You have to take the lead
Hello and welcome back to another series of Let’s all Talk Menopause, and the obvious starting point would be, of course, to give an introduction to the peri / menopause. And who better to do so than Dr Nighat Arif, a popular GP with over 15 years of experience in the NHS and private practice, specialising in women’s health and family planning. Plus, she is also now a popular television GP and social media star! So we were delighted she could join us during her busy schedule, to give us the A to Z on one of the most important stages of a woman’s life.
What struck me when talking to Nighat, was her passion and fight for women to understand what is happening to their bodies, and know what they are entitled too. Her ability to talk to her patients in three different languages means she is already helping the harder to reach Asian communities with her work - some of whom still don’t believe the menopause will happen to them, she told us.
But with 41% of UK medical schools not including mandatory menopause education on their curriculum (Menopause Support study, 2021) it’s little wonder there is a lack of education, and that “medical gaslighting”, as Nighat labelled it, is happening across the UK. She told us a pretty disturbing story from her time as a very young doctor. A patient visited the gynaecologist she was working with, after finding sex very difficult with her husband. “I know as a much older doctor, that it was probably vaginal atrophy that she was trying to communicate, but she didn’t have the words” Nighat told us. In a shocking reveal, the male consultant’s response to his patient was to “just have two glasses of wine” before sex. Anyone reading this will appreciate how much courage it would have taken for this woman to approach her doctor in the first place. To be belittled in this manner, it’s no wonder Nighat empowers us to take the lead.
“Empower yourself with the NICE guidance” suggests Dr Arif. There is very clear NICE guidance on all things menopause so “take those with you and say to the doctor who isn’t listening, this is what I’m entitled to and I want you to do this for me. I know this sounds like you have to take the lead, but you do.”
Dr Arif also gave us a five-point plan on what to do when initially approaching the doctor about the peri / menopause:
Jot down your symptoms
Ask for a double appointment with a doctor who deals with female health
At the appointment, take your symptom diary with you to discuss
Don’t expect HRT or a treatment plan from the first visit - a good doctor needs to investigate first
Rebook for another appointment with the same doctor to discuss treatment, and so you can have consistency
To watch Dr Arif’s talk again, head HERE
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Written by Sophie Sulehria, Sept 2023.