One morning in mid-May, I boarded a plane from Charlotte, NC and was NYC-bound. No stranger to flying and its associated hiccups, I was mentally knocked off kilter when my flight was cancelled after I had arrived at the airport. The rush was on to get rebooked and, after standing in line for 30 minutes, not making it on first one then two standby flights, and hanging around the airport like a nomad for four hours, I finally made it to The Big Apple. I was on a mission.

That evening, my sleep was fitful and uneasy, punctuated with random thoughts of what was to come the following day . . . and hot flashes. As I sweltered in my own body-generated homemade heat (thanks for that, menopause), I was excited and curious. In 12 hours I would be attending an event that was embarking on a quest to help change the way we think and talk about menopause.

The time had come. On that rainy, chilly day in NYC, I joined forces with nine other women and, along with the team from TherapeuticsMD^®, together we set out to change the narrative of menopause at the Find Ur Cool event.

Like many women in menopause, I’ve experienced a myriad of symptoms, many of which leave me drained, exhausted and, quite frankly, angry. When I slid down that slippery slope from having periods to wildly erratic periods to, finally, no periods at all, I careened head-first into menopause . . . and I wasn’t wearing a crash helmet.

For the most part, when it came to menopause, I was clueless. Aside from hot flashes, I really didn’t know what to expect. I never discussed menopause with my mother, my girlfriends and I never sat around lamenting its imminent arrival, and my GYN told me nothing about what I could expect to encounter at the onset and beyond.

Spend a few minutes searching the internet on the subject of menopause and you’ll be bombarded with enough information, misinformation, opinions, factual fodder and old wives tales to fuel a late-night television host’s monologue for a year! Menopause can be a scary time. And many women suffer in silence, enduring all the ills that come with the Big M while trying to go on with life as usual.

Let’s change that, shall we?

— Menopause isn’t quite mainstream, but it should be.
— Menopause is taboo, but it shouldn’t be.
— Menopause silences women of a certain age, but it shouldn’t.
— Menopause sucks, and it likely always will.
— Menopause is universal.
— Menopause is more than ‘something that just happens’ . . . it is our rite of passage. And, good or bad, we should try to embrace it.

Menopause – let’s talk about it.

Here’s what I propose:

Let’s talk about menopause.

The truth . . . for better or worse. Let’s strip it bare — uncover the harsh reality and the benefits — and bring it all to light.

Why?

Because too many women are in the dark, ill-informed and unaware. Because menopause is about more than just hot flashes and mood swings. Because too many women are conflicted about menopause. Because millions of women go through menopause . . . and millions more of our future generation will be catapulted into menopause in the years to come. Are they ready? Are they knowledgeable? Are they prepared?

I wasn’t.

Whispering about menopause in secret is out. Raising our collective voices out in the open is in! Women experiencing menopause are not throw-away women. We aren’t washed up, we aren’t over the hill, and we aren’t hags. We are viable, we are relevant and we are a huge demographic. 

So . . . won’t you join me? Let’s talk about menopause. Let’s change the narrative. Let’s learn from one another and inform a generation. 

What do you have to say in this important menopause conversation? Let your voice be heard. Let’s discuss it in the comments.

The FDA has just approved a new low-dose estradiol vaginal insert developed by TherapeuticsMD^® to treat dyspareunia (painful intercourse due to menopause). Read more about it HERE.