Men and Menopause in the 21st Century

A man called me last night to ask me about menopause and his girlfriend. We'll call him Tom.

Who is more uncomfortable talking about it, Men or Women? I am speaking now, today.

These days we talk about our periods, tampons, pooping, etc., on TV. Men have erectile dysfunction commercials on every type of media you can think of.

I had a tee-shirt made. Just for me for now. It says right across my boobs: Got menopause?

It makes 90% or more of the people that see it look down.

So, Tom called me from Long Beach, California, late last night. It was 10pm where I am and only 7pm where he is.

I cannot quote verbatim what he said, but the gist was that he was concerned about his girlfriend and thought she may be in menopause, but neither knew anything about it. She is 51 or 53, I cannot remember now, but she was sweating and getting cold all the time without a fever.

Tom was on his way to get her some French fries when he called, and after our 5-minute conversation, he said he would call back when they were together.

After about 30 minutes, they gave me a callback.

The first thing I said to her was that she was not alone, yes, this is scary, and it could last a while.

We spoke about her getting blood tests to see her vitamin, mineral, and hormone levels before recommending anything. Also, she was possibly on other medication, so there was no need to complicate things by suggesting any remedy.

I suggested moderate food changes to lessen the hot flashes until she can get her tests done and to get a portable fan.

It is so promising that Tom took the time to do a few seconds of research to find me, or anyone, to answer their questions.

There is a new FB group called My SO Has Menopause. You should invite your spouse to join where they can anonymously ask questions and get advice on how to help. We all know that half of that is just them listening to us and caring. Maybe they just need to hear it from someone else.