INTRODUCTION

What score would you give your knowledge on menopause out of 10? So zero is nothing. You know absolutely nothing about it. You don't even have an idea what menopause is. 10 would be you know absolutely everything there is to know about menopause.

Welcome back to the podcast. Today we are going to be talking about education, knowledge, how much you really know about menopause. So if you've got an idea of what score you would give yourself, maybe you do know 10 out of 10. I specialize in menopause. I wouldn't say I'm 10 out of 10. There are still things that I don't know about, particularly

terms of the medical side and all the different drugs and all the different dosages. I know fairly well so I would say I'm up towards like the eight or nine maybe but there's certainly a lot more that I need to know and I want to know. But I was out walking the dog as I do every morning and this is always my time to think and then there was a nice

rainbow in the sky and I started singing Who Put the Colours in the Rainbow. Then I thought, ⁓ yeah, we used to sing that at school. And then I thought, actually, what are we taught in school about women's health in general? Now, all I can remember is sitting round and having like bits of paper that we chucked in a bucket and asking all of the funny questions about

sex and periods and so we certainly would taught about puberty. We would talk about periods, talk about being safe with our sexual intercourse, about conception maybe. I mean I did biology A level and GCSE. I don't even remember there being anything in there about menopause. Certainly there was things

covering, yeah, conception and genes and I'm not sure there may have been stuff about childbirth and things that we were shown over the years, but not once do I remember being told about menopause. Now if we're taught about periods, and puberty, we are taught about the start of everything, why aren't we taught about the finishing point?

of periods and the time after that.

WHAT WE WERE TAUGHT (AND NOT TAUGHT)

I did a degree in physio and we were taught lots of different things about elderly care, balance, we talked about neurology, respiratory. We had one session for one hour on childbirth and I remember that, that we had to pretend that one person was giving birth and the other one was trying to help them with their breathing and relaxation.

But there was nothing even at university about menopause. I don't think it was mentioned. The fact that I see many women coming to me with musculoskeletal problems, that's problems with bones and joints that are related to menopause, that wasn't even mentioned. They spoke about sports people and injuries there. They spoke about rheumatological conditions like...

rheumatoid arthritis or ankylosing spondylitis. There was a few things like that mentioned and something that affects over 50 % so I think it's 51 % of the population was not mentioned and the trouble is that doesn't even get covered very much in a doctor's qualifications either. So we're going to see all these doctors and GPs and unless they've done extra training in menopause

know very little and this is why it gets really frustrating.

There has been some studies done to see how much knowledge women really have. And over 90 % of perimenopausal women said they weren't taught about menopause or anything like this in school.

there many healthcare professionals that still don't feel confident supporting menopause. So there's no wonder that the women themselves are struggling.

WHY EDUCATION MATTERS

So why is education and knowledge around menopause important? Now we know that perimenopause can last anything up to around 10 years. Now that is a big chunk of women's lives struggling with these symptoms. And if we don't talk about it, if we don't have the knowledge about what's going on, then women can feel really unprepared. And when these symptoms start to show up,

then that can be really concerning. I've had women in the past that thought that they were getting dementia because they were getting brain fog and having issues with their memory, but actually it was perimenopause. There's another piece of research that has shown that actually the more education and the more knowledge that women have about perimenopause and postmenopause, it actually

reduces the severity of their symptoms and allows them to cope better. So at the very least, educating yourself or seeking that knowledge or ideally educating all of our healthcare professionals would help to support women better and help us have less severe symptoms. Things

are starting to change. So in the last four to five years there has been some things going through government to encourage them to include menopause education at school. Now this is going to happen but as with anything with government it takes a long time. So there is a 10-year government plan. So eventually they will be taught it at school.

but you've got the current generation going through perimenopause and the next few down that will be gradually coming towards it, they've had no education. And it's not always something that has been spoken about. Now, generations gone by, so like my grandma and previous generations of that, they didn't talk about it.

It often was, it wasn't a thing. I've heard people talk about that their parents or their grandparents used to make menopause cake, which I think was a flaxseed based cake. And they just used to take that and it used to help their symptoms. And then they just got on with it. Now, that's great, because actually flaxseeds is really good for menopause. But also in previous generations.

whether they actually had less severe symptoms or whether they just got on with it, who knows? However, I imagine that it could be that actually they had less severe symptoms in previous generations. Now that is because nowadays we have a lot more stress on the body and on the mind.

WHY MODERN LIFE MAKES SYMPTOMS WORSE

So back a few generations ago traditionally women would stay at home and look after the home, maybe look after the children, but in their perimenopausal years, yes they may have been looking after like older relatives, but they didn't have the stress of doing everything and working. They would generally be at home. Also the diet was better. We didn't have all of the processed foods.

they weren't really stocking up on a load of sugar. And if it's kind of a during the war when things weren't as available, then they would have had to survive on very simple foods, maybe a little bit of meat, but lots of vegetables and really simple, straightforward, unprocessed foods. Now that made a big difference into how severe our symptoms are. Yes, they probably didn't have the education, they didn't have the knowledge that

this existed, but they also had less of that stress. And also all the modern gadgets having all the blue light that affects our sleep. They were more guided by when it's daylight, we get up, we do work, when it's dark, we come home and then we go to sleep. So there was lots of things that were better in previous generations. The education,

the medical support and things may not have been there. So it would be really interesting if you do still have older relatives alive, particularly female relatives, to see how their menopause was. They may not want to talk about it because it was quite a taboo subject and it's only now becoming more spoken about, but it would be really interesting to see if they knew about it, if there was

anything that they did to manage it, or whether they just kind of got on with it and just really struggled through. But the whole point of this episode is to think actually, we should be taught things earlier in life. We should be taught about women's health, all women will go through perimenopause at some point in their lives, whether that is a natural menopause,

whether that is a surgical or a medical menopause, but that will happen at some point. Not all women will go through pregnancy. But yet we're taught about that, but we're not taught about menopause. It isn't just about the symptoms. It is understanding your body and all the options that you have to manage those symptoms, whether that is

going down the lifestyle management route, whether that is a medical route, but it is knowing what the symptoms could mean, that you don't panic and get anxious about it, which will make symptoms worse, that you understand that their whole body may be affected, but also how you can manage it and the fact that you don't have to put up with feeling rubbish all the time.

CLOSING

But things are starting to change. Conversations are happening at a higher level. They just take a while to then filter down. But one thing is for sure, we need more education in schools. We need more education for our healthcare professionals. And we need more education for the women that are struggling with these symptoms. So if you would like to know more about what is going on through the stages of perimenopause and postmenopause,

then check out the link in the show notes because I have done a free masterclass that explains all of this. So what happens to our hormones, the symptoms that you're likely to be getting, it is a really good starting point to know what is happening and how to start making some changes to improve your symptoms.

Maybe you could start today by opening up a conversation if you have daughters or you have nieces or any younger girls or older girls, even young adults that are in your lives. Maybe open up that conversation, start talking about it so that they feel more prepared when they are going through it.

remember you don't have to put up with symptoms. So if you wanted some more support, then check out my website. I offer lots of different services or go and speak to your GP. Make sure if you are going to the doctor that you pick somebody within your surgery that has a special knowledge in menopause. They often will put that on their website or ask reception and

Ask them the questions, come with a list of symptoms, make sure that you're ruling out any other conditions that could cause that, but also make sure that you get the outcome that you're wanting, whether that is to go on HRT, whether that is just more support, whether that is being referred on to a specialist. Make sure that you are getting the help that you need and you deserve. Until next time.

Take care.