The Menopause: A Woman’s View

Summary

• Women’s physiologic and psychologic responses to the menopause vary enormously.

• Providing good information and advice and opportunities for women to express their concerns are vitally important if physicians are to assist women in coping with both the short- and long-term effects of the menopause.

• Patient societies such as the National Osteoporosis Society (NOS) offer valuable assistance to healthcare professionals by providing well-balanced patient literature and resources for medical staff, and in encouraging the media to portray a balanced view of the menopause.

• It is only through this partnership of care that women and their physicians will feel empowered to adopt a positive approach to the menopause and its long-term consequences.

Question a group of women about their attitudes towards the menopause and the replies you receive will be highly diverse. Some will subscribe to the conspiracy theory that male doctors have over-medicalized the problem in order to extend their power over women and that “the change” is purely a natural event in one’s life. Others will regard it as a major point of transition in a woman’s life, sometimes viewed negatively as the beginning of old age, sometimes viewed positively as a time when women enjoy greater freedom. A small minority may recognize that it is a time when women become estrogen-deficient, a state that needs to be managed carefully to avoid long-term problems such as osteoporosis.