COLUMBUS, Ohio — Menopause is a topic that used to be heavily un-researched leaving millions of women uneducated about their own bodies in their midlife.  

“Generations before ours, it was kind of taboo or there's a stigma to talk about it,” said Dr. Pragna Patel. 

What You Need To Know

  • Studies show that 75% of women going through menopause go untreated 

  • OhioHealth's menopause and midlife clinic in New Albany help women with menopause symptoms 

  • Perimenopause and menopause symptoms range from mood swings, night sweats to hair loss and loss of appetite

“The message that we were giving women is that this is a natural part of life. We’re all going to go through it and we just need to kind of suck it up and deal with it,” said Patel.  

Studies show that only 20% of OB/GYN residencies offer menopause training. 

Patel is an OB/GYN physician at OhioHealth’s menopause and midlife clinic in New Albany. The clinic opened in September of last year.

She began focusing on helping women with menopause about five years ago and believes menopause misconceptions lead to women never getting help. 

“The biggest misconception I’ve been finding with menopause is one that there are no options and that hormone replacement therapy can cause cancer and, therefore, it’s not good. So women, therefore, are left with no options for their symptoms. And I think the other misconception that I see a lot, too, is that you can actually start menopausal hormone therapy when you’re in perimenopause,” said Patel. 

Perimenopause and menopause symptoms can range from mood swings and night sweats to hair loss and loss of appetite. According to data, 75% of women going through menopause go untreated. 

But that’s not the case for menopause and midlife clinic patient Nancy Thompson. She started hormone replacement therapy a few weeks ago after suffering from menopause symptoms for years, feeling hopeless. 

“I had conversations with my doctors and I remember like last year I had emailed my doctor, one of my doctors, and I said, listen, I can’t live like this anymore,” said Nancy Thompson.   

She’s traveled an hour and a half twice from her hometown of Ashland to receive care.

“In your head you were just like, I can’t do this. And I’m not going to do it. That was one of the things I told Dr. Patel when we were going over the hormone replacement. And I said, ‘Listen, I’ll take whatever risk there might possibly be because I’m not going to live till 50 in this capacity,’” said Thompson. 

But after working with Patel and using the hormone replacement therapy, Thompson said she feels like herself again. 

“Within a week. It’s just it’s night and day between how I’ve been feeling for the last. I would say I really spiraled the last six months, but this has been ongoing for years and years and then the last three to four weeks. Like my comments, my friends are I haven’t cried in three to four weeks. And this is, it’s just amazing. Like I feel like myself again,” said Thompson. 

Helping women one patient at a time and never giving up until there’s a solution.