Nearly 1 In 2 Women Have Their Menopause Symptoms Dismissed Says New Research

Posted on 16/10/2026 by Boris Clair

Research into menopause and perimenopause is vastly improving. This means that while we may have always associated mood swings and hot flushes with these life changes, we have learned that they can actually fundamentally change the body.

While this is very hopeful for future generations of women, a new survey conducted by Holland and Barrett in partnership with Menopause Mandate has found that 46% of women are still having perimenopause and menopause symptoms dismissed by other women.

Additionally, the research found an age disparity with younger women entering perimenopause feeling the most isolated. Over half (51% of 30–44-year-olds have reported symptom doubt, compared to 40 per cent of those aged 55 or over.

Women are dedicating an average of 2.3 hours a week to ‘menopause admin’

Beyond managing their symptoms, women are dedicating on average over two hours a week to menopause admin. This includes:

Menopause comes with a range of symptoms including difficulty concentrating, electric shocks on the skin, vaginal atrophy and recurring urinary tract infections (UTIs).

A full range of potential menopause symptoms can be found on The Menopause Charity’s website but it’s fair to say, we are likely dismissing one another’s symptoms because we simply don’t know the extent of the changes menopause can bring.

Laura Biggs, Founding Director at Menopause Mandate, comments: “Perimenopause and menopause can affect women in very different ways, and symptoms can change over time. It’s so important that women know what they might experience and can find help and support when they need it.

“Since launching in 2022, the Menopause Mandate nurse helpline has offered free advice from trained professionals.”

Halle Berry Recalls How She Was Mistakenly Diagnosed With Herpes

Posted on 02/03/2025 by Boris Clair

While appearing on The Drew Barrymore Show on Tuesday, Halle Berry and host Drew Barrymore spoke about how they both are navigating the journey of perimenopause — with the Oscar winner sharing that her diagnosis was anything but typical.

Sitting on Drew’s famous couch, Halle said that her prognosis for perimenopause, which is when a woman’s body makes the natural transition to menopause, came four years ago when she was 54.

The Monster’s Ball star explained that her doctor was confident in his diagnosis — but it took her by surprise.

“He’s doing the exam, and he’s looking up there — and he says, ‘Yup, I think I know what this is’,” she said, adding that the doctor later told her that she had a “really bad case of herpes”.

Her boyfriend, Van Hunt, drove her to her appointment because, as she recalled, her private area was “so swollen” that she “couldn’t put her legs together to drive”.

She then said that, for the next “72 hours”, the couple initiated the “blame game” to find out who was the cause of the supposed sexually transmitted disease.

“A couple hours after that, my doctor called me and said, ‘You do not have herpes’,” Halle continued.

Relieved by the news, the actor was still left wondering why she was experiencing such discomfort in her nether regions. Frustratingly, her doctor seemed clueless about her condition, so Halle did her “own research” to assess what was happening to her body.

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Her research led to a discovery: “dry vagina syndrome”, a condition women can have when they experience perimenopause, with Halle sharing with Drew that she “had all the symptoms.

“I realised, I’m 54 years old,” she said. “I learned that perimenopause can start in your late 30s, even in [your] early 40s.”

Halle went on to explain that “no one had a serious conversation” with her about the condition, and Drew then chimed in, saying that “there’s no real age, rhyme or reason” for perimenopause before both agreed that “everybody goes through it differently”.

The Catwoman actor has previously talked about her herpes misdiagnosis, saying in a Forbes article published last year: “The doctor should have never made that diagnosis.”

Has Your Alcohol Tolerance Changed With Age? Or Could It Actually Be Perimenopause?

Posted on 18/02/2025 by Boris Clair

“My ability to tolerate alcohol, even in small doses, dramatically declined,” Dr. Mary Claire Haver, an OB-GYN and author of “The New Menopause,” wrote in a pinned Instagram post, listing what “shocked” her about her own menopause.

Emma Bardwell, a registered nutritionist who focuses on menopause and perimenopause, said something similar on Instagram recently: “Alcohol and menopause. Not a great mix if we’re all honest, but often a crutch we use to numb the overwhelm.”

Conversations about menopause and alcohol seem to be popping up on social media more lately. But doctors say their patients have been mentioning it for years — saying things like they suddenly feel tipsy after a single drink in their 40s and 50s or that alcohol generally makes them feel lousy.

“This is not something new,” said Dr. Lauren Streicher, a professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at Northwestern University, and host of Dr. Streicher’s Inside Information: The Menopause Podcast. “I’ve been doing this for decades, and women have often said to me, ‘Boy, I just can’t drink anymore. It makes my hot flashes worse. I’m already sleeping terribly. It makes my sleep worse.’”

