Hi Paula and welcome....you have come to the right place, you will be in good company here, UNFORTUNATELY!
There are hundreds of posters here whose lives have been devasted by menopause and in fact I very nearly ended up losing mine because of it which although sounds dramatic (for something people consider to be "natural") was the case. There are other ladies here who have tried to take their own lives because of it.
The woeful knowledge of so called "health professionals" is mind blowing when you consider half the population is female and will be guaranteed to go through meno at some time in their life whether it is early/surgically induced or just age related. Ladies here time and time again post the downright stupid remarks and attitudes the confront every day, especially with doctors who should quite frankly know better. Did you know that training or education in menopause or related issues is not a compulsory module in a doctors training? They must choose it as a "speciality"!!!!
There are women here who have had years of "hormonal issues" especially those who go through meno "early" and who get told "you are far too young for it to be that" and are then tanked up with useless anti-depressants, exposed to endless consultants appointments and other tests to rule out "other things" and hey ho...it's meno...after 5 years of so pocking and proding or reaching the age where it can be "considered"! Surgical meno is not much better...often there is no plan for when the vital bits have been removed...as if we have been designed to function without them entirely.
Workplace attitudes are to be expected bit are terrible nonetheless. If health professionals are in the dark ages about peri/meno then the workplace is even further behind. There are plenty of posts on here about how our world is changing where women are expected to work until they are in their 70's when in the past you were menopausal at 45 and dead by 55/65! and the number of hormones in our water and our food have changed physiology hormone wise both for men and women in my humble opinion.
My meno journey started at 45 and I am now 58 and to be honest it only got fixed 2 years ago after much trial, error, shouting, reading and educating myself so that I could educate the idiots I have encountered along the way. I too feel passionate about the subject but I am at a loss what to do about it. There are ladies on here who are taking action in this direction. One of them wrote a book about Vaginal Atrophy which has been published and publicised and some doctors practices have been buying it (whether they read it or not is another matter). Its called Me and My Menopausal Vagina by Jane Lewis.
You are not alone in your struggles, nor in your distress at what is happening. Meno and its issues are being more widely publicised by Dr Louise Newsom, and Rachel McClean MP in parliament and another lady called Diane Danczuk (I think that's how you spell it) and by some so called "celebs" talking about their experiences but progess is beyond slow but at least its something where there was nothing before.
Tell us all about your troubles, anything and everything is open for discussion here and there is the biggest wealth of information, advice and anecdotal evident you could find anywhere, but most of all there is bucket loads of support 24/7 from those who really know what it is all about...menopausal women from all over the world. x
Some other ladies will be along soon to welcome you also and throw in their "two pen'neth"!!! I'm sure x
