I was only 40 when I realised I was in fact peri-menopausal. My periods were erratic, my skin was changing and my hair kept falling out. With aching joints and fatigue, I didn’t recognise my body at all and my memory was so bad I feared I could have Alzheimers. But I didn’t feel like I had anyone to turn to. My GP told me I was too young and simply offered me antidepressants.

Finding advice from others was also hard as the topic was still taboo in my community. In fact, even my family didn’t feel confident talking about it! I asked my mother about menopause symptoms and she said she didn’t have any, her periods just stopped one day and that was it. I sensed she was uncomfortable discussing it further, and it was actually my yoga teacher who finally helped me make the connection between my symptoms and my hormones. From there, I started a journey to learn about, and later educate others, menopause as a South Asian woman.

I started to create free webinars and my instagram page to share this information with others. I am so grateful that this has reached many people and even saw me visit the Houses of Parliament to discuss menopause earlier this year. Many of the women I have supported with menopause are from the South Asian community and didn't actually know anything about menopause until attending one of my webinars. Suddenly their symptoms made sense!

Binju Dodhia who is 52 is one of the many women I’ve worked with and explains: “In the South Asian community, very few women have talked about or even thought about how menopause has affected them or their loved ones. There is a severe lack of knowledge. All are aware of the term but do not have a clear idea of what it actually can cause. Women prefer to suffer in silence rather than be noticed or thought of as weak. They have so many responsibilities on their shoulders that quite often the symptoms are ignored or brushed under the carpet as aging issues.”

Priti Patel, aged 50 adds. “There’s lack of openness, embarrassment, lack of knowledge, discussions in the family home and extended families and with friends don’t happen.” So what can we do about it? Well firstly, we need to acknowledge the problem and cater conversations around menopause to all different ethnic groups and communities. In our culture, I feel women’s health as a whole is still a really taboo subject, whether it’s our periods or even pregnancy! With these stigmas in place, finding the space to make menopause a topic we can talk about is challenging. Women are meant to ‘just get on with things’ so never put themselves first or even consider their health as a priority. I have even been told ‘menopause is a white persons disease’ and that Indians don’t get menopause but this is a huge misconception!

Did you know that there is also no single word for menopause in many Asian languages and dialects Translation or language barriers can be a big issue too in our country. We also know that representation is key and is not anywhere near where it should be to empower south Asian women to feel they can speak out and seek help. For example, when it comes to menopause, documentaries, magazines, flyers, posters and leaflets all need to show a wider representation to cover a wide spectrum of women going through menopause and women need to be able to access this easily and freely.

Education and information is really needed at a community level as well as generally having more awareness nationally. We need access to simple, easy to follow and practical advice that can encompass the cultural diversity of the UK. But we also need more research as much of the research on menopausal women isn’t diverse. We already know women from different ethic background may experience menopause differently and have different symptoms (source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3989458/) which is why educational resources shouldn’t be ‘one size fits all.’ But there is also a lack of research into menopause that focuses on BAME women in general (source:https://megsmenopause.com/2019/08/23/how-the menopause-is-viewed-in-bame-communities-dr-nighat-arif-gp-wsi-in-women-health/) and that needs to be a priority. Healthcare professionals need to be aware of this when talking about menopause to women and we need to invest in more research to look at how different ethnic groups are impacted by menopause.

With the right support, guidance and education, women in our community can thrive through menopause. But in order for this to happen, we need to start talking about it and showing everyone that menopause is not a dirty word. Meera Bhogal is a menopause expert who helps women navigate menopause holistically. For more info on Meera, visit: https://www.meerabhogal.com/ or @meerabhogal on instagram