Beyond hot flashes, perimenopause brings joint pain, brain fog, memory lapses, and unexpected weight gain. Many women don't realize these are normal, leading to anxiety and unnecessary medical tests when symptoms hit during peak career years.
Are there some more unknown symptoms of menopause that could leave women feeling like they might be in a more serious health condition?
I think that's the alarming part, and that's what leaves a lot of women feeling so isolated and men in their lives feeling so confused. So you go into menopause, perimenopause in particular, you've had all these hormone fluctuations. And, you know, we did a lot of research for the documentary, talking to the different doctors, talking to women who were trying to be treated, saying, I didn't know what was happening. All of a sudden, I couldn't sleep anymore. I was gaining weight in areas that made no sense, though I was exercising and eating the same. It's joint pain that came out of nowhere, hot flashes, night sweats. When we hear menopause, we go, hahaha, hot flashes, that's it. That's not really it. When you are a woman, and oftentimes these are women at the height of their careers, and they're dealing with brain fog, lack of concentration, not able to complete tasks that they could complete before, not able to remember names, that can really knock your confidence. Initially, when that something like that happens, they think, oh my goodness, is this a sign of dementia? Is this something that's wrong, that's much more serious? They're running to the doctor, they're going for different tests, and they wind up oftentimes coming back to, it's perimenopause, and this is normal for all women, yet we weren't taught about it.
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