Who’s going to help you when you’re in menopause? 🤔🤔🤔
Your primary care physician? Or if you’re fortunate enough to have one, a gynecologist?
The AARP reports that of the OB-GYN residency programs in the US, only 20% offer menopause training and of the offerings, it’s mostly elective. It’s a depressing figure considering that the OB-GYN is the first stop for most, if not all women, to seek menopause support.
It would also be silly to just limit our menopause support to one specialist. Our minds jump quickly and only towards to the gynecologist for help but we shouldn’t discount the other areas that menopause will impact: our bones, vision, minds and beyond. So comes the daunting task of arming ourselves with perhaps a variety of specialists depending on our needs.
It’s already exhausting to think about - finding a medical professional that will not dismiss your symptoms, let alone possibly finding more than one physician to help you throughout this phase of your life. So where do we start?
Be data-informed - going in with the assumption that women will be dismissed means preparing some stats on your symptoms and potential areas of focus. If there’s a high chance that the physicians we encounter may not have the adequate menopause training, then let’s bet on ourselves to come to the medical table armed with data that physicians can’t ignore.
Another consideration is the fact it will take time and effort to find the right physician(s) for your individual needs and that in itself is STRESSFUL! But then again the female population has always been called patient and resilient, so we march on! Sourcing the right health team will be a challenge but if we know that menopause will impact the majority of this second act of our lives, it just makes sense we don’t choose providers in a hastily fashion.
Advocating for your own needs when exploring a new health team will provide unquestionable dividends to your overall wellbeing.
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