The big menopause secret

MHA Admin

Fri, 10/18/2024 – 11:08

by Kristen Abell

In the past couple of years, I’ve begun to notice an increase in the mentions of menopause and perimenopause in my social feeds. It makes sense – I am a woman of a certain age. But the thing that bugs me most about all these articles and posts is just how little I actually know about menopause – even after reading them.

Growing up, all the things associated with womanly hormones were pretty much off the table as discussion topics. My guy friends complained whenever a commercial for period products played on the TV (back when we still had commercials and didn’t just stream everything). And my mom told me little to nothing about what to expect when it came to getting my period. I learned most of what I needed to know from Seventeen magazine and Judy Blume’s book “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.” So I guess it shouldn’t be a huge surprise that, while talking about periods has become more commonplace, we haven’t quite caught up when talking about menopause.

It was only just a few years ago that I learned perimenopause was even a thing – let alone something I might be experiencing soon. After talking to a friend about some of the issues I’ve been having with my ADHD lately and how I’d learned low estrogen can impact it, she mentioned that she had recently started using an estrogen patch. I had a doctor’s appointment coming up, so I figured I could talk to my doctor about it then.

When I mentioned to my doctor that I wondered if I might be in the beginning stages of perimenopause, she informed me that I was too young to be worried about that yet. When I had a follow up appointment three months later, she asked me if I was experiencing any perimenopause symptoms since I was about the right age for it. Even my doctor doesn’t seem to have a solid handle on all of this. And while we can easily dismiss the ignorance/poor practice of one doctor, I find that conversations like these are far more the norm when I talk with my friends than they are the exception.

This is one of the main reasons I so appreciate the new perimenopause/menopause resource Mental Health America has created. Not only does it have some great basic facts, but it also has information about how menopause impacts mood disorders and hormones. And this resource isn’t just for those of us whose birth sex and gender identity are female/woman, but for anyone who may experience menopause – which we know is a broader population.

One of the other reasons I appreciate that MHA has put this resource out is that it’s time we start learning and talking more about menopause. It affects 2 million people in the U.S. each year. We need to stop being ashamed and afraid of the bodily changes of people with ovaries and instead make sure they have the information they need to go through those changes in as healthy a way as possible.

Kristen Abell is director of website and digital projects, writer, and advocate for mental health and neurodivergence.

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The Capital City Emergency “Level II” Trauma & Wellness Center will house a “state of the art” Outreach Community Resource Center, that will provide case management, mental health community advocacy, and oversight from the M.I. Mother’s Keeper mental health advocates. 
 
The Capital City Emergency “Level II” Trauma & Wellness Center will offer patrons access to immediate coverage by general surgeons as well as coverage by the specialties of orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, anesthesiology, emergency medicine, radiology and critical care.
 
Our goal is to help people in the best way possible in an effort to preserve and to save more lives in the Nation’s Capital and beyond.

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Emergency

Code Red
Gunshot Victim
Life Threatening Wounds
Physical Assault Victim
Severely Injured Auto Accident Victim
Burn Victim
Epilepsy/Seizures
Cardiovascular
Choking & Breathing Obstructions
and more…

trauma

Child Sex Assault Victim
Domestic Violence Victim
Drug Overdose
Rape/Sex Crime Victim
Suicide Watch
Trafficking Victim
Nervous Breakdown
and more…

Mental Health

At Capital City Emergency Trauma & Wellness Center patrons with mental health emergencies that include life threatening situations in which an individual is imminently threatening harm to self or others, severely disoriented or out of touch with reality, has a severe inability to function or is otherwise distraught and out of control, will have access to quality and psychiatric emergency services and referrals.

Physical Health

Whether your life threatening medical emergency involves excessive or uncontrollable bleeding, head injury. difficulty with breathing, severe pain, heart attack, vision impairments, stroke, physically collapsing, or seizure related, rest assured that our professionals will properly assess and evaluate the level of response that will be most needed to help provide stabilized care solutions and minimize complications as well as reduce early mortality.

Holistic Healthcare

We offer healthcare solutions that will support the whole person which includes their physical, psychological, emotional, social, & spiritual wellbeing. Research supports that because your mental state can affect your overall health we support and offer the inclusion of complimentary and alternative medicine(CAM) practitioners and naturopathic doctor recommendations and referrals as a part of our Outreach Community Resource Center’s care regimen and support.

Rehabilitative

Emergency care can typically result in traumatic injuries for which rehabilitation becomes an essential component of care in trying to achieve the best long-term outcomes for the patient. In addition to speeding up recovery times and helping to prevent further complications, rehabilitative care also helps to support a patient’s self-managed recovery once discharged from our facility. Our Outreach Community Resource Center works closely with our trauma center’s discharge department to assure that patrons requiring these services are linked with qualified professionals who will be accountable to the standard of care required to help the patron be successful in their recovery.

Social Services

Our “state of the art” Outreach Community Resource Center intends to promote “expansive” beneficial community enriching services, programs, case management, & linkage to “approved” partner resources and supports in all of the following intended areas and more:

Social Services

  • Clothing
  • Food Pantry
  • Housing/Shelter
  • I.D. Credentials
  • Senior Wellness Check
  • Toiletries
  • Transportation
  • Etc.

Extended Family Services

  • Child Care
  • Credit Counseling
  • Family Court Services
  • Legal Aide

Career Training

  • Apprenticeship programs
  • Computer/Graphics Training
  • Culinary Program  
  • GED Courses
  • Hospitality Training
  • Job Etiquette & Grooming
  • Resume’ Prep
  • Sales Training
  • Software/Technology workshops
  • Small Business Training

Return Citizen
Program Partner
(Bridging the Gap)

  • Case Management
  • Temporary Boarding/Housing
  • Transitional Program Registration

Prevention/Intervention Outreach,
Workshops, & Programs

  • After-school Behavioral Health Program
  • Civic Engagement / Volunteer Sign-up
  • Fatherhood Rites of Passage
  • Gun Violence Town Hall Forum
  • Life Coaching & Coping Strategies
  • Marriage Counseling Workshops
  • Medicare Informational Workshops
  • Mentorship Training
  • Parental Classes
  • Support Groups
  • Town Hall Discussions
  • Violence De-Escalation Training
  • Voter Registration

Nutritional Outreach

  • Cooking Demonstrations
  • Dietary Programs
  • Exercise Classes
  • Recipe Sharing Workshops
  • Meal Prep

Community Outreach

The Healthy DC & Me Leadership Coalition is partnering with the M.I. Mother’s Keeper Mental Health advocacy organization to provide outreach services on the community level as an aid in reducing the existent health inequities that many District citizens are facing as a direct result of the presence of debilitating social determinants and the lack of culturally appropriate care choices and realities for community members residing in marginalized and lower-income communities.

It is the vision and intentions of the M.I. Mother’s Keeper Mental Health Advocates organization to help improve the quality of living for citizens living in our Nation’s Capital and beyond by overseeing the delicate linkage to services and by maintaining higher standards of care accountability for deserving citizens of the Nation’s Capital.

For more information or to enroll as one of our service providers, please email us at:
info@healthydcandme.org