Menopause. The phrase probably calls to thoughts each ageing and its frequent signs, resembling sizzling flashes, altering moods and issue sleeping.
However for one Fb consumer, the complete idea is pretend — the results of social conditioning.
“There’s no such factor as menopause,” learn the Aug. 25 submit, which included a picture making the identical declare. “Hearken to nothing however your Instinct with a transparent empty thoughts. All you’ve been conditioned by society to simply accept as actuality is a lie.”
This submit was flagged as a part of Meta’s efforts to fight false information and misinformation on its Information Feed. (Learn extra about our partnership with Meta, which owns Fb and Instagram.)
This declare is inaccurate. Quite a few clinics, teams of well being care professionals and medical analysis organizations say menopause exists, and customarily outline it as the purpose at which a girl has naturally gone 12 months with out a menstrual interval.
Dr. Somi Javaid, an OB-GYN and member of the medical advisory board of Let’s Discuss Menopause, a bunch targeted on menopause training and well being care advocacy, stated the declare mirrored a “lengthy historical past of girls being dismissed and neglected within the subject of medication.”
“Menopause is an inevitable stage of life, one that each girl will expertise if lucky sufficient to reside that lengthy,” Javaid stated. “It’s a section we are able to and will acknowledge, diagnose, deal with, and in the end have fun.”
(Screenshot from Fb)
Amongst numerous organizations, definitions are broadly comparable with slight variations.
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The American School of Obstetrics and Gynecologists: “Menopause is the time in your life if you naturally cease having menstrual intervals. … Menopause marks the tip of the reproductive years.”
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Nationwide Institute on Getting older: “Menopause is a cut-off date 12 months after a girl’s final interval. The years main as much as that time, when girls might have modifications of their month-to-month cycles, sizzling flashes, or different signs, are known as the menopausal transition or perimenopause.”
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Cleveland Clinic: “Menopause is a cut-off date when an individual has gone 12 consecutive months with out a menstrual interval. Menopause is a pure a part of ageing and marks the tip of your reproductive years.”
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Johns Hopkins Medication: “When a girl completely stops having menstrual intervals, she has reached the stage of life known as menopause. Usually known as the change of life, this stage indicators the tip of a girl’s skill to have kids.”
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World Well being Group: “Pure menopause is deemed to have occurred after 12 consecutive months with out menstruation for which there is no such thing as a different apparent physiological or pathological trigger and within the absence of scientific intervention.”
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Mayo Clinic: “Menopause is when intervals cease for good. It’s identified after 12 months with out a menstrual interval, vaginal bleeding or recognizing.”
What causes menopause?
Menopause happens naturally when ovaries cease making reproductive hormones resembling estrogen and cease releasing eggs for fertilization, in accordance with the American School of Obstetrics and Gynecologists, Cleveland Clinic and World Well being Group.
“Estrogen receptors are current all through the physique, from head to toe. When a person undergoes menopause, estrogen ranges plummet dramatically,” Javaid stated. “It’s now nicely understood that the discount in estrogen can result in important signs, and to disclaim this actuality is each irresponsible and dismissive of the profound impression it has on a person’s well being and well-being.”
That course of doesn’t occur in a single day. The scientific phrases for the time main as much as menopause are “perimenopause” or “menopausal transition,” though individuals generally seek advice from this era as when somebody is “going by menopause.” That transitionary interval sometimes begins between ages 45 and 55, the Nationwide Institute on Getting older stated. Johns Hopkins stated perimenopause lasts about 4 years on common.
The common age of menopause — which is reached 12 months after a remaining interval — within the U.S. is about 51 years outdated, in accordance with Mayo Clinic. For ladies worldwide, the World Well being Group stated pure menopause happens “usually between 45 and 55 years.”
Naturally occurring menopause isn’t even the one sort: Some individuals may expertise one thing known as induced menopause, which is precipitated by a surgical procedure or medical remedy.
How have you learnt when it’s taking place?
Menopause signs embrace irregular intervals, sizzling flashes, vaginal dryness, insomnia, evening sweats and temper modifications, in accordance with medical analysis and well being organizations.
“As a common rule, one-third of girls will transition into menopause with solely gentle signs or none in any respect,” Dr. Katie Lessman, an OB-GYN, advised Nebraska Medication in 2022. “One other third will expertise bothersome signs for a number of years. The ultimate third can have signs that enhance however by no means go away.”
Menopause exists and this Fb submit made a ridiculous declare. We charge it Pants on Fireplace!
