Women should not wait until they are in severe distress to seek treatment for symptoms occurring during the menopausal transition.

“If you're between the ages of 35 and 45, which is usually about the time that perry menopause or the menopausal transition starts, you seek treatment when you are bothered by your symptoms.”

Menopause involves hormonal changes that can cause significant physical symptoms like dryness, leakage, and urinary issues, which are treatable rather than just something to live with.

“You deserve to be treated, cared for, and informed, and empowered through every darn cycle that we just talked about. Whether you are in puberty just trying to understand how your body works, whether you are normally in your cycle and you're just trying to understand how your body works”

Judiciously administered hormone replacement therapy within 5 to 10 years of menopause is generally safe and beneficial for women's health.

“I would agree with the statement that you made that hormone therapy particular forms that are similar to what your body always made when it's given judiciously at the right time typically within 5 to 10 years of menopause which is 51 to 52 that it is incredibly safe”

Women in perimenopause should have access to progesterone and estrogen as evidence-based medical treatment to protect their long-term health.

“And so taking estrogen, initiating it at menopause as a healthy woman is vitally important.”

Dr. Lauren Fitzgerald claims that perimenopausal symptoms such as irritability, anxiety, and insomnia are caused by a drop in progesterone levels.

“So all of these symptoms that can be described as perimenopause come from a initial drop in progesterone.”

Dr. Gunter characterizes menopause as a normal physiological transition, likening it to puberty in reverse.

“I would say that menopause is a normal part of the ovulatory cycles that we have and just like you went through puberty which might have been challenging and had some symptoms and caus a lot of physical changes with your body that menopause is in many ways the same thing you can think about it is pu”

Menopause is a natural, universal transition in a woman's life that should not be viewed as an indicator of old age or a source of shame.

“menopause ends the way your period started, it will not be a sign of old age. Okay, this is a change in your body, but the change that comes, you put the string in your hand.”

Menopause is a natural biological life stage rather than a disease or pathological condition.

“menopause is not a pathology; it is simply another process of biological health and one of the different life stages that a woman experiences.”

Sharon Parish advocates for the term Genitourinary Syndrome of Menopause (GSM) to replace the term vulvovaginal atrophy to avoid stigmatizing the condition as a disease.

“we came up with the terminology genital urinary syndrome of menopause right so um vul vinery can lead to genital urinary symptoms after during and after menopause and the syndrome of menopause so it it took away the disease State it's not really a illness right”

Menopause is diagnosed through clinical symptoms rather than laboratory testing, and many symptoms are worsened by common lifestyle factors like poor sleep, inactivity, and improper nutrition.

“menopause is not a diagnosis of hormone levels it is a diagnosis of symptomology and the definition has nothing to do with the level of hormones”

Perimenopausal weight gain and metabolic changes are best addressed through nutrition, sleep, and specific exercise rather than pharmaceutical interventions.

“So, there are many, many things that we can do without pharmaceuticals for the most part to counter what's happening to the body, to improve body composition and mental health to carry women through perimenopause and have a better baseline at postmenopause and keep building.”

Adopting a Mediterranean-style diet is beneficial for brain health and can help manage menopausal symptoms.

“a Mediterranean style pattern seems to be correlated or at least associated with better outcomes overall for Women's Health”