(Laura Dowrich-Phillips) Thanks to social media, menopause is finally getting its day in the sun.
From Tik Tok to Facebook, women are using these platforms to shed light on an issue that affects all women but is still misunderstood by many.
Even celebrities are getting in on the conversation with Oprah Winfrey staging a recent seminar on the topic to help women understand menopause and how to treat it.
Locally, a group of friends in Trinidad decided to establish a group on Facebook where women can share their menopause stories and journey and find a community to cope with its many symptoms.
The group, Women Warriors and Menopause provides a space where women can share their symptoms, get advice and find resources to educate them on everything from diet to treatments. The public group was formed on March 7 and has over 200 members.
“This group is a group of Holy Name Convent past pupils and we decided to give back to society and what is the one thing we have in common? We are all basically around the same age, we all grew up together. We were talking about all the things that are happening to us and I was the first one who really started to experience the symptoms of Menopause and I said, you know, I am not seeing anything in Trinidad that talks about this specifically so let us form a group where we can talk about it,” said Gillian Trumpet.
“We want the public to be aware of what is going on with the woman in society and the strength that we have because despite all 101 symptoms of menopause, we still get up and go out there and we endure,” she added.
Natasha Nunez, co-host of the radio programme Eye on Dependency and one of the co-founders of the group, said while they had their own internal support system, they made the group public to provide support to other women as most of them had no idea what menopause meant.
“It is not a discussion we have with our mothers or aunts. So our objective really I think is to raise awareness that this is something that you will more than likely go through and how do you identify the symptoms and what are the treatment options available today,” she said.
One of the main challenges, the women said, is getting diagnosed.
Many women simply arrive at the conclusion that they are menopausal based on their age and whatever a Google search throws up. There is also uncertainty about how it is supposed to be diagnosed and whether it is done by a GP or a gynaecologist.
Trumpet said she determined her diagnosis from a Google search.
Trumpet, who suffered from fibroids and cysts, had a hysterectomy three years ago at the age of 47. While hysterectomies result in early menopause, Trumpet said she was experiencing symptoms before but had no idea that they were related to that.
Her symptoms included chronic fatigue, nausea, depression, cold sweats and hot flashes.
“I just decided one day to Google the symptoms of menopause,” she said.
Nunez, 48, said she has never officially been diagnosed but assumed from her symptoms and her age that she is going through perimenopause, the phase just before menopause kicks in.
“I started experiencing symptoms about four or five years ago. I went through a period of extreme loss. I lost my parents and lost three of my beloved cats. I was seeing a therapist and I was experiencing some depression and anxiety during that period. I don’t know if that was linked to some of the symptoms but when I did realise that maybe this is it, that is when I started reading up on some of the other symptoms,” she said, revealing that she also started to experience hair loss.
“I was experiencing brain fog too. All of a sudden, I would just lose my train of thought or I would walk into a room and don’t know what I going there for. My husband would tell me something this morning and by afternoon I would forget. Then there are mood swings, one minute you know you feel happy and good and the next minute you just see something or hear something and you fly into a rage. Those things I started to notice. Although I haven’t experienced the hot flashes yet I still believe to this day even though I haven’t been diagnosed yet that I am in perimenopause,” she said.
The women said since knowledge among physicians seem to be limited, they tend to treat individual symptoms rather than see them as a byproduct of menopause.
Nunez recalled going to a health centre to seek a diagnosis for her symptoms and the doctor dismissed her suggestion about menopause because she was not experiencing hot flashes.
Instead, the doctor diagnosed her symptoms and prescribed medication for each one.
“You have to help your doctor help you,” said Trumpet, noting that another aim of the group is to encourage women to go to their doctors.
“You have to know the correct questions to ask your doctor, have that discussion about Hormone Replacement Therapy, and have that discussion about what’s going on with your ovaries and what is still viable.”
“And your medical history too,” added Nunez. “If you had a hysterectomy, if you had children or not, or if you have cancer in your family.”
During menopause, the body produces less estrogen which can result in many issues in the body such as osteoporosis, high cholesterol, vaginal dryness, hot flashes, night sweats, headaches and heart palpitations.
“As your body ages you go through all sorts of things but for women, we are not taught how vital estrogen is in our body and all the things it helps to keep lubricated and working,” Nunez said.
Describing the effects of menopause as disorienting, Nunez said it does have a debilitating effect on women and their social life and career.
“You have to have people who understand and being in a work environment people do not understand and they don’t care,” said Trumpet.
“I have to will myself to get up on a morning, will myself to get off the bed and to put on clothes and start the day and I keep asking God what did Eve do that was so bad that we have to suffer for our entire lives?” she asked.
Trumpet said part of speaking about her experience in the group is to prepare her daughter for what she can expect.
In October, for World Menopause Day, the ladies plan to engage in activities such as a Peace Walk to sensitise the public and let women know there is help out there. Last Thursday, they hosted two Trini-born filmmakers who screened a short film about the revelations of black menopausal people in the United Kingdom. (Loop News).
