Her Struggle is Real: One Woman's Search for Menopause Treatment

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We waited all of three posts to share this story with you from one of our 'In Her Own Skin' team members, but we figure if you're here, you here for the truth.

Three years. That's how long it took me to get the help I needed. Actually, the number is more like 9 years, but for three years it was unbearable. In my early 40's anxiety popped into my life, an unwelcome intruder who flooded my brain with worry and fear and simmering rage for portions of most days. Then came night sweats so severe I had to change the sheets every morning and was exhausted all day from lack of sleep. The list of symptoms that followed could fill a perimenopausal dictionary but when the day came that my husband and I could no longer have sex, I knew I was in big trouble. And then it was STILL three years until I got menopause treatment.

You may ask what I did to try to help myself. Well, I told my gynecologist exactly what was going on and she told me it was a 'normal part of life' and that it could be difficult and I had tried this or that lube. She even suggested we didn't have to have intercourse, we could do other things. I remember when she did my pelvic exam, she expressed shock at how severe my vaginal atrophy had become in the past year. Yet, no suggestions. No solutions. Just a 'See you next year.'

It had been a while since our sex life was on fire. My desire had dropped a couple years prio and coupled with anxiety, night sweats, a demanding career and two kids, it wasn't top of my list. But the physical inability to have intercourse due to extreme pain -- 'because the tissue had thinned so much,' we stopped attempting sex. Let's just say that's not the greatest recipe for a marriage.

Then one day I read an article about perimenopause and menopause and how the medical community had basically failed women for decades after the Women's Health Initiative, a billion dollar study that was stopped early when it found hormones caused an increased risk of stroke and breast cancer in participants. Among the many details not revealed for years was that the average age of women in the study was 63 which means they were more than a decade into menopause. Younger woman in the study who were within a few years of menopause actually did quite well on hormones. It didn't matter. Doctors got spooked and stopped prescribing them and took patients off them. It was a disaster for women in terms of mental, physical and psychological health but that is something that has really only come to light in the past few years.

I found a menopause provider in my area, waited months to see her, and the day of the appointment she promptly diagnosed me with severe menopause and prescribed hormone replacement therapy. By now I had read all the literature that explained how these hormones had been unfairly demonized. In fact, I had learned how protective hormones can be not only with symptoms like vaginal dryness, atrophy and hot flashes but that hormones can be protective against osteoporosis, can reduce the risk of coronary artery disease and improve blood lipid levels, reduce risk of diabetes, and if started at the right time, can cut the risk of Alzheimer's Disease in half. As for the risk of taking hormones for a typical woman, the head of the North American Menopause Society says it's the same as a 1 to 2 glasses of wine a night, being inactive or overweight.

If you're ready to be believed.  winona.pxf.io/y2Y93V

Within days of going on estrogen and progesterone, I felt like someone pulled the cotton out of my head. About a month in, my husband and I attempted sex and it worked. Within a few months my vaginal atrophy was totally reversed and our marriage got its intimacy groove back. As big as all of that was, there was something even bigger, I felt like ME again. The person I had always been. I felt like I had lost her years earlier but that I was supposed to power through.

While I live in a big city and was lucky to find a provider, that is not the reality for most of us. There are far fewer menopause trained physicians than the millions of women who need help and some of my friends who do get treated say their doctors still act like they don't quite believe them. You know what? Women are over it. Perimenopause and menopause can profoundly impact our brains and bodies. Our symptoms are real, and no, we don't have to surrender our identities, our sanity or our sex lives because of it.

That's where telehealth companies are removing barriers for millions of women. Our team is impressed with Winona. They possess key things important to us - they are physician led, research centered and passionate about supporting women through perimenopause and menopause. They will do a thorough history and screening and they will treat you for your anxiety, weight gain, night sweats, joint pain, vaginal dryness, insomnia, decreased libido, mood changes and more of the literally dozens of symptoms caused by midlife transition. Too many of us only realize it's menopause after someone validates what we are experiencing is REAL. I still remember the moment I was in front of someone who BELIEVED me. It's everything.

To start your free visit or learn more: winona.pxf.io/y2Y93V

I waited months to see my menopause expert. I won't wait again. You've worked too hard for too long to feel this way. You deserve to feel good in your own skin.