Perimenopause and menopause are major public health issues that affect women’s health, relationships, and the ability to work. These burdens often fall hardest on BIPOC women and women with lower incomes, who are more likely to face severe symptoms, barriers to care, and medical mistrust. Although national research on the menopausal transition is growing, Ohio still lacks enough state and local data.
The menopausal transition impacts many facets of a woman’s life from health and relationships to their careers.
Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) women and women from lower socioeconomic statuses (SES) experience harsher symptom severity of perimenopause and menopause.
Women often feel that their concerns about perimenopause and menopause are dismissed or overlooked by healthcare providers.
Supporting more research, legislative bills, and incorporating the menopausal transition into training and educational spaces are critical to improve this public health issue for women.
What is the menopausal transition?
As a woman’s hormones decline, a biological transition occurs in three stages. The first phase is perimenopause. Perimenopause starts when a person’s body starts transitioning between two to 10 years leading up to menopause. During perimenopause, the body will produce less estrogen and progesterone hormones, which can cause the menstrual cycle to become irregular or less frequent. An individual can start experiencing this transition between their mid-30s or mid-50s.
Once a person has gone without a period for 12 consecutive months, that signals the next phase: menopause. The body does not produce much estrogen during this time. Menopause can occur either naturally, surgically by removing the ovaries, or artificially through radiation or chemotherapy. After a person reaches menopause, they will experience post menopause, the last phase, for the rest of their life. In post menopause, symptoms may get milder or go away.
- Irregular periods
- Hot flashes (aka vasomotor symptoms)
- Insomnia
- Night sweats
- The need to urinate right away Changes in mood
- Dry eyes
- Vaginal dryness
- Brain fog
- Hair loss
- Depression
Common treatments for perimenopause
- Hormone replacement therapy (HRT)—A type of therapy that uses either estrogen or estrogen and progesterone to increase hormone levels. This is used when someone has gone into menopause before age 40.
- Hormone therapy—Similar to HRT, the use of either estrogen or estrogen and progesterone to increase hormones. Physicians use this term when someone is experiencing menopause at a natural age (after age 45).
- Vaginal estrogen creams—address dryness, pain, and to decrease urinary tract infections.
- Antidepressants—This type of medication is used for hot flashes and mood swings.
- Gabapentin (Neurontin)—A medicine that treat seizures which can also relieves hot flashes.
The menopausal transition is a complicated biological process that women endure, and those experiences can be magnified while also maintaining their roles as mothers, caregivers to aging parents, spouses, employees, etc. Due to the drastic changes in both perimenopause and menopause, there should be more awareness about this reproductive health issue.
