Most of the women I know, have 'gone through' meno with just a few flushes and no hrt, and increasingly irregular periods until they stopped.
This is probably why doctors think that meno is something you 'go through' and 'get out the other side ok'
My two sisters have had no problems.
I am not having any now I am on hrt.
Quite a few women suffered with normal periods, ie pmt, pain, etc etc, and I was very lucky, other than a small amount of pain when I first started my periods (alleviated by paracetamol) I had no problems, no pmt etc, so I was looking forward to meno, as I thought it would just mean that I would eventually be period-free and feel a bit hot.
I was very surprised how much meno was a problem for me, before my hrt. I didn't even know I was menopausal as I was still getting periods, and while I was getting flushes since age 42, I didn't know they were meno flushes, I thought they were side effects and withdrawal effects from other medication that I was taking at the time.
I think that meno problems are not taken very seriously by the population at large, and as I said, I didn't realise how bad it could be.
I know there are women worse off than me, but the point of this post was just to say that as far as I can see, most women don't have problems, and the ones that do, are not taken seriously by people, except other women who are suffering really badly.
That is, with the exception of this site.
I feel sorry for those women who suffer really badly, but for whatever reason, cannot take hrt, and I feel sorry for breast cancer sufferers who have to go through two menos.