First, a perimenopause and menopause primer
Let’s make sure we’re on the same page first about what menopause is, and isn’t. The definition of menopause is simply that you have gone 12 consecutive months without any menstrual bleeding. That's it! So if you make it 11 months without a period, but then have 2-3 days of bleeding, your 12-month clock resets again. The average age this occurs to someone with a vulva is around 51-52 years. But, perimenopause can last anywhere from 5-10 years. So this transition into actual menopause can be very slow and take some time!
Perimenopause begins with "variability in the length of the menstrual cycle," and then ends 12 months after the last period (Lambrinoudaki 2022). However, some definitions will place the start of perimenopause as whenever you experience a greater than 7-day change in the length of your cycles for two consecutive periods (Santoro 2020). For many people though, especially if they are not tracking their cycles closely, this will first show up as a missed period.
Where are most people getting their information on menopause?
A survey of perimenopausal females was published by Tariq et al in 2023 to find out where they are getting information surrounding perimenopause and menopause. Nearly 60% reported using “other websites” as sources of information, as opposed to only 29% using “official” websites. 44% talked to healthcare professionals, 33% got information from friends, and 25% got information from social media.
Obviously, relying on social media and non-official websites can lead to a lot of confusion and misinformation! Many times influencers online are promoting ideas and products that are not backed by scientific evidence. And, they typically are highlighting all of the negative aspects of menopause, promising cure-alls that are not realistic. As Stephanie S. Faubion, MD, MBA, FACP, MSCP, IF, discussed in an interview with Healio.com, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. There is no cure-all for menopause.There is no anti-aging remedy for menopause to put you back to the way you were when you were in your 20s.” (Healio.com 2024)
What are some trustworthy sources for menopause information?
The Menopause Society (https://menopause.org/) is a wonderful place to start! They also have a special certification they provide to medical practitioners who have advanced training in perimenopause and menopause. While this certification is not yet common in all areas, you can learn more and look up someone near you here: https://menopause.org/patient-education/choosing-a-healthcare-practitioner.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists also has a very robust patient-centered website that you can find here: https://www.acog.org/womens-health
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) also has a great website through the National Institute on Aging that covers a wide variety of menopause-related topics: https://medlineplus.gov/menopause.html.
What if I can’t find the information I want on “official” websites?
It can be hard to find an answer to a very specific question that you might have about a particular product or type of treatment you read about online. So here are three tips to help you evaluate if what you are reading/watching is accurate or not!
Tip #1: Check the credentials of the person who has created the content you are consuming. Many times if you do a deep dive into the person’s background, you will find very little about their actual training (e.g. where they went to school, what type of degrees they may have, etc). This can happen a lot with people who call themselves “coaches.” Sometimes coaches do have the background and training to support what they are saying, but many times they do not, or they are misleading about how much official training/licensing they have completed. If they are a coach, try to find out: what certification(s) do they actually possess? What type of organization provided the certification? Do they have a background in healthcare, as a certified personal trainer, or no medical/exercise background at all?
And, if they claim to have a medical license (doctor, PT, nutritionist, etc) you can look up the status of that license in your state! This is all public information that is easily accessible online. Find the website for your state’s medical board, and you will be able to search the license status of the individual person. Sometimes they may have held a license in the past but haven’t maintained their license, or their license has been revoked for malpractice or other issues. The only difficulty with this approach is that each state has different processes for licensing medical professionals. So you do need to know in which state the person is claiming to be licensed before you can check their license status.
Tip #2: Do a deep dive on the website or hosting platform for the information you are seeing. As you find frequently on social media, it can be hard to tell if the person being interviewed or creating particular content is doing a paid promotion. If they are being paid, they should disclose that, but we know that doesn’t always happen! So scroll down to the end of the web page or video you are looking at, and find out what organization is actually driving the website or video. Search for information on that company, and any products they sell. You can even search that company’s name plus the words “misinformation” or “bad reviews” to see if anything comes up. Or, search for the person being interviewed or providing the information plus the company that is promoting that info, to see if there is any sort of financial relationship between the two.
Tip #3: Trust your gut. Just remember a very basic principle when it comes to consuming any health information online: if there really was ONE secret to combating a certain symptom or issue, don’t you think that company would be making national headlines? Wouldn’t doctors & health professionals everywhere be recommending it to their patients? If it seems too good to be true, or it’s being promoted as the “one thing doctors don’t want you to know about,” generally there is no credible research behind the product. Even though lack of research generally into women’s healthcare is a very large and genuine problem, remember that a healthy dose of skepticism can go a really long way.
Find more tips on digital media literacy here: https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/digital_media_literacy_1.pdf.
References
Healio.com 2024. https://www.healio.com/news/womens-health-ob-gyn/20240531/qa-stigma-fear-drive-spread-of-menopause-misinformation-on-social-media
Lambrinoudaki, I., Armeni, E., Goulis, D., Bretz, S., Ceausu, I., Durmusoglu, F., Erkkola, R., Fistonic, I., Gambacciani, M., Geukes, M., Hamoda, H., Hartley, C., Hirschberg, A. L., Meczekalski, B., Mendoza, N., Mueck, A., Smetnik, A., Stute, P., van Trotsenburg, M., & Rees, M. (2022). Menopause, wellbeing and health: A care pathway from the European Menopause and Andropause Society. Maturitas, 163, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.maturitas.2022.04.008
Santoro, N., Roeca, C., Peters, B. A., & Neal-Perry, G. (2021). The Menopause Transition: Signs, Symptoms, and Management Options. The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism, 106(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1210/clinem/dgaa764