Oprah: Right now, 1 billion women around the world
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are experiencing menopause.
It comes in the middle of the night like a ghost.
Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX
And it's called perimenopause.
Oprah: Despite its impact on half the global population,
menopause has remained a taboo topic.
I don't know why nobody else be talking about this.
Nobody talks about it, and they should,
because it lasts 10 years.
Oprah: Women have felt ignored and invisible
while suffering from a long list of symptoms.
Anxiety, bloating, constipation, body odor,
breast soreness, depression.
Just depressed. Tamsen: Difficulty concentrating.
Menopause brain or brain fog.
You think you're losing your mind.
Tamsen: Hair loss. Here's the hair I lost in the shower.
Tamsen: Heart palpitations, hot flashes.
And these boys that are my age,
honey, they've laid in the bed next to a woman and thought,
"Is that steam coming off of her?"
It's hot.
Tamsen: Irregular periods, irritability,
itchy skin, libido changes, memory lapses,
mood swings, pain during sex, sleeplessness.
I couldn't sleep. Forget sleep.
Tamsen: Weight gain, vaginal dryness.
Everything is as dry as the desert.
Oprah: Tonight, a frank, honest,
and sometimes shocking exploration
on a misunderstood health issue that impacts all of us.
I had no estrogen, no progesterone,
and no testosterone.
And that makes you real bitter and angry.
The mood swings and not wanting to, you know, be intimate.
Did I mention that I'm hot?
Welcome to "The Menopause Revolution"!
[ Cheers and applause ]
And I say revolution and also liberation,
because for generation after generation,
the word "menopause" was barely even whispered.
But I know you all can feel that there is a radical shift, right?
There's something happening around menopause,
and that is why we are here.
If you live long enough, menopause is coming for you.
[ Laughter ]
New research says that even women as young as 35
can start showing symptoms of perimenopause.
So instead of suffering in silence
or wrapping it in shame about getting older,
we can stop the stereotypes
and we can change this conversation
around mental health, around sleep,
around weight loss or gain
or losing your hair, sex drive, your brain, and longevity.
So much has changed for the better.
You can make a vibrant, healthy, exciting life.
You can have that in menopause.
I know this to be true.
And I remember when I was 48 --
I was around 48 when I started getting heart palpitations.
And for two years straight, y'all, I did not sleep.
I went to five different doctors in Chicago.
I found a cardiologist,
and she gave me an angiogram and put me on heart medication
that I knew the next day was not working for me.
So I ended up wearing a heart monitor for weeks,
and never once, not one time,
did a doctor ever mention to my 48-year-old self
that this could be perimenopause or menopause.
So every night for a solid two years
with just horrible heart palpitations.
I thought I was going to die. I didn't.
[ Light laughter ]
One day at the office, I picked up a book,
and the pages opened to,
"Palpitations, your heart's wake-up call."
And that was the first time that I learned
that those were symptoms that the change was coming.
Now, we just saw clips of comedian Leanne Morgan,
who is one of the funniest people on this planet,
from her hilarious Netflix special, "I'm Every Woman."
[ Cheers and applause ]
I love the fact that you've been able to help us
laugh so much around this subject
that is really serious for a lot of us.
You were affected, too. How?
Um, probably in my late 40s,
I started having the heart palpitations
and could not sleep,
and I thought something was really bad wrong with me.
And I went to my precious doctor, and I loved him.
And he was good for a sinus infection.
But I said, "I'm constipated. I'm losing my hair.
I can't sleep. I don't feel good.
I kept putting one foot in front of the other.
I have no energy."
And he said, "You're depressed."
And I said, "Yeah, I think I'm depressed
because I'm constipated, I'm losing my hair."
And then it was so lucky that I found --
There was a nurse practitioner in Knoxville, Tennessee,
where I live, and she said, "You're in perimenopause.
That's what's wrong with you."
And I was so thankful somebody listened to me.
That's the problem.
People can't get people to listen to them.
