![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Dr-Eileen-Sables-2-scaled-e1757361479781.jpg\")
Dr Eileen Sables says if you\u2019re struggling with menopause symptoms that are affecting your quality of life, don\u2019t suffer in silence. See your doctor. Photo supplied<\/p>\nDr Eileen Sables says if you\u2019re struggling with menopause symptoms that are affecting your quality of life, don\u2019t suffer in silence. See your doctor. Photo supplied<\/p>\n
By Dr Eileen Sables, GP at Tend Pakuranga<\/p>\n
Last month it was Tend Women\u2019s Health Week and one of the hot topics was menopause \u2013 a topic that\u2019s been brushed under the carpet for far too long.<\/p>\n
Unlike women at the turn of the century, who often didn\u2019t live long enough to spend much time in menopause, we\u2019re now living more than half our lives beyond this transition.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s wonderful, but it means understanding what\u2019s happening to our bodies is more important than ever.<\/p>\n
Menopause is when your periods cease \u2013 typically around age 51 \u2013 but here\u2019s what many women don\u2019t realise: symptoms can start well before in what\u2019s called perimenopause, the lead-up period that often begins in your 40s.<\/p>\n
There are many symptoms to watch for. The most common are those dreaded flushes and sweats, but you might also experience headaches, joint pains, irritability and teariness.<\/p>\n
One question I\u2019m asked most often is \u201chow long does it last?\u201d<\/p>\n
Honestly, that\u2019s like asking how long a piece of string is. On average, you\u2019re looking at about two to four years, but I\u2019ve spoken to women who\u2019ve had symptoms for much longer.<\/p>\n
The good news is symptoms can be alleviated by replacing hormones you lose during this transition.<\/p>\n
Your ovaries stop producing oestrogen and progesterone, so giving them back actually improves symptoms significantly.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re struggling with symptoms that are affecting your quality of life, don\u2019t suffer in silence.<\/p>\n
See your doctor \u2013 there are plenty of excellent treatment options available to help you through this journey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dr Eileen Sables says if you\u2019re struggling with menopause symptoms that are affecting your quality of life, don\u2019t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10454,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[12931,134,12932,111,139,69,12933,12934],"class_list":["post-10453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-dr-eileen-sables","tag-health","tag-menopause","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-tend-pakuranga","tag-tend-womens-health-week"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}