It's hard to believe that New Zealand has never had a dedicated week celebrating the health and well-being of all Kiwi women. So for the first time, we wanted to be part of the conversation to talk, share, educate and empower people to prioritise women's health and surrounding issues.
It's not often we talk about menopause and its not-so-distant cousin, perimenopause, so we got gynaecologist Dr Olivia Smart explaining to Sarah & Flynny every burning question we've ever had about the subject!
The tough statistics about Menopause and Perimenopause:
- 51% of women have never sought medical help as they’re going through perimenopause and menopause.
- The average age for menopause is about 50, but symptoms can start in women as early as their late 30s or early 40s.
- The transition through menopause can take 5 to 10 years.
- The demand for hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in New Zealand has more than doubled in the last 2 to 3 years.
What's the deal with HRT?
Hormone Replacement Therapy can be used to help reverse or slow down the drops of estrogen levels in the body that women experience during perimenopause and menopause, which can be shown through many sorts of symptoms.
"There are impacts on so many different areas in the brain, in our bones, in the muscles and tendons, in our skin, in our heart," explains Dr Olivia.
"The impact can’t be understated... We're talking debilitating symptoms or health prevention."
Unfortunately, accessing HRT can be a struggle due to a number of factors.
What should women know before reaching out to a healthcare professional?
Many women go to their GP with menopausal symptoms only to be offered antidepressants instead of HRT. Dr. Smart acknowledges that getting to the root of health issues can take time, but her best advice is for women to go into consultations with patience and know that it's best to get to the foundations of those issues.
"Let's look at the lifestyle factors. What's happening with your sleep, what's happening with your diet, what's happening with stress in your life. And I think those are always the foundational aspects of anything," she shares.
She also advises women to vocalise what outcome they want to achieve at the start of the consultation.
"There’s no pill or prescription that’s a magic cure," she adds. "We've got to take that power back in what's good for us and what's best for our bodies."
Should we worried about the global shortage of HRT?
What if you’re already on HRT but struggling to get your prescription filled? Unfortunately, there’s a shortage of estrogen patches - not just in New Zealand, but globally due to demand and compromised supply chain operations.
"I think certainly in New Zealand we've seen demand probably more than double in the last two to three years," shares Dr Olivia.
However, Dr Olivia believes pharmacies have found alternative patches that will increase in supply across August, as well as a gel available that could be funded by the end of the year.
Is perimenopause and menopause only for "older" women?
Don't believe that the elderly go through the stages of menopause, because it can happen at any age.
While the average age for a period to stop is 50, for many women, it can be much earlier than that, and take time - similar to puberty.
"It can take 5 to 10 years for this process of coming out of our reproductive years into the post-menopause era... it's a process."
"If we're talking about numbers, it would be not unreasonable to see women in their late 30s or early 40s start to develop symptoms. And I think the group of women that gets really underserved and unrecognised is those that have gone through menopause early because of either a surgical or a medical treatment."
"I was put into medically induced menopause for a year... And now I’m not technically in menopause currently, but I’ve had a peek behind the curtain and—holy moly!"
What's the emotional toll like when you're going through menopause?
Sarah can account for what a rollercoaster journey it was when she was put in a medically induced menopause for a year. Sharing her own experience during her breast cancer treatment (including an episode where she had an emotionally charged argument with a pumpkin) she can only describe it as "holy moly!"
"It was uncontrollable rage, and I'm not a raging person in the slightest!" Sarah exclaims. "And I think it's good for us to acknowledge that it's really hard on a social level."
However, Dr Olivia points out that on the "flipside", it is a natural process and not everyone will experience the full spectrum of symptoms.
"Many women will just cruise through without any problems whatsoever. And that's fantastic, isn't it? Let's not catastrophise or make people think that this is going to be awful for everyone because it won't be."
"Many women will tell me that they just were having periods, and then they stopped and they had a short spell of, perhaps flushes and then were absolutely fine."
How Partners Can Support Women Going Through Menopause
Dr Olivia doesn't beat around the bush that menopause affects everyone, even though women are biologically experiencing the symptoms.
For partners like Flynny, it's important to be supportive, educated and engaged in the conversations.
"I think women are often confused by their own bodies at that time of life," Dr Olivia explains. "Be open to the fact that things might be changing, be supportive, lend an ear."
Even going to doctor appointments can be a huge help too, because if many women don't know what to expect - how can their partners?
"We need to target education not only at 50% of the population because it affects 100% of the population."
