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Nearly every woman will experience —menopause — a prominent mark in time indicating the end of a woman’s reproductive life. Those who do often face intense symptoms with little to no guidance on how to navigate them, or what is expected to come.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), menopause is caused by a loss of ovarian follicular function and a decline in circulating blood estrogen levels. Symptoms include changes in mood, anxiety and/or depression, hot flashes or night sweats, vaginal dryness causing pain during sexual intercourse and incontinence, and difficulty sleeping.
Menopause typically triggers the permanent cessation of a woman’s menstrual cycle which is indicated when absent for more than 12 consecutive months for women between the ages of 45 and 55 years old.
Simone Armstrong, 53, said she found her hormonal shift fairly easy to manage during her emergence into full-blown menopause at 50. She only recalled experiencing hot and cold flashes and a handful of night sweats over the past three years.
Armstrong acknowledges that her diet contributes to her hormones.
“Let’s say if I eat spicy food with pepper in it, or if I eat some curry or jerk chicken with hot spice, I experience a [hot] flash maybe two hours after, and then will go back to my normal self. I don’t experience much, to be honest with you,” said Armstrong, a Guyanese woman who resides in Beltsville, Maryland.
“I try my best to eat healthy and eat things that I know are good for my digestive system which I think helps to stabilize my body,” Armstrong continued. “I buy more fresh foods and cook often. We have different herbs that we use in our foods, which are fresh and healthy. Sometimes I do have restless nights as well, but I honestly think that is based on when I have a lot on my mind. Otherwise, my symptoms are very, very mild.”
A Transition for Others
Under the most standard of circumstances, a woman experiencing menopause may have mild symptoms. For women like Eva Laguerre, however, bodily changes over the past two years have become unpredictable.
Laguerre, 47, has been navigating the muddy terrain of perimenopause. This transitional period to menopause can bring hot flashes, weight gain, vaginal dryness, night sweats, and reduced libido.
Laguerre has also recalled experiencing “phantom smells,” random joint pains, and brain fog.
While speaking to the Informer, Laguerre detailed the shock of waking up to the lack of feeling in her shoulder.
She initially thought she pulled a muscle until she found a woman on Instagram explaining some of the menopause and perimenopause symptoms that her doctors never mentioned.
“I think it is key for people to talk about it because people will tell you ‘Oh, you’re still having your cycle, you are not in menopause, ignore all of the things that are happening with you,’ when [actually] you feel like you are going crazy because nobody else is listening when there is truly something wrong,” Laguerre said.” Perimenopause is a whole thing in itself that is not talked about or paid attention to between the hot flashes, the mood craziness – it’s insane.”
Consequently, women like Laguerre are turning to their communities for support and solutions.
Laguerre and her friends recently conducted a conference call to dissect the bevy of symptoms they experience. One friend said her marriage suffered at the height of her menopause because of mood swings that she struggled to balance.
“Even though women have been having these symptoms, they were being written off or ignored as something else,” Laguerre said. “It has not been until recently when women started talking to each other that we realized a lot of these [issues] have been because they are perimenopausal or have menopause. They just attributed it to something else until women started building community online.”
We Need a Resolution
While there is no one fix-all solution to reducing the severity of menopausal symptoms, women can take certain factors into consideration before reaching the age where one is most susceptible to the transition.
Researchers at the National Center for Biotechnology Information found that a cleaner diet consisting of plant-based foods, minimizing oils, and daily consumption of soybeans can significantly reduce the severity and frequency of postmenopausal hot flashes and associated symptoms.
Furthermore, in terms of lifestyle factors, statistics show Black women were likely to have greater cigarette use, experiencing more upsetting life events, including discriminative incidents, and being less physically active.
These disparities often increase the likelihood of earlier menopause and increase the risk of chronic disease , and more vasomotor symptoms, compared to white women.
Patricia Nombuso, a nursing practitioner based in Silver Spring, Maryland, acknowledges the importance of initiating healthy habits to encourage milder experiences during menopause.
“It varies with individuals. Some women experience hot flashes, mood swings, night sweats, and other symptoms, while others have an influx of symptoms over a shorter period,” Nombuso said.
“I find it has more to do with whether someone is living a healthy lifestyle or not, as with many other health issues. Eating healthy, exercising, and managing your stress levels are key.”
