Naturopathic Article of the Month
By Dr. Heidi Lescanec, ND
Do you know what filter you are sifting the menopause experience through?
Is the lens rosy pink or blue? Are you seeing 20/20?
There is more to the menopause transition than just managing difficult symptoms.
I regret making an expensive mistake recently. I ordered some new stylish prescription sunglasses and neglected to think about the colour of the lens. The optometrist never asked me my preference so I guess by default he chose it himself, or perhaps from what he had in stock. The blue lens of my sunglasses makes everything look darker and harder to see unless it’s a fully sun-blasted day. This blue lens is great in sun-saturated California (where I was hiking recently with a good girlfriend, (see below 🙂 but it is super over-correcting in Vancouver where I spend most of my days. Situated in a rain-forest, this city is best navigated with yellow or even better, rose-coloured glasses–or else a sunny-ish day can have a dim/ grey tone to it.
It got me thinking about how much of what I read and hear about menopause is similarly casting a very negative light on what this transition is all about.
- Banish the belly fat!
- Cool down the hot flashes!
- Blast through the zone of chaos and brain fog!
…And all with this 5-step secret formula!
If you are in the zone of peri-menopause, I wonder, isn’t it already frustrating enough that:
- You were never prepared for this “coming of age” .
- Your average GP wasn’t trained/ might not have much to share/offer you.
- In daily life you feel the need to hide all signs of this.
Add to that the strange sense there’s a secret society! It can seem like you need a special knock and handshake to get in the door to get up-to-date info on this inevitable, natural transition. Well, surely that is a crazy-making experience amid potentially crazy-making, dysregulating symptoms.
And yet there is more to the menopause transition than just managing difficult symptoms.
I know (from experience!) that there can be disruptive and painful things like hot flashes, brain fog and GSM (genitourinary syndrome of menopause) to name a few.
But that is not the total of the transition and evolution that a woman goes through.
If going through puberty girls were only told about the pain points and the challenges of becoming a woman, that transition would be even more difficult.
Puberty can be a taxing time with acne, sleep issues, and mood changes. Does a young woman need to be told it’s also terrible that she won’t continue to be a little girl?
There are many tools in naturopathic medicine I work with daily to provide support and relief, that can ease the physical and mental or brain health challenges for my patients moving through the transition.
But there is a missing piece that I can’t write a prescription to solve for. It’s deeper than the physical + mental layer for most of us.
It’s the perspective that we absorb inside deep in our psyche from our culture that says a menopausal woman is a declining or diminished woman.
Yet we “know better” that an adolescent girl entering puberty surely isn’t a declining child. This girl is evolving to become a woman. She’s in transition, she is naturally growing up, not diminished.
I believe that we are ready for more than just hearing about the signs and symptoms of menopause transition.
Amen to the fact that we are finally speaking about it more openly! But It’s time for more than that. The dark blue filter that puts a sombre image of decline and chaos is one I want to trade out for a brighter, clearer one. I intend to contribute to a more 20/20 perspective of midlife/aging and menopause in 2024.
Menopause is a transition that brings us to another chapter in our lifespan.
Post-menopause is a rich and full phase of life for many women I see and have learned from since I was a young girl.
I’d like to hear from you and share more about the upside of going through this transition and what we can look forward to on the other side. There are many ways that women thrive after menopause and it’s time to hear those stories + see the full picture clearly!
If you have insight to share or thoughts I would love to hear about it!
QUESTIONS for you:
- Are you in touch with the upsides of being a woman over 50?
- Do you see examples of women you admire or have mentors in this phase of life?
- Anything else I should know?
I invite you to share with me by replying here (to my email) or on Instagram or Facebook.
Warmly, 
Dr. Heidi
A Quote To Chew On:
There is no more creative force in the world than a menopausal woman with zest – Margaret Mead
A Great Resource:
The Upgrade amounts to a celebration of how women step into their power and an entirely new—and radically positive—understanding of aging.
You can grab it here. The Upgrade
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Broadway Wellness is a community clinic, offering services in the heart of Fairview – at Broadway & Willow. Our clinic was established with a strong foundation in Registered Massage Therapy, and has expanded to encompass Naturopathic Medicine and Acupuncture, as a multi-disciplinary clinic.