Adelaide woman Meg Hayward was forced to see 15 specialists \u2013 losing two jobs along the way \u2013 before she got an accurate diagnosis and the medical support she needed. <\/p>\n
Melbourne osteopath Katie Willy found herself unable to get out of bed, sobbing to her husband that he and the kids would be better off without her. <\/p>\n
Sydney business owner Camilla Thompson was yelled at by a male GP, and told \u201ccome back when you haven\u2019t had a period for 12 months\u201d.<\/p>\n
For thousands of Aussie women, perimenopause isn\u2019t just a biological transition, but a logistical, emotional and financial nightmare in which they\u2019re up against medical gaslighting, administrative red tape and a heightened risk of both divorce and suicide. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s time to Fire Up! Menopause will affect more than 50 per cent of the Australian population but women are struggling to access basic information and treatment, and talking about it is still taboo. <\/p>\n
In partnership with Priceline Pharmacy, we want to change that. We want to start a national conversation. We want better education for healthcare professionals. We want every Australian to understand the symptoms, and what help is available, so no woman suffers in silence. Add your support to our poll below.<\/p>\n
Nationwide survey lays bare shock reality<\/p>\n
In December, news.com.au\u2019s Fire Up! reader survey of more than 2200 respondents highlighted what is fast becoming a national crisis.<\/p>\n
On average, 37 per cent of respondents claimed to have \u201clittle or no knowledge\u201d about perimenopause or menopause, with this knowledge gap more pronounced in the younger cohort \u2013 with 62 per cent of respondents under the age of 40 reporting little to no knowledge. The gap widens again when it comes to gender \u2013 while eight out of 10 female respondents said they could identify at least three perimenopause symptoms, that number dropped to only half when it came to male respondents.<\/p>\n
Survey participants described being dismissed or \u201cgaslit\u201d by doctors, with some women taking up to five years to receive medical assistance, while nearly three in 10 (28.7 per cent) women say limited GP training is their biggest challenge in seeking treatment. <\/p>\n
2025 Priceline data found 51 per cent of women currently experiencing the transition have kept it private, avoiding discussions with family or healthcare professionals.<\/p>\n
Undereducated doctors and logistical red tape<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of women are going to their GP and being told, \u2018You\u2019re too young to be in perimenopause,\u2019 or \u2018It\u2019s just stress,\u2019\u201d says Dr Sarah Cavanagh, Chief Medical Officer at online medical clinic Instant Scripts. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that comes back to the fact that menopause education in medical school historically has been almost non-existent.\u201d <\/p>\n
YouGov research commissioned by Priceline found 24 per cent of women aged 40-49 were told their symptoms were just \u2018anxiety\u2019, while experts say women are still being sent for meaningless blood tests rather than being given appropriate symptom assessment in line with best practice. <\/p>\n
And while most Fire Up survey respondents (79 per cent) have never been prescribed hormonal therapy to address their perimenopause or menopause symptoms, for those who are, a new battle often emerges.<\/p>\n
Right now, if a woman walks into a pharmacy and her prescribed MHT patch is out of stock, the pharmacist\u2019s hands are often tied, even though they don\u2019t need to be. <\/p>\n
In most states, a pharmacist cannot simply substitute an out-of-stock patch for an available alternative (like a gel or a different brand) without a brand-new prescription from a GP.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead of being able to offer alternatives which are available, pharmacists are having to send women straight back to their GP for a new script, at a time where getting a GP appointment is harder than ever,\u201d explains Melissa Gannon, National Pharmacy Support Manager at Priceline.<\/p>\n
This sends women back into a crowded medical system, oftentimes to wait weeks for an appointment they\u2019ve already had, just to get a different piece of paper for the same medication. <\/p>\n
Gannon notes that for a woman to find a treatment that works, only to discover it\u2019s unavailable, creates a significant \u201cemotional burden\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cTo discover the pharmacy doesn\u2019t have the medication she was prescribed or had been taking successfully to manage her symptoms, can be so distressing.\u201d<\/p>\n
And the burden isn\u2019t just emotional either. <\/p>\n
The 2024 Senate Inquiry into Menopause and Perimenopause essentially confirmed that we are seeing a \u201cMenopause Poverty Gap\u201d.<\/p>\n
The inquiry found that menopause is costing Australian women a collective $15.2 billion in lost income and superannuation for every year of early retirement. <\/p>\n
And this gap begins in the GP waiting room. <\/p>\n
For a woman already struggling with cost of living pressures, the requirement to pay $80+ for a repeat GP visit, simply because the law won\u2019t let a pharmacist do their job, is often the breaking point that leads them to abandon treatment entirely.<\/p>\n
A silent epidemic<\/p>\n
Despite the massive impact perimenopause and menopause have on Australians, a culture of silence persists. <\/p>\n
YouGov research found over half of women currently experiencing menopause or perimenopause (51 per cent) have kept their transition private from family, friends, and peers.<\/p>\n
The time for silence is surely over. The time for a national conversation has come.<\/p>\n
Read related topics:Adelaide<\/a>Fire Up<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Adelaide woman Meg Hayward was forced to see 15 specialists \u2013 losing two jobs along the way \u2013…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":525230,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[261359,261348,64,63,689,213396,60121,25584,99,261356,261349,261355,261350,261347,50492,121936,261357,246263,261367,261366,261352,261360,261361,673,677,261351,261368,38726,261343,54296,261346,261353,261358,261344,261354,168871,670,261345,261363,261362,261364,261365],"class_list":["post-525229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-administrative-red-tape","tag-appropriate-symptom-assessment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-population","tag-australian-women","tag-being-able","tag-business","tag-camilla-thompson","tag-community-pharmacists","tag-editorial-dinkus","tag-female-respondents","tag-government-prioritise","tag-healthcare-professionals","tag-healthcare-system","tag-katie-willy","tag-knowledge-gap","tag-logistical-red-tape","tag-meaningless-blood-tests","tag-meg-hayward","tag-melissa-gannon","tag-menopause-education","tag-new-south-wales","tag-oceania","tag-online-medical-clinic","tag-out-of-stock-patch","tag-perimenopause-symptoms","tag-priceline-fireup","tag-red-tape","tag-respondents-claim","tag-sarah-cavanagh","tag-silent-epidemic","tag-survey-lays","tag-survey-participants","tag-survey-respondents","tag-sydney","tag-sydney-business-owner","tag-trained-community-pharmacist","tag-transition-private","tag-waiting-room","tag-woman-walks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=525229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/525230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=525229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=525229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=525229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}