiovascular disease vs the literature
• doctors menopause gurus on social media
• what 'medical gaslighting' actually is vs what people on social media are saying it is
• the missing conversation about autoimmune disorders vis-a-vis peri/menopause
• my own ongoing issues accessing hormone therapy from doctors in the Middle East
• the importance of going beyond menopause as an explanation for why more women experience dementia (and a host of other issues) than men
• asking why people get bejiggity about progesterone
• scary, uninformed yet appealing-to-the-masses influencers
• going from raising awareness about perimenopause to terrifying women – and is that better?
• an argument for the low and slow approach
• questioning the narrative that this isn't supposed to be happening
Studies referenced:
Global consensus testosterone position statement
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism
HRT for symptoms or prevention of dementia and cardiovascular disease
Menopause: The Journal of the North American Menopause Society 2022
Circulation, the Journal of the American Heart Association 2023
Alzheimers.org.UK
Progestogens + breast cancer risk
Plos Jou
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SOLO: Things I'm concerned about