Yuen: Why everyone’s finally talking about menopause — and why it’s about time

Menopause is no joke, even if our society has treated it as such.

The cliché of a woman furiously fanning herself in the middle of a hot flash has long been the standard image that comes to mind of a person struggling with menopause.

But these days, the floodgates to information about menopause have swung open. Women have taken to TikTok and Instagram to detail their various symptoms, ranging from weight gain to sleep disruptions. Hormone replacement therapy, while not for everyone, is shedding some of its stigma from a previous generation. Hollywood stars from Naomi Watts to Halle Berry are speaking up about their experiences with menopause, signaling that a growing number of women are refusing to suffer in silence.

And now, Minnesotans have a chance to hear more about menopause and perimenopause — the years leading up to a woman’s final period — at a conference Thursday. The Change Summit is convening nationally renowned voices, including Dr. Sharon Malone, to educate health care providers, insurance companies and everyday women about this historically overlooked stage of life.

Malone is an OB/GYN, chief medical adviser at Alloy Health, host of the new podcast The Second Opinion and author of the New York Times best-selling book "Grown Woman Talk." (She’s also a close friend of Michelle Obama and is the wife of former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.)

Here’s a snippet of my conversation with Malone, edited for clarity and length.

A: The explosion of social media is what has changed things for us. I have been having this same conversation in my office for 30-plus years. There’s not a lot of brand new information; this is just getting the information out to the general public. Millennials are the first generation that hasn’t heard all the negativity [about hormone replacement therapy]. They’re demanding different answers.

A: The additional risk of breast cancer is small, it’s considered rare and there’s no increased risk of dying from breast cancer.

We also learned that timing matters when you start hormone therapy. The average age of women included in the study was 63, which is 12 years beyond the time of when we normally would start hormone therapy. The data is the data. It was the misinterpretation of the data and then overgeneralizing those results to everyone that was the problem.

A: One, it scared women. Two, it disadvantaged an entire generation of doctors. Three, the most pernicious effect was that research into hormones and women’s health in midlife shut down immediately because this one study was taken as the definitive word. And so for 23 years, we’ve been living with the underinvestment in women’s health in midlife, particularly as it relates to menopause and hormone therapy.

A: They don’t. There’s a generation of women that didn’t really get educated about menopause, and there’s a generation of doctors who don’t recognize that these are signs of perimenopause. The symptoms can start as early as 10 years before you’ve had your last period. That’s where the confusion comes in. You’re missing all of those women.

A: We as women are socialized to accept suffering. It starts with our first period, goes through PMS, pregnancy, postpartum depression, and anxiety. So when we get to perimenopause and menopause, this is just the last of a long string of things that we have tolerated over the course of our lifetime.

A: I’m a menopausal woman. I have been on hormone therapy for 16 years and have no intention of stopping. The thing that gets in the way of not being able to enjoy your life post-menopausal is not feeling well. I tell young women this all the time: If you can be healthy and vibrant and have your brain working, don’t fear this. It can be the best, most productive time of your life. When you get to be in your 60s, this is the first real decade when it’s all about you.

What: The Change Summit

Hosted by: Let’s Talk Women, a Minneapolis-based event planner aimed at advancing women’s health

When: Thursday, Nov. 6, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

Where: Northstar 8, 625 Marquette Av. S., Minneapolis

For more info: letstalkhealthwomen.com

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