Imagine if, at 12 years old, girls were invited to their doctors for a health check-up to discuss the changes they might experience in the coming years, and during that chat their GP failed to mention periods.
Mariella surrounded by campaigners, including Patsy Kensit, Davina McCall and Lisa Snowdon on the front row with her Usually taking 20-30 minutes, it's conducted by a healthcare professional and looks at lifestyle risk factors — such as diet, physical activity, smoking and alcohol — and physical risk factors like high blood pressure, blood sugar, weight and cholesterol, which can contribute to cardiovascular disease, dementia and some cancers, among other things.
We suggest giving healthcare practitioners a fact sheet on the basics, available as a download, which we've devised with the menopause experts and NHS GPs at My Menopause Centre. There's also fatigue, joint and muscle pain, period changes, palpitations, skin changes, problems with teeth, dry eyes and mouth. The list goes on...