Issue 186: Menopause Is a Renovation, Not a Collapse

We’ve had four separate trades working at Be Well over the past few months, and it’s taught me something about menopause I didn’t expect. A renovation looks like chaos while it’s happening. Dust everywhere, nothing where it used to be, and everyone (me included!) asking ‘why is this taking so long?’. But if you’ve got good, solid foundations and a decent plan, you’re rebuilding something even better than what was there before. It just takes a little time.

That’s also what the latest menopause research is telling us. It’s a renovation, not a collapse. Here’s what’s actually new, and what to do with it.

For 20 years, hormone therapy has carried a black box warning so alarming that most women, like me, and most doctors, just avoided it altogether. That warning came from a flawed 2002 study using an outdated formulation, tested mostly on women well past the age most of us would start.

In February this year, the FDA finally removed it. The new labels say something quite different: starting hormone therapy within 10 years of menopause, ideally before 60, is linked to lower rates of death and fewer fractures.

This is American regulation, so our TGA hasn’t made the same move here yet. But it’s a signal the ground is shifting. If you’ve been putting off a proper conversation with your GP because you remember the scary headline from a decade ago, that headline just got a rewrite. Worth another conversation.

A study released this year pooled 126 trials and over 4,000 women and found something quietly radical: resistance training builds strength and reshapes your body just as effectively after menopause as before it. Menopause made no measurable difference to the results. None.

Translation: your body isn’t broken, and it isn’t done. It’s like discovering the old bones of your house are actually solid; they just need someone to notice them and reinforce them properly.

The practical version of this: lift heavier over time, not more reps of the same light weight. Focus on legs and back; that’s where the studies show the biggest payoff for balance and everyday strength. Two 30 minute sessions a week were enough in one trial to improve bone density in women who already had osteoporosis.

New research on a drug called elinzanetant found it improved sleep even when it wasn’t touching hot flushes. For years we’ve assumed fix the flushes, the sleep follows.

If sleep is your main complaint, say that specifically to whoever you’re getting advice from, rather than filing it under ‘general menopause symptoms’.

The menopause supplement industry is projected to hit $24 billion globally by 2030, and a lot of it is selling hope with no data behind it. There’s a documented case of a woman who got 16 unregulated testosterone pellets from an anti-aging clinic over four years. Her testosterone levels came back at 200 times the normal female range. It took her two years to recover after stopping, and the pellets can’t even be removed once they’re in.

The lesson isn’t that hormones are dangerous. It’s unregulated, undosed, unsupervised hormones from someone selling you a lifestyle that are dangerous. There’s a real difference between a doctor adjusting your dose based on bloodwork and a wellness influencer with a ring light selling you a pellet with a testimonial instead of a citation.

Now that’s something I never thought I would say!

I wish my mother and her friends who suffered in menopause-taboo-silence had known all this information. I wish I could have stayed on HRT and not quietly suffered debilitating and humiliating symptoms for 10 years.

Her aunties and I gave my daughter, Laura, an impromptu ‘first period’ party. I am so happy for Laura that she will not consider menopause a slow decline or something to be experienced alone. She will be well prepared and find another reason for a party or joyful, wonderful ritual of some kind!

And yes, renovations are messy, take longer and cost more than you expect but at some point you just embrace the chaos, knowing that you’ll come out the other side stronger, whatever happens!

So whilst you get on with preparing for your next stage renovations, we look forward to showing you ours at Be Well in 6 weeks time.

Here’s to living healthier, happier, stronger together

See you at Be Well again soon.