Menopause: The Myths and the Madness

Hi. I'm Wendy Zuckerman, and you're listening to Science Versus. Today on the show, something huge that's coming for 4,000,000,000 people on this planet. It could be you, your partner, your mother, your best friend, and that thing is menopause. Menopause. When we asked all of you, our listeners, for questions about menopause, I didn't quite expect so many responses. Hi, Science Firstes. I am so glad you're doing something on menopause. I'm, like, out of breath because I'm, like, I better call them right now. We heard from boomers, and those just blossoming. I'm only 27. I am 37 years old. 55 year old, 61. Some of you hadn't started menopause yet, but were worried about what fresh hell was coming your way. Is it terrible? Is it going to make me want to murder my family? My mom, my stepmom, my mother-in-law, they're all going through menopause, and all they say about it is that it's the worst. And for a lot of you, it did sound like the worst. People were getting hot flashes, of course, but also periods were going completely bonkers. Instead of my periods slowing down, I get it, like, every two weeks, which just seems obnoxious to me. I had more periods. It should be called Men Amor. Very short cycles, very heavy periods. Heavy. It was just a horror show, basically. Some of you had this nasty brain fog where you couldn't hold a proper conversation. You were getting mood swings to the point where you didn't recognize yourself. And and then dance. I would just be upset for no reason. I never went through any of the things that they talk about, but I will say I gained weight and it the weight that I had completely transforms my body and all settled right around my stomach. So it looks like I'm seven months pregnant. I have never struggled with weight in my life, But now that I'm in menopause, I have gained 40 pounds within three months without changing my diet or exercise. But I have got one symptom that I have not read much about. Every morning when I wake up, there is so much dry skin inside my ears. Unbelievable amounts. I can reach in and sort of peel off sorry if this is a bit disgusting. Peel off a large amount of dry skin, and it just keeps coming. But symptoms? This is just one of the confusing things going on about menopause. There was also this big question that people had about what on earth they should do about it, and in particular, whether or not you should take hormones. For years, we've been hearing that hormones can be dangerous. But some listeners, going through menopause, thought that they worked almost like a miracle. Almost within days, I would say all of the symptoms went away. I mean, everything got better. So it's amazing. And this tracks with what I'm hearing all over social media, with …