Source: smh.com.au
Lorena Beatriz was 23 when an ultrasound to check for endometriosis revealed her ovaries were abnormally small.
After her doctor advised her to stop taking the contraceptive pill, her menstrual cycles ceased.
What followed was an onslaught of perimenopausal symptoms; hot flushes involving a burst of intense heat that would start in her face and spread through her body, fatigue, mood swings and vaginal dryness.
It would be two years before she was finally diagnosed with spontaneous premature ovarian insufficiency, a rare condition which causes loss of function of the ovaries in women under 40.
“My first reaction was to cry because having kids was something that I had wanted forever and I felt such grief about it,” Ms Beatriz, now 28, said. “I felt very alone. I was going through something nobody else in my friendship group had experienced.”
Menopause before the age 45 is referred to as “early menopause”. Onset can be spontaneous and sometimes unexplained. For about five per cent of women the cause remains unknown.
The isolation experienced by these women can be profound, says Monash University endocrinologist Associate Professor Amanda Vincent, and there is a lack of credible and high-quality information available.
This prompted researchers at Monash University and RMIT to collaborate on a digital platform that shares the stories of 30 women, aged between 28 and 51, who have experienced early menopause.
The Healthtalk Australia website, to be launched on Monday, also includes support services for women and information for health professionals about diagnosing the condition, including symptoms, treatments and long-term effects.
“Early menopause can lead to infertility, psychological distress and increased risks of bone and heart disease. It can also be a very lonely,” Associate Professor Vincent said. “It can impact on their feeling of feminity and women affected have told us heartbreaking stories about their experiences.”
Associate Professor Vincent said the website would also aim to spark conversations about early menopause.
About 25 per cent of women with breast cancer, uterine or ovarian cancer are pre-menopausal at diagnosis and it is believed there are more women experiencing early menopause due to higher cancer survival rates.
“The whole experience of ‘I am not alone, other women gone through this’ can be really helpful for women going through this transition,” Associate Professor Vincent said.
Ms Beatriz’s boyfriend at the time of her diagnosis broke up with her after finding out she would not be able to conceive.
She later lost two jobs as she struggled to control her often debilitating symptoms and the side effects of using different doses of hormone replacement therapies to regulate her body.
“The hardest part was feeling like nobody understood what I was going through,” Ms Beatriz said.
Menopausal hormone therapy is currently the most effective type of treatment available for perimenopause symptoms, with more than 300,000 Australian women using it.
But it is not without controversy. Studies have linked it to a slightly increased risk of developing cancer in women who have gone through menopause at the expected age.
Dr Elizabeth Farrell, a gynaecologist and medical director of Jean Hailes for Women’s Health, said hormone therapy was critical for women experiencing premature menopause as it helped reduce the heightened risk of developing conditions including cardiovascular disease, heart disease and osteoporosis.
“These women, for their blood vessels, bones and general well-being, need reasonably high doses of [hormone] therapy because that’s what their bodies would normally have,” Dr Farrell said. “We need to normalise their bodies to protect them until they reach the expected age of menopause.”
Dr Farrell said research suggested young women using hormone therapy have about the same chance of developing breast or ovarian cancer as women the same age who are not using it and still menstruating.