I'm reposting this, because I see it in Primal, but not when logging with Amethyst.
This is whats missing from current menopause discussions
There is a lot going on now on the menopause health world, with the reinterpretation of the WHI (Women Health Initiative) study, from 2002 and now in 2024, it's gone from HRT increases risk of breast cancer to the other polarity: all women should have access to menopause therapy, its safe, and all women should be able to have this conversation about risks and benefits with their provider. Having that conversation can be life changing/life saving for many.
But in the name of access to care, come a lot of narratives about women's bodies that are important to deconstruct.
First, the idea that a magic pill can replenish our needs and take care of all our symptoms. The symptoms of menopause are symptoms of a systemic depletion of women's bodies, something that has developed over time and there is no magic pill that can fix that. You can replenish biochemistry, but the toll that it has taken on your body, your emotions and mental health, that is irreplaceable. And yes, many women report feeling better: they are able to sleep, go to work, but still the narrative is that “my body is broken, and I can fix it with this magic pill” and that's where I see the disconnect.
Dr. Lara Briden refers to the work of endocrinologist Jerilynn Prior: Menopause is not a failure of the body or the ovaries, but a neuroendocrine transition that is completely detached from aging. Menopause is a brain overhaul to become more efficient to tend to our physiological needs in the second half of life. So, it's not about the failure of our bodies because we are aging, it is about our body’s ability to transform and to tend to our physiological needs. From now on, the focus is not the energy intensive process of reproduction, instead is brain, bone, cardiovascular health, and metabolism.
Neuroscientist Dr. Lisa Mosconi, who studies women's brain in menopause explains that the menopausal brain is smaller and less energy demanding, because it doesn't need to tend to this energy intensive process of reproduction. Instead, the focus shifts to other body systems: our nervous system, brain, cardio health and that's why menopause is a window of opportunity. That is why many women fall off the cliff in menopause; It's not because of aging, it's because they have been stressed, undernourished and overstretched for the whole reproductive period, and now when they enter menopause, that depletion makes they more vulnerable to symptoms.
Is like when you are rebuilding your house, but you didn't tend to your house for 30 years, and when you start remodeling, you find that the electric cables were damaged, the water piping breaks, it's not because of the remodeling. It's because it wasn’t maintained for 30 years.
Would love to hear your reflections and if this resonates or if I'm completely alone in this train of thought.
#womenhealth
#menopause
#health
#womenrights
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