While Streicher said there’s “probably a connection” between alcohol tolerance and perimenopause and menopause, it hasn’t been well studied.

Still, you might be curious about that connection if you’ve reached your 40s and noticed alcohol hits a little differently. Here’s what women’s health experts want you to know.

Is it ageing or perimenopause?

Menopause is a normal part of the aging process for women and refers to the stage when menstrual periods end, and they can no longer get pregnant, according to the National Institute on Aging. The average age of menopause is 51, but perimenopause typically starts eight to 10 years beforehand.

During perimenopause, your levels of the hormone oestrogen start to decline, and this can bring symptoms like hot flashes, low libido, irregular periods, vaginal dryness, mood changes and problems sleeping.

Some also report changes in their alcohol tolerance. But this is likely more age-related than menopause-related, said Dr. Monica Christmas, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynaecology, and director of the menopause program at the University of Chicago Medicine and associate medical director of the Menopause Society.

Both men and women lose muscle mass as they age, and the amount of fat in the body increases. Fatty tissue doesn’t retain as much water. So when you drink, the concentration of alcohol in your bloodstream becomes more concentrated, Christmas said.

Your liver also doesn’t metabolise alcohol as efficiently and quickly as you get older since your levels of enzymes that break down alcohol also start to decline, she said. Women have lower levels of these enzymes to start with and tend to have less body mass than men, so they naturally process alcohol differently — especially when they get older.

Another factor is that liver function may be impacted by oestrogen, Streicher said. Theoretically, lower oestrogen levels could get in the way of metabolising alcohol, but she noted that this hasn’t been well studied.

Because of these changes, you might feel the effects of alcohol more quickly than you used to or feel hungover even when you didn’t drink much, said Dr. Madeline Dick-Biascoechea, an OB-GYN and director of the Menopause Program at the University of Maryland Medical Center. As your alcohol metabolism changes, “You will have increasing effects of alcohol per volume that you drink as you age,” she said.

How alcohol affects perimenopause and menopause symptoms.

Many women report drinking more alcohol to deal with their menopause symptoms, including hot flashes, mood shifts and sleep disruptions, research shows. However, alcohol can actually make them worse.

Alcohol can worsen many symptoms women experience with perimenopause and menopause, including anxiety, depression, lack of motivation and a loss of interest in activities.

Shifting hormones can disrupt the body’s ability to regulate temperature. Your blood vessels dilate when you drink alcohol, and this could trigger hot flashes and night sweats, Christmas said.

About half of menopausal women report difficulty sleeping. Sipping a glass of wine in the evenings might make you feel relaxed and sleepy, but it can actually disrupt your quality of sleep, Streicher said.

Many women also experience anxiety, depression, lack of motivation and a loss of interest in activities during menopause — and as a depressant, alcohol can make these mental health challenges worse, Christmas said.

“Drinking alcohol during the time when we’re already experiencing these natural changes related to hormonal fluctuation, alcohol can exacerbate them,” she said. “And so, that also may feel like an intolerance.”

Keep in mind, though, that everyone experiences perimenopause and menopause differently — some women have no symptoms, while others experience them intensely, Christmas added, and not all women notice changes in how alcohol affects them.

What to do if your alcohol tolerance seems to be changing.

Pay attention to how much you’re drinking as you reach perimenopause and menopause, Dick-Biascoechea said. Not only can it potentially worsen symptoms, it could raise your risk for other health conditions.

A 2025 report by the Office of the Surgeon General said that consuming alcohol can raise your risk for breast, colorectal, throat, mouth, voice box, oesophageal and liver cancer. Excessive alcohol intake has also been linked to dementia, osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease.

Dick-Biascoechea said women should have no more than one drink per day or seven per week. According to the National Institute on Alcohol and Alcohol Abuse, one standard drink equals 5 ounces of wine, 12 ounces of beer, and 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits.

If you’re drinking more than that, she suggested cutting back, and if that’s a struggle, talk to your doctor for help. Resources are also available at FindTreatment.gov.

Even when you drink in moderation, sip more water with your beer, wine or cocktails, Christmas said. Also, make sure to consume alcohol on a full stomach.

Drinking is “not a solution for your menopause symptoms, and it’s going to have an enormous impact on your overall health,” said Streicher, who asks patients about their alcohol intake when they bring up menopause symptoms.

