Coping with THE CHANGE

Knowledge is power when it comes to mastering menopause

First of all, a little bone to pick with language. What’s up with the pause in menopause? It’s not like it’s coming back on. It’s a bit like when someone asks to borrow a piece of gum or a tissue – mate, we don’t want it back! We really should be calling it menostop, or menogone or menogoodriddance. While we’re at it, shouldn’t it at the very least be called womenopause?

As it turns out, digging into the language is illuminating. The word menopause as we know it was first recorded in French in 1845. This word goes back to the Latin menopausis, which itself is rooted in the Greek mēn (meaning month) and pausis (a cessation or pause). This explains the Oxford English Dictionary definition as “the permanent cessation of menstruation; the period of a woman’s life when this occurs”.

What this suggests is that menopause exists on a kind of continuum – there are lots of temporary cessations before the final cessation. And along that continuum are a lot of different symptoms, experiences and changes that happen to our bodies and our minds. 

Menopause is an interesting topic. There are the essential scientific elements of it, and the many other emotional, social and even political elements. It impacts our lives in myriad ways. Many marriages don't withstand menopause and the mental health toll alone is sobering. The stigma and stereotypes around ageing for women in particular are likely part of the reason that we don't have a more vigorous public discourse around menopause, and why so much of it is still shrouded in mystery.

So let's demystify it, shall we? First, let's define our terms.