Doctor after doctor.
So I have to tell you,
we're so excited to have my next guest.
because she is an Academy Award-winning actress.
I was there the historic night that she won that Oscar.
She's also a Hollywood sex symbol,
and she decided that she is going to flip the script
and turn "menopause" from a dirty word into a flirty word.
Check out Ms. Halle Berry.
An Emmy and Academy Award winner,
director, producer, activist, and mother.
I'm here because I'm standing up for myself,
because I know that when a woman stands up for herself,
she stands up for all women, and all women go through menopause.
Oprah: At age 54, Halle went to see her doctor
after experiencing extreme pain after sex.
I had razor blades in my vagina after a great night of sex,
and I went to the doctor, and he told me,
"Oh, this looks like the worst case of herpes I've ever seen."
And I thought, "Hold it. What?"
Oprah: After testing negative for the disease,
she discovered her symptoms were actually a sign
of perimenopause.
This lit a fire inside Halle.
I'm in menopause! Okay?!
Oprah: She's been to Capitol Hill,
advocating for more research and education.
It's a privilege to age, and we should see it that way.
We should feel like the crown jewels of our society.
I love that term -- crown jewel.
Welcome, Halle Berry!
[ Cheers and applause ]
Oh, good to see you.
So, you know our mothers' generation
and the countless women before them...
Yes.
...they just buckled down and they took it.
And you could have just kept it to yourself
and been like every other star and avoided any talk about it.
But you didn't.
[ Hoarsely ] I think it was -- And I've got a bad voice.
I'm so sorry.
I think it was because I was so shocked
when I found out that my symptoms were perimenopause.
I was alone. I was afraid.
I thought I was going crazy.
And I thought, my God, if I felt like this,
I can imagine that millions of other women felt this way,
and I was compelled to do something,
and this felt like a moment to stand up, use my platform,
use my voice for something that really matters
and make sure my daughter arrives
at a better place than I did.
And I think because, you know --
You know you're a sex symbol, right?
I'm not telling you something you don't know.
I think it's because you are Halle Berry
and the fact that you are willing to say it out loud
has really changed it from being a taboo word,
a whispered word to something that's flirty. Yeah.
I mean, 'cause Halle Berry has it, I want it.
Right? Right.
And I want to know, though, when you went to the doctor
and the doctor said that this was
the worst case of herpes he'd ever seen,
did you go home and say to your partner, "What the hell?"
Oh, no, Van was in the car in the parking lot.
I went out to the car and I was like, "So, you got herpes?"
He was like, "No."
I said, "Well, let me be the first to tell you.
You have herpes,
'cause my doctor just told me I had herpes."
So then he got tested. He got tested.
He didn't have herpes.
And I thought, "Oh, wow.
Then I guess I have herpes."
So then I get a call two hours after his call,
and I didn't have herpes, either.
And I -- This was my aha moment.
I thought of you, honestly, 'cause anytime somebody says
"aha moment," who do we think of?
Oprah. Okay.
And I said, "Okay, Doctor, if it's not herpes,
then what is it?"
And he said, "I don't know."
Wow. And that wasn't good enough.
Okay, and I heard, too,
that one doctor wouldn't even use the word "menopause."
Yeah, yeah, that was my eye doctor. Yeah.
My -- My -- My glands were drying up in my eyes.
Which is another symptom.
Everything gets dry -- dry eyes, dry mouth.
I have dry mouth, too, right?
I said, "And why?"
And he said, "Well, I mean, you know, just --"
I said, "Why?" He couldn't say it.
And I said, "Doctor, is it because I'm in menopause
or perimenopause?"
And he said, "Yes, yes!
But I couldn't say that to Halle Berry.
Look at you. I can't tell you you're in menopause."
Wow. I said, "If you can't even say the word,
how can you treat me?
How can you give me the care I need
when you're too afraid to say the word?"
Yes. Yes, yes, yes. Right?
So last year, you joined forces
with U.S. senator Patty Murray.
