“I went through it with nobody, with no friends around to talk about it.”
Today, 18 October is World Menopause Day, a day that aims to promote awareness about the menopause, as well as the support options that are available to women.
While the majority of women will go through menopause at some stage of their life, staggering research from Lloyd’s Pharmacy revealed recently that three quarters of Irish women don’t feel prepared for menopause, while 50% don’t seek treatment for their menopause symptoms. Additionally, 55% of women say that they don’t receive information about the menopause before they start to experience symptoms.
One Irish woman who is on a mission to lead an open and honest conversation about the menopause is Irish model and businesswoman Celia Holman Lee.
When Celia, who is now 70, went through the menopause, she found that the majority of people viewed it as a taboo subject.
“In my day, you couldn’t discuss it,” she tells Her. “In my mother’s day, they barely knew what it was. There was never a conversation about menopause, it was never brought to the table.
“I went through it with nobody, with no friends around to talk about it.”
Celia felt like the lack of awareness surrounding menopause made her feel isolated, and yet every other woman in her social group was going through a similar experience. And, while she admits that she was “lucky” to not experience severe symptoms, the same can’t be said for every woman.
For that reason, Celia welcomes World Menopause Day as a long overdue global open discussion on an issue that impacts so many.
“This conversation must be held, and held openly from now on, for women all over the world,” she says. “We’re not unique here in Ireland. Every woman needs to be aware of what’s happening to her body.”
The Irish model also feels that huge progress has been made in Ireland when it comes to having open conversations about the menopause.
“People are a lot more open,” she admits. “But there is still a majority who are not.”
That, Celia notes, has to change, and she welcomes initiatives, like Lloyd Pharmacy’s online Menopause Hub, as well as World Menopause Day to open up the discussion about the support that is available.
“Because of this openness, women will help each other. They’ll walk in together and say ‘I need help. I know what I need and I know what’s wrong with me.’ There is lots of help out there.”
