It’s Time to End the Medical Gaslighting of Menopausal Women
“There’s a WW in Exam Room 3. Good luck with that one,” my colleague called out to me in reference to my next patient. I grabbed the chart, looked at her complaints, took a deep breath to steel myself, and walked into the exam room.
When I was in medical school, and then a new doctor in the 1990s, “WW” was the acronym for patients who came in complaining of a cluster of symptoms: weight gain, brain fog, irritability, joint pain, decreased sex drive, poor sleep, and fatigue. These were “whiny women.”
We knew enough to understand these patients were likely entering menopause, but we had precious little instruction or education on the proper diagnosis, management, and treatment of it. Further, we’d been taught that women tend to complain and somaticize symptoms because of dissatisfaction with life circumstances and stress. The “It’s all in her head” medical mantra was very much alive and well. If she was found to be postmenopausal, we would offer hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and send her on her way. If she was transitioning into menopause, well, we offered nothing.