Yes. Right?
That was to create a standalone bill
that all the funds go to menopause research
and clinical trials.
Because why? Nobody believes it's a thing.
Nobody has believed that it's worth studying.
All the politicians on our federal level
just have felt like,
"Oh, it's just a time of life you just have to go through."
Yeah, and now you've launched your own platform.
Yes, I have -- Respin. Yes. Respin.
Yeah, we're re-spinning what we knew about menopause.
And it's a platform that's the three C's --
care, content, and conversation, right?
So it's about having a community.
That's the conversation.
'Cause I know that women do better
when we have other women to talk to.
That's right. Just talking to you here,
having this conversation,
we're all going to leave here feeling better, more informed.
What has been the thing that actually has surprised you most
about this phase in your life?
I think that nobody brought it up to me ever.
I thought I was going to skip it.
You thought you were going to skip it? I thought I was gonna skip it.
I thought I was superwoman that way.
I thought if I eat right, I exercise, I don't do drugs.
I thought, "I live healthy.
I'm just going to skip that whole thing, whatever that is.
That's not happening to me," right?
I just -- That's how ignorant I was.
Okay, what age were you when you first started the symptoms?
How old were you? Do you remember?
Just after I had my second child.
I was probably 48 years old.
Okay, 48. 48.
But I didn't find out for sure until I was 54.
Wow. And do you find, too --
After I got over all of the physical symptoms,
something happens to you emotionally, too,
does it not? Yeah. Yeah.
For me, I had no concern about what anybody thought anymore.
And there was a liberation that came with that, right? Yeah.
And a liberation when I figured out that I was in perimenopause
and I knew that I didn't have to stay stuck
in this very scary, very alone, rageful place.
Then I felt the power.
I said, "Wow, I feel like I'm the best me I've ever been."
Yeah, that's what happens.
Yeah. That's what's on the other side.
Halle is staying with us. We're just getting started.
You may be one of the millions who follow her on social media.
Ob-gyn Dr. Mary Claire Haver is here.
And she's the author of the bestselling book
"The New Menopause."
We'll be right back. Be right back.
[ Cheers and applause ]
And I said, "I'm in menopause and I'm old.
And should I just leave?"
And we're both old.
And there's one other line in the book
which I'll save for the reader.
Or you can tell it.
"He had gray hairs on his..."
[ Laughter ]
Dr. Mary Claire Haver is a board-certified ob-gyn.
Over 6 million of you are following her on social media,
and she's the author of the New York Times bestseller
"The New Menopause: Navigating Your Path
Through Hormonal Change with Purpose, Power, and Facts."
I love that -- power.
Before we get started, let's watch a tape
that Dr. Haver did for us
that explains what's going on inside our bodies.
Watch this.
Dr. Haver: Females are born with all of their egg supply.
At birth, we have 1 million to 2 million eggs.
By the time we're 30,
we're down to about 10% of that egg supply.
And by the time we're 40,
we're down to about 3% of the original egg supply.
We lose those eggs through the process of ovulation.
About 10,000 eggs die to get one egg to ovulate each month.
And also we lose from the aging process, as well.
In a healthy premenopausal woman,
the menstrual cycle follows a predictable pattern
driven by four key hormones --
estrogen and progesterone from the ovaries
and LH and FSH from the brain.
The hypothalamus detects low estrogen levels
and signals the pituitary gland to release LH and FSH.
These hormones stimulate the ovaries
to produce estrogen and progesterone.
This cycle is repeated month after month
until we reach perimenopause.
What happens in perimenopause
is we reach a critical low level of egg supply,
where signals from the brain no longer work.
There just aren't enough eggs to respond to those signals.
What used to look like this every month for six months
now kind of looks haphazard.
Because the ovaries can't respond,
the brain keeps sending more and more
and higher and higher signals to the ovaries
to force the ovulation.
Ovulations are delayed.
