Menopause

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Supporting you with symptoms of the menopause

The menopause can be a challenging time for many women, especially if the symptoms are not recognised.

At West Walk Surgery we are committed to providing excellent care during this period, and we have invested in training our clinical team to ensure they have the appropriate knowledge and skills to best support you.

The symptoms of the menopause can be diverse. While common symptoms such as hot flushes, night sweats and changes in bleeding pattern are well recognised, other symptoms can be misdiagnosed and lead to a delay in appropriate and effective treatment.

We have developed a ‘menopause symptom questionnaire’ that helps you and the GP recognise symptoms that may be attributable to hormonal changes. In this way, we can understand how you are being affected and help plan the best management for you. You can find the link for this below. We assess your symptoms using this questionnaire prior to starting treatment, and it can also be useful to monitor your response to treatment. We will ask you to complete this prior to your initial consultation with the GP.

There is a lot of really useful information available to help women research their options and the links for some of these resources is available below. It is really helpful if you can spend some time researching your options prior to your initial consultation and follow-up appointments.

While hormone treatment can provide excellent symptom control, improve quality of life and benefit bone and heart health, it is important to take a holistic approach. There is increasing evidence for various lifestyle interventions (exercise, diet, yoga, mindfulness, moderating alcohol and stopping smoking) and cognitive behavioural therapy in the management of symptoms of the menopause, so discussions around management will involve these factors as well as medication options.

It is important to know that it can take some time for the symptoms to settle, and that sometimes treatment needs to be changed and adjusted to suit you and manage your symptoms as best as we can. We will support you through this journey.

Useful resources

• Rock My Menopause
• Balance Menopause
• Balance Menopause App (Symptom Tracker)
• Women's Health Concern (Patient arm of the British Menopause Society)
• Menopause Matters
• Wellspring Health - Helping you understand the benefits and risks of HRT
• NICE Menopause Guidelines - Information for the public

TRY OUR MENOPAUSE SYMPTOM QUESTIONNAIRE