MENOPAUSE

I had an opportunity to interview one of my neighbours regarding her menopause. She agreed to let me write about her but did not want me to use her real name. Maya (fake name) is a 48 years old woman who has been running a family business for about 10 years now. It is her fulltime job. She is a mother with two beautiful daughters. Her husband helps her with the business as well.  She shared her story about how hard she and her husband worked to raise their business along wit their two kids. “Business is getting better but I am not being able to give my hundred percent towards it these days”, says Maya.  Maya told me that she gets tired quickly and has been having hot flashes from past couple of weeks and on top of that she gets cranky all the time.

Days are not as energizing as they used to be for her because Maya is in her menopausal period. Menopause is a period when women’s hormone levels diminish and her period stops. (Renew Woman, 2013).  Symptoms of menopause are hot flashes, mood instability, memory loss, fatigue, hair loss, low sex drive, osteoporosis, insomnia, vaginal dryness, dry skin and weight gain. (Renew Woman, 2013).

Maya was not sure why was she weak all of a sudden and she was more worried about the hot flashes that she’s been getting. She found out that she was in a menopause and all the symptoms, that she was having, were of menopause after she went to see her doctor. "I am going for a Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT)", Maya added. Maya told me that there is a minimal risk to this hormonal replacement therapy. Maya answered, “If I did not get this BHRT, I will not be able to work as efficiently as I used to and that can affect my work, the only source of income in my family” to my question on why she wants to go for BHRT. She said that she wants to be normal like before, no hot flashes, no weakness and no more mood swings. When I asked her if she has had other symptoms like, memory loss, hair loss, and vaginal dryness etc., Maya said, “Thank god I don’t have memory loss and hair loss or I would be more irritable and hard to handle”. I asked her if she knew about the side effects of BHRT, she said that she might get some side effects if she did go for it but will definitely lose control if she did not because her symptoms were getting worst.

There are millions of other women around the world who are going through menopause like Maya and are unknown about why it is happening and what should be done to be back to normal. Education about menopause is necessary. Making women aware of all the symptoms and the ways to prevent and cure it is necessary so that women can know what might be coming and how to handle the situation. It is also necessary to know that hormone replacement therapy, like any other medical treatment, has side effects too.

Reference:

Menopause. In (2013). What is Menopause?. Renew Woman. Retrieved from Menopause. (2013).  

      Retrieved from https://www.renewwoman.com/what-is-menopause/?ibp- 

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