You’ve heard about hot flashes, night sweats, and mood swings, but women suffer with many more menopausal symptoms that even doctors are struggling to recognise. Dry eyes, UTIs, frozen shoulder - there is a list of symptoms that can be attributed to many things other than menopause. So how do you know if hormones are to blame? Doctors recognise that It’s not straightforward when it comes to diagnosing menopause-related symptoms, especially those that are not commonly known.
“Menopause can be incredibly confusing, as many symptoms can have other causes or be age related,” explains , Gynecologist and Chief Medical Officer of . However, staying informed and being aware and accountable for your health will help you get the right treatment. “People need to be their own advocates and realise that many doctors are in the silos of their own specialty,” Dr Noble explains.
“Menopausal care really requires a holistic approach and a wide lens to recognize important connections. I find it one of the most challenging areas of medicine because people experience it so differently - some with no symptoms at all and others with all the symptoms we mention.” If you are in the age bracket when menopause and perimenopause is likely, Dr Noble advises women and doctors to assume, rather than not, that any new or worsening symptom could have a hormone connection.
“I had a patient who had been seeing ophthalmology, struggling with dry eye syndrome, yet no one had recognized the pote.
