How will you change after menopause? Studies show that most women don’t know the answer. It’s the not knowing that leads to fear and worry for so many women.
To make things worse, many doctors don’t diagnose menopause as the cause of the variety symptoms their patients are experiencing.
It’s not surprising. Menopause symptoms are confusing because they happen gradually in stages over time. Balanced hormone levels become progressively more and more unbalanced, and the increasing unbalance creates the increasingly changing menopause symptoms.
That leads to the three phases of menopause: before or perimenopause, during or menopause and post menopause.
What makes menopause even more difficult is that many women don’t want to talk about it. They worry that it carries a negative stigma that makes it taboo.
In one British survey of over 1,000 women, 96% responded that they felt unprepared for menopause and 29% responded that they felt overwhelmed or confused.
That is why so many women end up toughing out their menopause symptoms; 71% don’t want to discuss menopause with anyone, 58% don’t want to discuss it with their partner, and over one third don’t even feel comfortable talking about it with their friends. According to a 2018 survey by AARP Magazine, 42% of women ages 50-59 have never discussed their symptoms with their healthcare provider.
|
Menopause Symptoms interfere with their lives |
Most Common Symptoms |
Never discussed menopause with a healthcare provider |
|
84% |
50% Hot Flashes
42% Night Sweats 38% Vaginal dryness |
42% |
Modified from AARP survey of 400+ women ages 50-59 about menopause
Want to know how much your menopause symptoms are affecting you? Take this free 2-minute survey and find out: MenopauseQuiz.com.
In my next post we’ll discuss the menopause symptoms at each stage of menopause and some things to help you with your symptoms.
