Kristina Halvorson: “I have gathered you here to talk about menopause.”
The following post appeared on Kristina Halvorson’s LinkedIn page, and I jumped at the chance to republish it (with permission, of course). Stories of women leaders dealing with perimenopause and menopause are still not nearly common enough—nor are articles that remind us HRT is safe and effective for most women (Halvorson linked to a recent NPR piece on current science). Read on!
Hello! I have gathered you here today to talk about menopause.
(And yes, LinkedIn is a TERRIFIC place to write about this topic, because sooner or later menopause happens to 100% of women at work. I win!)
Here is my story.
In 2018, I started experiencing debilitating anxiety, chronic pain, and insomnia. I made All the Doctors’ Appointments. Luckily, everything came back normal. But I kept feeling worse.
For the next six years, I spent a LOT of time and money trying to feel better: new doctors, therapy, meds, exercise, massage, supplements, PT, mindfulness, the works. All of it. Nothing helped.
Cut to a few months ago, when I officially entered menopause and started having hot flashes for the first time.
(This was not the order in which I’d been told to expect hot flashes. In fact, when I was in perimenopause and friends would complain, I’d sort of look away and try not to call attention to the fact that I had escaped them.)
Again, as a responsible adult, I consulted Dr. Google right away (which always helped with my anxiety … oh wait). And as I reviewed the long list of symptoms to expect during peri-/menopause, here’s what I saw, buried among the usual suspects:
Anxiety. Chronic pain. Insomnia.
What??
I immediately told everyone I know (exaggeration? likely not). A friend asked if I’d read “the latest” about hormone replacement therapy. After some serious Reddit-ing (my OTHER internet doctor), I messaged my primary doctor and was able to start HRT within the week.
Eight weeks later, my anxiety was essentially gone, and I was more or less pain-free for the first time in six years.
I’m having trouble processing how quickly and radically this treatment has impacted my life. And there’s no small amount of grief in wondering, what if I’d known about this six years ago? How would my life — my work, my parenting, my friendships, my sense of self — have been different all that time?
Primarily, of course, I feel super lucky that HRT is working for me, and I’m forever grateful to the friend who encouraged me to look into it … so I figured I’d encourage you to look into it, too!
If your doctor says “no” flat-out, get a second opinion. If you live in the US, you can get fast help online at a bunch of different virtual clinics like Midi or Winona. It might not be right for you, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.
That’s it. Hang in there. You’re doing great. 🙌” — Kristina Halvorson
