Managing Your Menopause Type^® Educational Class

Session One - Redefining Menopause

Changing How We Think of Menopause

The way that we think of menopause, both individually and as a society, has a direct affect on how a woman is viewed during this stage of her life, and how she is treated by the healthcare system. The social, medical and cultural definition of menopause has always determined which therapies are used in management of menopause.

In the 1940s through 1960s the medical community considered menopause as an estrogen deficiency condition. Therapies for women focused on one thing - give estrogen. This appeared to help some women who probably did have a true estrogen deficiency. But the limitations and dangers of this "one-size-fits-all" approach would soon become evident. Some women did very poorly on this "estrogen for all women" approach to menopause. The effects that estrogen replacement would have on progesterone and testosterone and other hormones were not considered. The long-term risk for cancer was not openly discussed (papers linking estrogen to cancer were already published). Estrogen was heavily marketed as the hormone for all women. The one-size-fits-all approach had been heavily associated with menopause - a great misfortune that would continue to plague woman's health care for decades. The estrogens that were prescribed were, for the most part, estrogens that do not occur naturally in the human body. They were foreign estrogens - or xenoestrogens.

In the 1970s & 1980s we came face to face with the reality that estrogen replacement increased the risk of endometrial cancer. We began to truly understand the consequences of unopposed estrogen (estrogen not balanced by progesterone). The one-size-fits-all model was quickly updated to "give a progestogen when prescribing estrogen". (A progestogen is a molecule that has some of the actions or progesterone.) The menopause market was revitalized by this new approach estrogen progestogen combinations were heavily marketed as the one-size-fits-all. Like estrogens, the progestogens that were prescribed were mostly synthetic, and not progestogens that occur naturally in the human body. The new estrogen & progestogen combination did have true merit, but society could not get past the fact that the previous one-size-fits-all had major flaws. Medical dogma was being openly questioned. The shroud that hid medical and scientific research from the public had been ripped away. Economic and social forces were changing the very practice of medicine. Our understanding of menopause was about to change.

In the 1990s and into the end of the century the management of menopause continued to evolve. As public access to medical information increased, and the women's healthcare movement continued to grow, other models of menopause emerged. The Internet strengthened the self-care movement, and conventional models of menopause management were openly challenged in both the medical community and society at large. Books on menopause began to enter the popular market, breaking the "last taboo'' and bringing conversations about menopause out into the open.

The most dominant definition of menopause in the medical community continued to be that menopause is an estrogen deficiency that also needs a progestogen for endometrial protection. Thus the most widely used one-size-fits-all approach was to give women an estrogen with a progestogen.

The fact that women could be deficient in testosterone was beginning to be recognized. The one-size-fits-all model was beginning to erode.

In the mid- to late 1990s public awareness of a progesterone deficiency in women of menopause age was beginning to be recognized. There was a progesterone replacement therapy movement that was heavily fueled by the marketing and selling of progesterone. Promoters of progesterone replacement therapy did not discuss the side effects and risks of progesterone replacement therapy. A progesterone only philosophy evolved, and women were encouraged to ignore estrogens and testosterone. The one-size-fits-all model, which had proved to be an effective marketing strategy for estrogen was now being used to sell progesterone.

As the century ended menopause was still heavily influences by the one-size-fits-all model. Various marketing camps had emerged; each convinced that they had the one-size-fits-all model that all women needed. The medical community was still trying to clearly define what menopause was - not fully aware that there are different types of menopause.

What this means to you

Understanding that menopause cannot be managed by a one-size-fits-all approach is the first step to finding out your unique needs. Identifying, and planning for your unique needs is covered in upcoming sessions. The Managing Your Menopause Type® Educational Class will have two major goals running as themes through the class: Understanding that menopause cannot be managed by a one-size-fits-all approach is the first step to finding out your unique needs. Identifying, and planning for your unique needs is covered in upcoming sessions. The Managing Your Menopause Type^® Educational Class will have two major goals running as themes through the class:

The first major theme is the goal of enhancing the quality of your life by managing symptoms associated with menopause. Quality of life will be introduced in session two.

The second major theme is to decrease the risk of diseases associated with menopause such as osteoporosis, heart disease and other chronic diseases. Risks of diseases will be introduced in session three.

What's Next?

We will now present the new definition of menopause, and introduce the menopause types^®.

The Managing Your Menopause Type^® Educational Class is provided to the public without charge. This information is provided for educational purposes only, and is not intended to prescribe treatment. Consult a physician, pharmacist or other healthcare professional regarding the applicability of any opinions or recommendations with respect to your symptoms or medical condition.