The progesterone levels
never quite reach where they used to be,
and the estrogen levels fluctuate wildly.
That is why we call perimenopause the zone of chaos.
Dr. Haver, what you're saying is that literally
when you stop producing as many eggs,
that is the onset of...
Perimenopause. We start out with a lot.
And then we have this process called atresia,
where it's a survival of the fittest for the healthiest eggs.
And then we ovulate and we lose a bunch more in that process.
So perimenopause begins when we reach critical low threshold.
So the signals coming from the brain,
the ovaries become resistant.
So the brain has to really work harder and harder and harder.
And that's when we see the mental health challenges,
the cognition changes,
well before your period stops. Oh!
Well before. Mm-hmm.
Okay, so we heard you explain
why you call perimenopause the zone of chaos.
And what does that chaos actually do to our bodies?
So the brain likes to know what's coming
and in a regular and orderly fashion.
We work better as humans that way.
And when the hormones start fluctuating wildly,
we see neurotransmitters change,
like dopamine and norepinephrine and serotonin.
And that's where we see about a 40% increase
in mental health changes across the menopause transition,
so through perimenopause, and we also see the brain fog,
the cognition changes,
and what we're now calling the new onset of ADHD, as well.
Wow. It affects every cell in your body.
You list over 60 symptoms in "The New Menopause."
That's why -- We're not going to get to all 60 here in this hour.
But I think what's really important is
for women to -- to know... Right.
...information is now available. Is power.
Yes. And information is power.
Yeah. Okay.
Is -- Is what happened to Halle common?
So when I was in residency, a four-year ob-gyn residency,
we had six hours total
in my entire curriculum in menopause training.
So it's not the fault of the individual clinician.
It's not their fault, but they actually don't know.
I confess, and if any of my former patients are out here,
I am so sorry, but I probably --
no, I was a terrible menopause doctor
for most of my career.
Until you went through it.
And sadly, it took me going through it.
Is it true that black women and women of color
experience perimenopause earlier?
Yeah, average age of menopause is 51.
That's for women who look like me.
For women of color, it is about 18 months sooner,
and we have about a 10-year window of what's normal.
Yeah. But we're not taught that.
Wow. You know, it was like 51.
And I remember going through menopause at 48
and thinking, "It's too soon. I'm too young."
Well, Sara is here. Yeah.
And I hear that you started symptoms what, at 39?
And you're 43 now. Yes.
So I started experiencing symptoms
like rapid weight gain, sleepless nights.
And so part of it was that I couldn't figure out why,
because I'm Hispanic
and basically was getting misdiagnosed.
So how do we speak up as women to advocate for ourselves
when we -- there isn't much research for women like myself?
So educate yourself as much as possible.
It is six to eight average visits
before the menopause is actually diagnosed for most patients
when you look at the data.
So it's not reasonable to walk into
your amazing ob-gyn's office
who delivered your babies and did great care
and expect for them to have been taught.
I had to step outside of my training, outside of the box.
So The Menopause Society, menopause.org,
has a great list of providers.
There's wonderful new education community platforms like Respin
that are being formed that are just going to be sources
for you to advocate,
but you're going to have to do some legwork
and be the CEO of your own healthcare.
Yeah, what'd you want to say?
I think as women, you know,
we don't think that we have the right to switch our doctor.
So we stay stuck and we stay with doctors
and we accept subpar care.
All of our doctors should understand
what's going on with our body,
and when they don't, we have the right to say,
"Okay, thank you very much, but I'm going to move on
and find someone who can give me the care that I deserve."
We have to stand up for ourselves.
Kamili is here.
I hear you started an online community
for women of color in menopause.
What's your experience?
Yeah, so I'm 51 now,
and I started experiencing my first symptoms around 43.
And I'm actually having a hot flash right now in real time.
And I was pretty frustrated
'cause I'd had a decades-long relationship with an ob-gyn,
and I had never, ever heard the word "perimenopause."
So, in true Gen X fashion, sent me to Google.
