Blog

Helpful Videos for Wonder Women

Posted on by Reclaim the Menopause

Two interesting YouTube videos caught our attention this week. The first provides a straightforward, medical explanation of the menopause and its “bothersome” symptoms. It’s from Health Channel TV a YouTube channel with 183,000 subscribers. Here’s how their About page describes their videos:

We make complex medical information easy to understand with 2D and 3D animations checked by medical specialists. In less than 3 minutes per video you learn about your cholesterol or about don’t & do’s when you have a cold sores or how the orgasm works for example!

 

The second video, from DeAnna Lam, offers a more spiritual approach. Lam, who held a workshop in London this weekend, describes the menopause as a the time in a woman’s life for her to “become her power.” On her website’s About page Lam describes herself as a “Womb Visionary” and

A recognized world expert in Menstrual Empowerment, and a pioneer in helping women reclaim the Spiritual Strength hidden Menstruation & Menopause, and Embody their Wisdom!

 

Both videos offer support for women at a time when it’s important to understand our experiences and feel less alone. There is no “right way” to undergo menopause. No one size fits all approach. Once you’ve landed on either the Health Channel TV or DeAnna Lam’s videos, keep clicking. Keep exploring. There is a wealth of information out there: factual/practical and emotional/spiritual. Find your path. Discover what works for you.

Whatever you find, as always, we hope you’ll join the discussion on our Facebook page so we might all be enriched by it. All perspectives—whether scientific, spiritual, or somewhere in between—are welcome.

Woman’s Hour Looks at CBT for Breast Cancer Patients’ Menopause Symptoms

Posted on by Reclaim the Menopause

Depicting_basic_tenets_of_CBT

A segment on the Monday 3 July episode of Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour covered a new study being done in Wales and England examining the potential benefits of CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) for menopausal symptoms in breast cancer patients.

Chemotherapy and hormone suppressing injections lead to menopause-like symptoms in women well ahead of when they might normally experience the menopause. Depending on age, the patient’s “chemopause” can be temporary or permanent. Regardless, the symptoms appear very suddenly and can very difficult to manage. Jodi Wilson was diagnosed at age 25 just months after having her first baby. She describes her post-chemo symptoms as more unbearable than the chemo itself.

Baroness Delyth Morgan, Chief Executive at Breast Cancer Now which are funding the trial and Professor Deborah Fenlon, Nurse Researcher at Swansea University also join Jane Garvey to discuss this three-year study taking place at six breast health centres across England. CBT is common in psychotherapy. This study hopes to proves its benefit to breast cancer patients so that breast care nurses might train in and offer it to their patients in the future.

Listen to the Woman’s Hour story online or on the BBC iPlayer Radio app.

For more on the study visit the Breast Cancer Now site.

We have a lengthy new Resources page here on this site to support you. Please let us know what else you might like to see included and, as always, we welcome your comments here and on our Facebook page.

 

 

 

 

Finally, I Can Look Forward to Being “Me”

Posted on by Reclaim the Menopause

New columnist Carol Hunt makes a splashy, sassy and unapologetic debut in the June 19 issue of The Irish Times online headlined:

If menopause means I’ll be all dried up, why am I so euphoric?

It’s a must read. Hunt throws off “ridiculous self-censorship” and writes from inside the truth of her peri-menopause. Her piece squarely addresses Irish politics and the governance of female bodies. She smashes preconceived notions and shrugs off cultural expectation.

She also serves up some cracking good lines.

I’m now realising that all that stuff they tell you about the menopause being the worst event that happens to a woman in life, bar none, is absolute bollocks.

There have been mood swings and swearing and anger – but no more than from any man in a normal working day.

The night sweats are beyond annoying, the day ones embarrassing. Or they would be if I hadn’t suddenly lost the ability to become embarrassed.

I exercise more – why not? There’s no rule that insists I must let myself go and become an overweight, underachieving nonentity just because I am finally beyond the age of giving birth.

Women are one of the few mammals who live long after their child-bearing days are over. Another is the killer whale

Enjoy the read.

We’d love to hear your uncensored thoughts about your experience of the menopause. Funny, ferocious or freaky, feel free to speak freely in the comments here and/or on our Facebook page.

 

 

 

Sex & Menopause

Posted on by Reclaim the Menopause

During transition through the menopause sex can sometimes be the last thing on some women’s minds. For others they say that menopause has in fact raised their libido, especially for those who are happy to be free of the worry of using contraception.
Vaginal dryness, tiredness, hot flushes, lowered self esteem and low libido are just some of the reasons why women lose interest in sex. As one women told us “Why would I want someone else’s hot body on top of me when I can’t cope with my own heat!’

