Supporting your Female Patients through Menopause

As you know, Menopause is a time in a woman’s life that is often approached with trepidation and fear. This month, to mark World Menopause Month we, at Williams Medical, are putting some extra focus on how we can all play a part in supporting women during this time in their lives. 

The symptoms are varied from one woman to the next and can go on for years so it’s important for us that we can help you support your patients through this time and when better to shine a light on it than now to help combat the stigma and misinformation and help women understand their personal experience and how to navigate it.

When people think of menopause the obvious symptoms that they may recognise are hot flushes, night sweats, irregular periods and weight gain but there are so many more that aren’t always obvious that we can help them be aware of. 

Davina McCall has been championing menopause in recent years and has been sharing her experiences in documentaries and interviews and the symptoms that she found most challenging were the psychological shifts that she didn’t necessarily connect with menopause. She talks of crippling brain fog, forgetting simple things immediately after being told, feeling lonely, feeling inadequate, vision problems and even thinking she may be suffering from early dementia.

Recent studies show that 86% of women neither know what menopause really is or how it will impact them? That is a staggering number. This may imply that many women feel unable to ask for help to unpick and understand their own symptoms. Some women experience extreme symptoms like depression, panic attacks, lack of sex drive and joint pain. These aren’t always obvious as menopause symptoms so it could be a while before they even think about menopause as a cause. You can find all the potential symptoms listed on our dedicated page on our website here.

How do you Diagnose Menopause?

Menopause is not easy to diagnose as hormone levels can rise and fall irregularly all the time so main diagnosis’ will come from listening to your patients, hearing what they are saying about how they feel, any psychological changes that seem to be coming out of the blue and physical changes. In irregular cases such as early symptoms in women under 45 or very irregular symptoms serum follicle-stimulating hormone levels may be considered. 

We have provided a check list of important questions to ask your patients in the first assessment to help guide you including family history, medical history and lifestyle. You will find this on our dedicated page on our website here.

Offering your support

As medical professionals you are in a great position of support. Many women will feel they can’t talk to their partners and may feel isolated so, if they come to you for advice or discussing symptoms that may be linked to menopause, you may be the first or only person they have shared with. As well as medical advice to address all of their symptoms and treatment options, is there more you could be offering to help support them in a positive mental way?

Second Spring

As women navigate their way through these changing years, the “second spring” as Davina McCall has called it in her book, it’s important to make sure your patients keep talking. To their friends, their mum, with you - their health professional, whoever they feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and fears with. 

As medical professionals, you will be well versed in discussing medical options and treatments with your patients, many of whom say their treatments choice was a miracle, and we live in a privileged time with choices. You can be the support they need to really feel like it is spring!

We, at Williams Medical, have everything you need to help support your patients and give them options. We are experts in women’s health so have a look at our dedicated page here for World Menopause Month and Women’s Health with all the products that we stock for women as well as information to help guide you.