Saving our daughters from the tragedy of untreated menopause

When I was 25 I remember going for a routine gynecological exam. When the exam was over I remember asking the doctor about what happens at menopause. He took me by the shoulders, looked me straight in the eye and said, "You won't even notice it" and then he walked out of the room.

I knew he was lying to me because my poor mother was suffering terribly from horrible hot flashes day and night. One day we counted 32 hot flashes in the span of just 2 hours. My mother was up all hours of the night, was very curt with all of us, barely spoke to my dad and had terrible bags under her eyes. She was the definition of miserable. My entire family was miserable. How could this doctor say to me that I wouldn't even notice it?

As time went on my mother and father appeared to adjust to it. It broke my heart to see them so distant from each other, arguing instead of laughing and barely tolerating each other. It wasn't like that before the hot flashes. After watching my parent's marriage suffer so much I swore off marriage. I didn't see the point to marriage if it meant barely tolerating each other.

Years later I changed my mind and decided to get married. At my wedding my dad said to me," You'll have it better. We live in better world now". I knew he was talking about his relationship with my mom but that was all. I never really made any connection with menopause and what happened to them.

When I was 42 I too began to suffer the symptoms of menopause and experienced firsthand the dramatic negative effect it can have on a marriage. Only then did I begin to understand what my dad was referring to. He was right. We do live in a better world now. Women can get some relief from the devastating effects of hypogonadism (menopause) from some products on the market, but only if you can find a doctor to prescribe them.

I want even better for my daughters. They deserve to be able to walk into a doctor's office and expect the doctor to understand the importance of treating hypogonadism. The doctor deserves to be able to prescribe effective and convenient products. Women deserve to make the choice about treatment, not be forced to forgo treatment because of flawed and outdated data.

How can we save our daughters from the tragedy of untreated menopause? We can make this happen by expecting treatment ourselves. When you walk into your doctor's office be sure to let the doctor know that you want treatment for hypogonadism because treatment is healthier than no treatment. You want your doctor to use ovarian replacement (estradiol, testosterone, progesterone, and dhea) because you deserve treatment and you deserve products that are effective. Expect your doctor to treat your hypogonadism effectively and to use bioidentical products, just like in every other area of medicine. That's how we are going to protect our daughters and ourselves from the unnecessary ill health and poor quality of life of untreated hypogonadism.

We only have one life to live and we should lead it as healthy as possible.

Together we can save our daughters from the tragedy of untreated hypogonadism.