Sarah Fraser: ‘All I hear is there’s a lack of support’

“LEADING up to starting your period, most people get a bit of sex education at school. You don’t get any education about the menopause.”

The words of Fin Craig, from Archway, who is one of more than 150 people to have joined a new support group for menopausal people that has sprung up in north London.

At 57, she has recently gone through the menopause – the phase in life when a woman’s periods stop – but found she had few people to share her experience with.

“When you start your periods, you all kind of start around the same time, and it’s a big topic,” she says.

“But with the menopause, it’s totally spread out, so people don’t necessarily know who to talk to about it. And you tend to talk less about things when you’re older.”

Ms Craig said she was suffering with menopausal symptoms for months without being aware.

“I didn’t have the typical symptoms of hot flushes,” she told the Tribune. “For me, it was just tiredness, brain fog and anxiety.

“It was only through talking to my GP that I realised that those could be menopause signs. Had I been in a group, I might have realised sooner.”

She is not the only one who has struggled to notice the effects. Nearly half of women fail to identify they are experiencing symptoms linked to the menopause, according to research by Nuffield Health, and only a third seek help from a GP.

Of those who do make the visit, a quarter say their doctor fails to mention the menopause as a potential cause and many women are falsely prescribed antidepressants as a result.

Dr Rebecca Lewis, a GP and menopause specialist at the Newson Centre in Warwick­shire, which is sending an expert to speak to the group at one of its sessions, said: “It’s not taught to a high level at medical school and it’s been shrouded in secrecy for centuries.

“Women come to my clinic and are worried they have early dementia, they are petrified, because they literally can’t get the right word out. So talking with other people, for starters, and saying ‘Oh yeah, I have that’, is hugely reassuring.”

Roughly a quarter of women will experience severe symptoms when going through the menopause, some of which can be dangerous if not managed properly said Dr Lewis. But the majority of women feel there is a real lack of advice available about how to treat it.

Sarah Fraser, 49, who started the group for Islington and Camden residents, has been flooded by responses.

“All I hear is there’s a lack of support,” she said.

Ms Fraser first suggested starting the group on social media and has been taken aback by the broad spectrum of people who have expressed interest in joining.

“There are people who have been induced medically into menopause,” she said.

“I’ve got young girls coming to me saying: ‘We’re not there yet but can we join so we’re ready for what comes next?’ I’ve got women that are going through it from 30.”

The group will gather monthly, starting at the end of July. Members will be able to learn anecdotally from one another and there will also be Q&A sessions with speakers and healthcare specialists.

A charity which wants to back the group financially has approached Ms Fraser and she is busy getting everything in place for the first meeting which, Covid-permitting, will be face-to-face. For now, members are chatting over WhatsApp.

She added: “When people read other people’s comments, they think thank God it’s not just me. Because you do feel like you’re going mad when you go into the menopause journey!” she added.

In fact, one in four people with menopausal symptoms say they are concerned about their ability to cope with life.

“The menopause is a very universal thing,” said Ms Craig. “And it’s not an illness. It’s a state of life.”

Islington residents who would like to join the group are invited to email the organisers at movingthroughmenopause8@gmail.com