She added that there are safe, effective solutions for addressing perimenopause and menopause symptoms. This might include hormone therapy, treatments for vaginal dryness, sleep problems or mental health issues, and lifestyle recommendations, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

Streicher recommended seeking out a menopause practitioner for help — and added that not all doctors are experienced with menopause or perimenopause. The Menopause Society offers an online tool to help you find an expert in your area.

Ultimately, menopause is a normal stage of life, Dick-Biascoechea said. “But, being normal doesn’t mean that it’s easy. It’s a lot of changes … and keeping yourself as healthy as possible will make this transition better and successful.”

This Is What It’s Like To Go Through Menopause At Work

Posted on 03/09/2021 by Boris Clair

Lisa Miller likens her mind to a sieve when “menopause brain” hits at work.

“My co-workers will always be like, ‘Remember last week when we were talking about that slide?’ and I’m like, ‘Nope, I have no idea what you’re talking about,’” said Miller, a customer relations and document control specialist for an aerospace company in Virginia.

“It’s like my brain is a sieve, and just spots and memories go right through it, like a spaghetti strainer. It’s very frustrating. I know my colleagues do get frustrated. I get frustrated.“

Forgetfulness and having difficulty concentrating or thinking clearly are common symptoms, collectively known as “brain fog,” that can affect one-third to two-thirds of people going through menopause, according to researchers’ estimates.

It’s also one of the 34 documented symptoms associated with perimenopause, the phase before menopause when a person’s body starts making less oestrogen until eventually their ovaries stop releasing eggs. (Menopause itself is calculated as beginning on the 365th day since a person’s last period.)

Although menopause can be surgically or medically induced, there are usually no predictable starting and ending points when it occurs naturally. It often takes place between the ages of 45 and 55 ― critical career years when people typically take on more leadership and responsibilities at work and consider their legacies.

Perimenopause lasts for an average of about four years, but the menopause transition can stretch on for 14. This uncertain timeline can cause a lot of career anxieties. One 2014 survey in the US revealed that 12% of women admitted they had passed up a more demanding job or promotion because of their menopausal symptoms.

Because her brain fog interferes with her ability to do her job, Miller, who is 53, said she worries her menopause transition will last into her retirement.

“I’m hoping every day that it ends, but I’ve been told it could last seven to 10 years, which is terrifying,” Miller said.

Here’s what people told us about how menopause affects them at work, for better or worse, and what coping strategies and advice they have for how to put this transition in perspective.

There can be work-disrupting physical symptoms, like hot flushes and heavier periods.

For Kimberly Caprio, a Connecticut-based breast surgeon, it’s the hot flushes that make it obvious what she is going through. “When I take my gown off, it looks like a bucket of water was poured on my head,” she said.

“I don’t find it depressing or anything like that, it’s just annoying as hell.”

– Kimberly Caprio

Caprio said the excessive sweating she often experiences is inescapable and distracting while she is working. “I’m trying to concentrate on an operation; it’s rather annoying to be feeling the drips,” she said.

She’s currently looking into buying a cooling vest to wear with her hospital scrubs, but in the meantime, she said, “I just have to deal with it.” She also experiences heavier periods and cramping because of her menopause transition, and “when that happens on a long operating day, it’s never a disaster, but it’s always like ‘Ughhh.’ It’s another weight in the bag that you’re carrying.”

Putting symptoms in perspective is helpful, because they can last a while. A study by the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2015 found that menopausal people experience hot flushes and night sweats for a median of seven and a half years.

Menopause symptoms can be treatable, however. Health care providers can guide people through this time and suggest options including hormone and oestrogen therapy, non-hormonal alternatives, lifestyle changes or medications for specific symptoms.

“Many of these symptoms can be treated safely and effectively, and I try to raise that awareness in women,” Heather Hirsch, the director of Brigham and Women’s Hospital Menopause and Midlife Clinic, said on her hospital’s website. “It’s a time when many patients feel lost, frustrated and fearful — and a lot of that is unnecessary. Education and myth-busting have become big parts of my job.”

Caprio said she doesn’t attach negative meaning to the menopause experience, but she is waiting for hers to be over.

“I don’t find it depressing or anything like that; it’s just annoying as hell,” she said.

Workplace coping strategies include rehearsing, finding understanding among colleagues and taking lots of notes.

People face a choice when menopause symptoms become noticeable to their colleagues: talk about it or not? For many around the world, menopause in the workplace is still a taboo subject. In one British survey, about 47% of people who needed to take a day off due to menopause symptoms did not feel comfortable telling their bosses or colleagues the reason. In a separate survey across five countries, 44% of people who experienced menopause symptoms said they have felt too embarrassed to ask for support in the workplace.

