Happy menopause month

And why is everyone arguing about HRT on the socials?

Happy menopause month!

It’s October, which is the month for all things menopause, with World Menopause Day on 18th October. For me, every month/week/day is a time to talk about menopause. But of course lots of organisations want to do things on this in October, which means it’s a busy time for me with workplace speaking.

It makes me so happy - and I am always exceptionally grateful - that I get to do this for my work now. It’s not something I anticipated five years ago when I started researching for my first menopause book - to be honest I thought it would be a writing project; it might be useful for me to learn about and it’d probably disappear without much impact - but how wrong I was.

On that note, I am always available for speaking in workplaces and other settings - so if you haven’t done anything in your organisation yet, please get in touch - there’s more on my speaking and webinars on my website. The speaking work really subsidises my writing and other awareness-raising work these days (including this Substack), so I’m really grateful for these opportunities.

A different ending for Pauline

I wrote this about Pauline Hanna - you might have seen it on my last Substack. It was picked up by the Herald, who published it soon after the verdict of not guilty was handed down.

I have had TONS of feedback on this. Ninety-nine percent of it has been from women, which is interesting in itself. Many of them said they felt they had been just like Pauline. More than one woman wrote movingly about her own situation of financial abuse. Almost all of the people who took the time to write to me thanked me for expressing what they, too, were thinking. It made some people cry. And everyone loved the focus on Pauline: the wonderful, generous, caring, clever and capable woman who should be the centre of conversations around this case.

News from the Meno-verse

There’s lots going on in menopause land, and some of it is really good. Here’s a quick roundup of what’s been happening.

Oestrogen gel is to be funded

Pharmac has finally approved oestrogen gel - an alternative to patches of oestrogen - and it’s going to be funded from 1 November. This is excellent news; it should take some pressure off patch supply, and be another option for those of us who don’t like or don’t tolerate patches well. Of course, it depends on the GPs getting up to speed with how to prescribe gel, and pharmacies getting it into stock. I’ll be interested to see how that goes - let me know if you’ve had any issues, if you’re using gel or you switch to it.

Australian Senate Inquiry into menopause report released

The Aussies are a bit ahead of us when it comes to menopause policy and support, I am sorry to say. They’ve recently had a big federal-level inquiry into perimenopause and menopause and the effects on women’s lives - and the report was issued a few weeks ago with 25 recommendations for the Australian government. Among them were things those of us in the menopause education space have been talking about here for ages - and are just commonsense, frankly. They include: menopause education being included in the school curriculum; national menopause awareness campaigns; workplace law reforms to allow for menopause leave and flexible working; more research into the impacts of menopause; better training for doctors; lots of stuff around improving access to menopause care and a lot more. You can read the whole report here.

I can’t see why we couldn’t just use this report as a basis for action here in Aotearoa. But I’m not sure there is the political will to make this happen. You can see why; it only affects 50% or so of voters….. (If anyone knows any politicians (or is one) I’d love to be connected to discuss this).

International Menopause Congress

You know how I said it’s all happening in October…. The International Menopause Society (IMS) is having its 19th World Congress on Menopause in a few weeks in Melbourne, and guess what: I AM GOING! I am so looking forward to absorbing all the latest research on Menopause, meeting as many experts as I can, and hopefully interviewing some of them as well. I’ll be sharing updates as the four-day event takes place on my Instagram, so keep an eye on my feed from 19th-22nd October.

Controversy in the Meno-verse - why is everyone arguing?

If you’re on the socials, you might have seen reference to a UK current affairs show (BBC Panorama) running an episode titled The Menopause Industry Uncovered. This has sparked an online furore, not because it looked at some of the unproven menopause treatments being marketed at women in the alternative health realm (which personally I think is something well worth exploring) but because it also focused on one of the most prominent menopause doctors in the UK, Louise Newson. The BBC talked to some of her former patients who raised concerns they were put on high doses of oestrogen, which have not been proven safe.

Now, I have not seen this programme (I can’t figure out a way to watch it here in NZ without downloading a VPN which even then, might not work; if anyone has figured this out, please get in touch). I would suggest that many of the online commenters, if they are outside the UK, have not seen it either. Nevertheless, there are plenty of people who say ‘how dare you attack Dr Louise! She has done amazing things for women!’ And others who are clapping back and saying ’She’s doing things that are against official guidelines and have no evidence and she’s making a ton of money out of it’… etc etc.

This kind of arguing helps no-one, in my opinion. I have seen this all before in the nutrition space, so it also does not surprise me.

I would like to see the programme and learn more about what was actually said, and what Dr Newson is being accused of - and, apparently, investigated for by UK health watchdogs - before I add to the noise.

Right now what I will say is this: As with all areas of health and wellbeing, there is room for more than one perspective on menopause and its treatment. It is possible that there is more than one voice making good points about it. It is possible that there are experts whose ideas are different, and it is possible that all of those same experts are right in some of their ideas, and not so right in others. Everyone has their own perspectives, backgrounds and biases. Everyone is human. If we all acknowledged some of those biases - and the things we have in common - it would be better for everyone.

I have met and interviewed Louise Newson at length, about a year ago at a women’s mental health conference in Melbourne, where we were both speaking. I have no doubt from that meeting that she is a passionate advocate for women, and is driven by a desire to help women and raise awareness on menopause. She has done a huge amount of work in this area, which has done a huge amount of good.  She has become famous as a result. I assume - because she is in private practice - that she has also profited from this (and why shouldn’t she?).

I also have no doubt that she feels somewhat attacked (‘bullied’ was the word she used) for some of her practices. And I am also aware, because she told me, that she does sometimes prescribe HRT beyond the official guidelines.

She claims this is safe; others dispute that. She sometimes talks about menopause as a deficiency state, which is a narrative I’m not super comfortable with. But she also often talks about the severe impacts menopause has on women’s lives, especially the mental health impact, which is something I know to be true.

There are people claiming that this kind of debate, if we can call it that, will discourage women from seeking help, or of seeking HRT. I hope that is not the case. Because I think every expert I know agrees that HRT is a really useful treatment and that more women should have access to it. Here in Aotearoa, we’ve still got a way to go on that score.

In case you missed it…

Here’s a bit of recent coverage:

An interview I did with Capsule about menopause, midlife and my own midlife upheaval (and why it was the right thing for me).

PowHer podcast with Jess Stuart - we discuss gendered ageism, midlife and menopause and the systems that hinder us from looking after ourselves.

Grey Areas with Petra Bagust - our live event on love, sex and relationships is now available on YouTube

See you soon - happy meno month

Niki