Ready for the menopause revolution

 Is Canada ready for a menopause revolution? 

Davina McCall thought she had a brain tumor or Alzheimer's. She could not sleep. She had brain fog. She was depressed. She was an accomplished television presenter in the UK, but she thought she was going crazy. 

" I felt like I knew how to do my job," she told journalists later, " and also, all of these unforeseen effects started passing." " I was veritably spooked and had nowhere to go." 
But McCall wasn't sick. She was normal. At 44, she was passing a natural miracle that most Canadians do not talk about: the hormonal changes women go through between the periods of 40 and 55, menopause. 

When McCall learned that menopause was the cause of her suffering, she began what could be called a menopause revolution in the UK. 
" She was so angry and worried and absolutely floored by the misinformation and the demonization, the embarrassment of a commodity that all women will go through," she said. " It's not like it's a rare complaint." 

Through pictures, interviews, and a best-selling book, "Menopause," McCaul has helped open the curtains and smash the taboos that prevent both talking about menopause and the use of treatments that can relieve symptoms. 
Now some Canadian women are prompting Canada to join the movement. 
In Canada, going through menopause "is like being transferred on a canoe trip with no companion and only a vague idea of where you are headed. Have a delightful chance out! "writes Canadian author Dr. Jen Gunter in "The Menopause Manifesto." 
Oh, and don't write. No one wants to hear about your trip. " The UK is way ahead of Canada when it comes to our station towards menopause," Dr. Wendy Wolfman, chairman of the Canadian Menopause Society and a board member of the International Menopause Society, told the Star. " All women will reach menopause if they live long enough, but not all women get pregnant." 

Still, in Canada, gestation is extensively bandied and managed, but menopause is not. Research published this month by the Menopause Foundation, a Canadian advocacy group, showed that more than half of Canadian women aged 40 to 60 do not feel ready for menopause and more than two-thirds are ignorant of common menopause symptoms. Of the women who sought medical advice, more than 70 percent found the advice unhappy and 40 percent felt they weren't treated fairly. 

riel Dalfen, who leads group sessions on navigating menopause for BRIA, a Toronto-based virtual reproductive internal health service, sees these struggles in her practice. "Numerous women experience medical gaslighting (denial of their condition) for a normal transition that happens to half of humanity," 

 Dalfen said. Canada needs to more train caregivers, educate the public and give further physical and internal health care support for menopausal women. 
" This is the new frontier and services are few and far between." 

In Britain, Parliament is addressing these challenges. Members of the Committee on Women and Equality from all parties propose to give menopausal women fewer rights and protection in the workplace. They want menopause to become a defended condition like gestation and for the government to test "menopausal leave."

" Menopause is ineluctable. Still, the constant hemorrhaging of talented women from our pool is not, " said commission cochairwoman Caroline Nokes, a Conservative MP. " Stigma, shame, and dismissive societies can and must be disassembled." 
British MPs have also been prompting the government to reduce traditional charges for hormone relief remedies (HRT), which can relieve menopausal symptoms. HRT is now free in Scotland and Wales, and since September, all British women have been able to pierce low-cure HRT in their original apothecaries without a tradition. One of the myths that continues in Canada is that HRT isn't safe. Numerous croakers have been hysterical to define HRT since a 2002 study blazoned that its pitfalls overbalanced its benefits, said Dr. Maria Velez, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Queen's University in Kingston.  

According to Velez, more recent studies show that HRT, rather than harming health, reduces mortality by an average of nearly 10% by protecting against cardiovascular and other conditions. 
" It's ridiculous that women can not be used for a commodity that can be treated with a medicine that's veritably safe," Wolfman said. 

Undressed menopause may be the missing link in why more women are not breaking through the glass ceiling in Canada, said Janet Ko,co-founder of the Menopause Foundation. She points to a 2020 Catalyst study showing that while Canadian women make up nearly half of the pool, only about four percent of Canadian companies have a woman as CEO. 
" Women's health was set back 20 times" by exploration falsely stating that HRT was unsafe, Ko said. 
Most Canadian women feel they need support through menopause and believe workplaces would profit from doing so, according to the foundation's study. 

In the UK, nearly 90 per cent of women say that menopausal symptoms affect their capability to work. Women who have symptoms are 40 times more likely to quit their jobs than those who do not. 
UK companies are taking notice. An assiduity-patronized panel has been handing out menopause delegations and awards since early 2021. Dozens of companies, like the law establishment Burness Paull LLP, have invested in training, hands-on support, and designated in-office "Menopause titleholders." 

" This is an amazing action to get the discussion going," Dalfen said. " A lot of women have trouble going to work or feel like they need to step back just as they are reaching their maximum senility position." 
Not all Canadian experts agree. " Not all women who go through menopause have bothersome vasomotor symptoms (hot flashes, night sweats) that vitiate quality of life," said Velez. 
" Menopause shouldn't be seen as a condition that needs a medical license." 
Velez also disagrees that low-cur HRT treatments are available without a tradition, saying it's not a "one size fits all" treatment option. 

But in the UK, broadcaster Davina McCall's sweats are taking off. The "Davina effect" has instigated conversations about diurnal news and commercial action plans. Conventions for menopausal curatives have doubled in the last two years. 
The Menopause Foundation of Canada, inspired by the UK revolution, aims to provide evidence-based information to Canadian women, improve health equity, and ensure age-and gender-inclusive workplaces. 

" Menopause is an equity issue at work, and we're really falling behind in Canada," Ko said. 
" It's time to bring menopause out of the murk."

My study contributed to The Star site.