Menopause Special Report

Menopause. It’s one of the biggest biological and hormonal changes we’ll ever experience, and yet we rarely talk or think about it. Reckon you don’t need to yet? It’s time to reconsider, because preparing your mind and body now, as well as busting this often-hushed convo wide open, could be the secret to maximising your post-period years

- Lauren Sams

Things I know about my mum without having to ask: her coffee order (skim cap), the way she likes her G&Ts (heavy on the gin, thanks for asking), the facial expression she pulls when she wants to leave a conversation (eyes narrower than Fraser Anning’s tiny mind) and the number of times she needs to say bye to me before she finally hangs up the phone (four on a good day). One thing I don’t know? When she started menopause.

My mum and I are close. We talk almost every day. But, until recently, I didn’t even know she had gone through menopause. In fact, I didn’t think about menopause at all. It was something that happened to old women. Sure, it would happen to my mum and to me, I supposed at some point, but that wouldn’t be for ages. Years. Possibly decades. And when it happened, I imagined it would be a relatively straightforward thing. No more periods, obvs. Maybe a hot flash or two. But mainly: no more periods. End of story. I could not have been more wrong.

Hear ‘menopause’ and most of us think of a punchline: a cross woman with a cold washcloth applied to her face, or fanning herself furiously to cool off. We think of women no longer interested in sex, or who suddenly sprout chin hairs sturdier than Donald Trump’s ego. What we don’t think about, usually, is the reality: that menopause is one of the single biggest events in a menstruating female’s life. It is a hugely significant change that can begin years before your last period, and have ramifications long after. When you think about how much time we spend talking about pregnancy and childbirth, and how carefully we prepare young girls for their first period, it’s kind of crazy to think that our last period – and all it entails – is so rarely spoken of.

Surprise twists