And I wasn't seeing any images or stories that looked like me.
So to your point around
how women of color experience menopause differently,
it's been eight years that I've been in perimenopause.
Longer sufferings. Yeah, you suffer longer.
Yeah, hot flashes, night sweats, brain fog, rage,
which was pretty bad.
And I wanted to help other women.
And so I started blogging about my experience
and really emphasize the stories and experiences
of women of color who are going through menopause transition.
Oprah: Thank you. Thank you, Kamili.
So let's talk about all the confusion
around hormone replacement therapy, or HRT.
The Women's Health Initiative
conducted a landmark clinical trial of estrogen and progestin,
also called HRT.
In 2002, researchers held a press conference
to announce they were halting the study
because they believed hormone therapy
could increase a woman's chances of getting breast cancer,
as well as cardiac events, strokes, and clots.
We got a 26% increase in breast cancer,
and that's why we stopped the trial.
Oprah: The 26% increase in breast cancer risk
was misleading,
creating confusing headlines,
leaving doctors uninformed and panicking their patients.
Rates of women taking HRT plummeted.
The increased risk of breast cancer from the study
was overblown and turned out to actually be
less than a tenth of 1% per year,
a very slight risk.
In a years-long follow-up study published in 2024,
The Journal of the American Medical Association found
that HRT is effective
for treating moderate to severe menopausal symptoms.
The findings support that the benefits of the drugs
outweigh the risks for most women under the age of 60.
So the bottom line is, the study happened.
They talked about the risk.
They underemphasized the safety, overemphasized the risk,
made this big, splashy news story.
And then when they walked it back,
nobody actually paid attention to that.
Yes, so now the message everybody has gotten is --
It still has. Somehow HRT,
the natural estrogen that your ovaries made,
is somehow going to try to kill you.
Yeah. And it turns out it's not true.
It's incredibly protective
of multiple organ systems in the body.
But is estrogen safe for every woman?
The vast majority of women, it is safe.
Yeah, but I think every woman
needs to do your own research for yourself.
Okay, when we come back,
we have superstar actress, the daring Naomi Watts,
whose menopause symptoms started when she was 36,
right when she wanted to start a family.
We'll be right back.
But my husband and I met, and I was so cute.
And I was little. I had on little britches.
And my thyroid was functioning, and I felt good.
And he was so enthralled with me and so in love with me
and pursued me and bought me presents
and -- and vacuumed out my car
and did all kinds of things for me.
And we celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary this year.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Thank y'all.
And now I truly believe
he would not pull me out of a burning vehicle.
[ Laughter ]
[ Applause ]
That's Leanne Morgan
from her hilarious special, "I'm Every Woman."
Leanne, I hear Dr. Haver actually helped you
improve intimacy with Chuck, your husband.
Leanne: Yes. That little thing,
I bet she's going to regret that I have her phone number,
because I'll say, "What about testosterone?
Do you think I ought to get a pellet?"
'Cause all these women are on pellets,
and then they wear their little husbands out.
[ Laughter ]
And I know women that are on testosterone pellets
and they're on fire,
and then their little husbands look weak and pitiful.
So if you go to your doctor,
how do you know if you need testosterone?
So we recommend testosterone for the treatment
of hypoactive sexual desire disorder,
or what a layperson would call low libido.
Okay. If you want to do it more.
If you want to want to do it more.
If you want to want to do it more, you need testosterone.
It's helpful. Okay.
Alright. Testosterone.
Very good. Thank you, Leanne.
The lovely and talented Naomi Watts is daring
to share her own menopause journey with us tonight.
Watch this.
No!
I said no!
Naomi Watts has been a star for more than two decades.
She's a Golden Globe, Emmy, and two-time Oscar nominee.
It is no surprise this fierce mother shines in her latest role
as a pioneer in the movement
to help demystify the stigma of menopause.
In her widely anticipated new book,
"Dare I Say It: Everything I Wish I'd Known About Menopause,"
Naomi writes about the confusion she felt
at the onset of menopause symptoms.
