A new survey has found that Irish women struggle to seek advice for the symptoms of menopause.
The survey, which was conducted by VIP Magazine in cooperation with global pharmaceutical company Mylan, discovered that women feel like there isn’t enough support out there.
According to the survey, misconceptions around menopause, its symptoms and options for treatment are still persistent among many women – despite new research and more information being available.
It was promising to see that 51 percent of women typically speak to a healthcare professional for information on the menopause, however almost half of women surveyed (47 percent) said that during medical visits they did not feel there was enough information given to them on women's health issues due to insufficient time spent with their General Practitioner.
With the remaining half of women preferring to discuss this topic with friends and family (19 percent) or consult the Internet (30 percent) before approaching their GP, there is a need for improved communication so that women do not feel the need to turn to the Internet, where often misconceptions can be found. Health professionals can continue to play an important role in supporting their patients.
Of those currently going through the menopause or who are post-menopausal, over 60 percent of these women said they aren’t using or didn’t use Hormone Replacement Therapy as either their GP did not discuss it with them or because of a misperception linking the treatment to breast cancer.
A further 69 percent of women who identified as non or peri-menopausal said they were unsure about or wouldn’t consider using HRT as a treatment for symptoms because of negative publicity associating it with cancer.