Through the peer support groups and educational workshops we run, sex comes up again and again. On our educational workshops we are happy to have Cabby Laffy, (Director of The Centre for Psychosexual Health & author of Love Sex), as part of our team. We also partner up with SH! Women’s Sex Emporium to give women the opportunity to explore being in a sex shop and to get the chance to ask some of those questions that might otherwise be left unanswered. SH! were the first women’s sex shop to be established in the UK in 1992 and their mission is to inspire every woman to embrace her true sexual self. They really are a female positive space, welcoming of all women and have recently been doing sex education sessions in schools. Renee and her team have a great way of putting women at ease.

So, if you have missed the opportunity to join us on one of our trips to SH! Or want to come again here is the info below. We will be exploring women’s sexuality and arousal in the context of menopause :

Visit to SH! Women’s Sex Emporium

Sh_wDate: 22.6.17
Time 6.30pm
Address: 57 Hoxton Square, London, N1 6PB.
Nearest Tube Old St or Liverpool St
Bus Routes: 26, 35, 55, 67, 149, 242, 243

If you would rather come along as part of a group meet us outside the Shoreditch Town Hall, 380 Old Street, London EC1V 9LT, between 6-6.15pm.

Please let us know if you will be joining us by emailing menopause@handsinc.co.uk

A New Page with Many Resources

Posted on by Reclaim the Menopause

 

There are many resources available to women going through the menopause. We’ve created a new Resources page listing books, websites, blogs, Facebook pages and more.confused-and-young-30426e87f307615e5b571ae50591e15b

Here you’ll find information from many angles: self-care, mental health, sexuality, physical changes, and women sharing experiences.

Have a look and have a chat. Either in comments below, on our Facebook page or both. Are there additional resources you’d like to see listed? If you’ve tried one of the resources listed, how was your experience?

Detective Honoured for Menopause Support

Posted on by Reclaim the Menopause

Read the full story at The Police Federation website

17 May 2017

Dame Vera Baird and DC Keeley Mansell
Dame Vera Baird and DC Keeley Mansell

Detective Constable Keeley Mansell found herself experiencing the menopause without any support. So she created it for herself and her colleagues. Her efforts have earned her the National Women in Policing award.

Speaking about the award, the detective said: “I am delighted and so grateful to receive such a prestigious award.

“Having written policy and guidance around such a taboo subject, the menopause, I hope other women will achieve their goals, knowing they will now have the support and guidance required within the police service.”

Read the full story HERE

And as always, feel free to join the discussion about the menopause and work at our Facebook page.

The Menopause Project holds 12 week workshops for women to come together, share their experiences, and learn various coping strategies. Here’s what some of our previous workshop participants had to say on the subject of menopause and work:
One woman on the effect of taking the workshop and her willingness to discuss the subject at work:
I do think it’s important to chat, and that’s what I’ve been doing to other people in the opportunity I do get, I’m always talking about the menopause.  And I think it’s a little bit over the top, but I’m just trying to get it out in the open, so that other people know, particularly in my workplace, that if anyone wants to talk about the menopause or if they have a little something they want to get out in the open- and that’s what I have been doing- and I’m finding that a lot more at work, people are talking about it, particularly the ladies. And also, when I sit, I sit with the guys, that they’re saying “oh what have you learned last week because I’m a bit over the top anyway *laughter* perhaps they might be wanting to talk to their partners or girlfriends or whatever but are just sort of talking and getting it out; and I’m finding that I feel a bit more confident talking about it as opposed to 12 weeks ago.
Another on finding no one to talk with at work:
There was no feedback at all. Some of them would be be like “oh, don’t want to talk about that” because I don’t want to even register that I’m old or dried up or am on the shelf, it was all “oh no don’t you come here talking about that sort of thing!” *laughter* and so I sort of like plotted out and tried to find information myself basically. And then ended up here.
A third woman found her emotions interfering with her work:
Well, at the beginning, because I didn’t know what it was. And I was having these ups and downs with my emotions. And suddenly not being able to deal with, like, work situations, as well as I used to. And just feeling terrible. Having real moments of feeling awful, really really awful.
The next workshop begins in October 2017.
Please contact us at menopause@handsinc.co.uk to join us.
Photo © copyright 2017 Police Federation All rights reserved.

X-Files actress Gillian Anderson Opens Up About The Menopause

Posted on by Reclaim the Menopause

And wishes we would all do the same

Gillian Anderson Jennifer Nadal photo from wearethecity.com
Gillian Anderson and Jennifer Nadel

Gillian Anderson (X-Files, BBC’s War and Peace) and her friend journalist Jennifer Nadel made international headlines recently as they promoted their new book We: A Manifesto for Women Everywhere.  In an interview with The Lenny Letter, both spoke candidly about their menopause experiences. The story was picked up around the world perhaps because prominent women rarely speak so freely on the subject.

Looks like that is beginning to change.

Read the interview HERE.

And please join our ongoing conversation at our Facebook page.

 

Photo via: WeAreTheCity.com