Menopause blamed in a difficult time of life
Jennifer Howell, MD, an obstetrician/gynecologist and certified menopause provider at Duke University in Durham, N.C., told this news organization that menopause is often blamed in a time of life when women naturally are experiencing an array of stressful and emotional changes.
Dr. Jennifer Howell
It often coincides with children heading to college, navigating midlife challenges in marriage, helping aging parents, managing demanding careers, and health issues.
People want a reason for changes women experience, and too often the finger gets pointed at menopause, Dr. Howell said.
The message women hear has always been, “It’s got to be your hormones. And people want to hear that there’s a hormonal solution.”
Making menopause the target also has led to nonevidence-based “snake-oil” type remedies sold in unregulated powders, creams, and pellets, Dr. Howell noted.
Dr. Howell has treated thousands of menopausal women in her clinic and she says she spends a good deal of time with them explaining a holistic view of the process, much like what the authors describe, with lifestyle changes and treatment options.
Sometimes HT is the solution, Dr. Howell says, but “it’s become a crutch. Hormones are not a panacea.”
She is frustrated with the amount of disinformation circulating online. Groups like the North American Menopause Society put out reliable evidence-based information, but they compete “with a lot of nonsense,” she says.
The message that women should hear, she says is that “[menopause] is a natural part of aging and there may or may not be symptoms that come along with it. If there are, there are things we can do,” she says.