To Much Hype Around Perimenopause?

An MIT Technology Review article (recently posted on Doximity) suggested there’s “a lot of hype around perimenopause, and not to buy it” — and that perhaps the pendulum has swung too far.  Has it?

For decades, women experiencing symptoms in their 30s and 40s — disrupted sleep, brain fog, mood changes, palpitations, joint pain, changes in body composition, fatigue, or simply feeling different — often had no idea these symptoms could be connected to the hormonal fluctuations of perimenopause. And many still don’t.

Many clinicians still receive limited education about the menopause transition. Many women are still told their labs are “normal,” that they’re stressed, or that this is simply part of getting older — without perimenopause ever entering the conversation.

So I have a hard time believing we’ve already reached the point where awareness has gone too far, and now we are blaming everything on perimenopause.  

Does that mean every symptom a woman experiences in her 30's and 40s is caused by perimenopause? Absolutely not.

The distinction is - that good menopause care isn’t about blaming everything on hormones. It’s about understanding the menopause transition well enough to recognize when hormones could be contributing — while still asking what else might be going on.

Women need to understand the many ways perimenopause can present so they can advocate for themselves.

Clinicians need to understand those symptoms too — and know when to investigate beyond hormones.

More education is needed on both sides!

More awareness doesn’t have to mean overdiagnosis. And appropriate skepticism shouldn’t send us backward into under-recognition.

We spent decades barely talking about perimenopause.  I’m not convinced the problem now is that we’re talking about it too much.  The goal isn’t to make everything about hormones.

It’s to make sure hormones are finally part of (and a vital part at that) the conversation with your health care providers.