After her first five months of menopause, Miller decided to not dance around the subject with her colleagues, most of whom are male, or make excuses for it. She felt it had become “super obvious” what was going on when she needed a fan on days when it was freezing outside.

“It is what it is. It’s a part of life,” she said. When she has brain fog, she said, “I just flat-out tell my co-workers: ‘You’re going to have to show me. Can you go into greater detail?’”

Sometimes she receives heavy sighs in response. But Miller said that for the most part, the men she works with are receptive because of other women in their lives.

“I have one co-worker whose wife is my age, so he totally gets it,” Miller said.

Tina Opie said she manages her brain fog by asking colleagues for what she really wants or needs without feeling guilty about it. A management researcher, founder of the Opie Consulting Group and a visiting Harvard Business School scholar, she also does additional prep work before teaching her classes.

“I will actually go through the slides, and I look crazy when I’m doing it, because I’m rehearsing what I’m going to say. Even the transitions in between slides, a joke I may tell … ,” she said. “Typically, I make my brain go through that process beforehand, because my short-term memory is definitely challenging.”

Another perimenopausal symptom she experiences is anger that flares quickly and stays. When she is in this emotion, Opie said, she has found it helpful to write before she speaks so that she can recognise and surface her own assumptions and extend grace, an important aspect of her leadership style.

If she is feeling invalidated or disrespected in public, for example, she asks herself, “Well, do they do that because I’m Black, because I’m a woman, because I’m 50? And then I try to write down alternative explanations for what they could have done. The writing forces me to slow down.”

Creating an open dialogue with co-workers and practicing individual coping strategies raise awareness, but Opie noted that there is an institutional responsibility, too.

“Roughly 50% of the population is going through menopause at the workplace. What are you doing from a systemic standpoint to make this an inclusive workplace?” she said.

An organisation’s answers don’t necessarily have to be elaborate, but they should be focused on supporting employees. Researchers have found that menopausal workers want their employers to offer four practical accommodations: fans, easy access to temperature control, the option to work remotely and including menopause in occupational health and safety and human resource policies.

“These steps are not just about alleviating symptoms,” management professors Kathleen Riach and Gavin Jack wrote at The Conversation. “They are about avoiding signalling that women of a certain age are an inconvenience or less valued as employees.”

But experiencing menopause at work is not always negative. In fact, it can be a gateway to a better or more improved career.

The physical symptoms of menopause aren’t fun, but the transition can also be a positive, freeing experience.

Omisade Burney-Scott, a North Carolina-based social justice advocate and the creator of “The Black Girls’ Guide to Surviving Menopause,” a podcast and multimedia project, said that too often menopause is reduced to a stereotype of “hot, sweaty, angry people without any context.”

“I feel like it’s giving me more permission to be really, really clear about the things that bring me joy, like the things that I enjoy doing, or the things that I enjoy offering or feel confident about offering to a workspace, or to social justice work or creative work,” she said. “And that feels really liberating.”

“It requires a level of focus on yourself that you may not have engaged in before.”

– Tina Opie, founder of the Opie Consulting Group

The experience pushed Claire Hattrick into pursuing a long-held passion. The aesthetician and blogger lives in Hampshire. In the UK, 900,000 women reported that they quit their jobs due to menopause symptoms in 2019.

When she went through menopause, Hattrick had “horrendous” joint pain that caused her to have to lie down on the floor between waxing clients. It eventually pushed her to work fewer hours, switch up the types of beauty treatments she performed and start blogging about her life, which ultimately turned into an additional career path.

Hattrick, who is now postmenopausal, said she sees positives in this outcome, including a new self-confidence: “It kind of makes you feel like you can take on the world almost. Like if you can deal with this, you can deal with anything.”

“If I hadn’t gone through this, I would have plodded on with the beauty [work],” Hattrick said. “It made me look at doing something I’ve always wanted to do. It’s almost forced me a little bit into saying, ‘Well, if I don’t jump ship now, I’m never going to do that.’“

Opie, too, said menopause can be a gateway for deeper career introspection and transitions, in the way turning 50 and going through perimenopause has been for her.

“It requires a level of focus on yourself that you may not have engaged in before,” she said. “You are trying to converge upon ‘what is going on with me,’ because you don’t know how to label this constellation of symptoms, and as a result, there is a self-focus that enters. …

“Now I’m applying this focus to ‘How do I feel about myself in this relationship, how do I feel about myself at work? How do I feel about myself in the mirror at night?’ It has led me to begin to explore all of those things and to try to change trajectories that I don’t find satisfactory.”

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