Let's share the wisdom and let's share the conversation
and throw the ladders down to the younger generation
so they can be better equipped.
[ Applause ]
Welcome, Naomi Watts.
Your book "Dare I Say It:
Everything I Wish I'd Known About Menopause" --
New York Times best seller.
Congratulations to you. Thank you.
You posted this...
Yeah, yeah. Wow.
What was your experience?
Well, at 36,
when I was trying to start a family and not getting pregnant,
I asked my doctor what was going on.
He took some blood work, and the results came back
and suggested that I was "close to menopause."
And, of course, I was shocked.
You actually -- You wrote in, "Dare I Say It,"
you wrote you were more than shocked.
You cried. You felt shame. Yes.
You felt all these -- I was filled with panic
and loneliness and shame,
and, you know, and I called my mom.
That was the first call straightaway.
I said, "Why didn't you tell me more?"
And she said, "Well, these are the conversations
I never had with you because my mother never had them with me."
Mm-hmm, and you actually wrote a chapter on shame
because you said you grappled with, you know, self-worth.
Why did you think menopause
affected your sense of self-worth?
Well, because it's this branding that it's all over...
Oh, okay. ...that once your reproductive, you know, organs
are no longer in use or working in the way that they started to,
that -- that's it.
That is the end.
Go to the corner, pull out the knitting needles.
That you're not really -- [ Laughter ]
Yeah, pull them out. Yeah, and rock the chair.
Yes. You know, like, no, thank you.
Your husband is a Emmy-winning actor.
And in the book, you share a story
about the first time you all were gonna go to bed together.
And you shared it in the book, so share it with us here,
if you don't mind.
Poor Billy.
Yes, it was a moment.
I was -- We were getting down to business,
and I had to excuse myself.
I remembered that I had my estrogen patch on,
and if anyone has worn one or knows anything about them,
they leave a very sticky, nasty mess, and --
Where do you wear them? Right here, in the groin.
Right where you're going to -- Oh. Okay, okay.
You can't miss it.
So I slip out and say, "Just excuse me for a second,"
to, you know, get it off. You're gonna pull the patch off.
Why did you want to pull the patch off?
Because I didn't want it to be seen.
Because that would announce the fact that I was in menopause
and thinking, this is going to be so unsexy
and turn him off in a second.
Yeah, 'cause he's got to say, "Excuse me.
What's that patch?" Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And, you know, who knows what he knew about menopause?
So I slipped away, came out sort of frantic
after having scratched and scratched
and left a horrible red, nasty mark.
So I came out, and he saw that I was flustered.
and he said, "Are you okay?
Are you not in the mood?" And I said, "No, no.
It's just, well, you know, I -- God, menopause.
I'm in menopause, I'm getting treatment.
I have to wear these patches."
And I said, "I'm in menopause and I'm old,
and should I just leave?
'Cause you probably don't want me."
You know, like, who knows what they're thinking?
And he was like, "Hey,
this is -- this is good news that you're getting treatment.
Thank you for telling me.
And, by the way, we're both old."
And there's one other line in the book
which I'll save for the reader.
Or you can tell it. [ Laughs ]
He had gray hairs on his...
[ Laughter, applause ]
He said it. He said --
Billy, forgive me. It's in the book.
He said, "I have gray hairs on my..."
And you said...
"That is the most romantic thing I've ever heard."
I know! "And thank you
for your compassion and empathy."
And that was the beginning.
And, you know, seven years later, we're married.
I think that that is the beginning of true intimacy.
That's it. Yes, yes.
It really is. Yes, yes.
So you also created something called Stripes Beauty.
Yeah. Tell us what that is.
I called it Stripes
because we've earned our stripes, ladies.
We should feel good about ourselves at this point in time.
We provide education, community.
We've got hair products, body products, vaginal products.
Everything you need. Yes, all that you need.
Okay. Did you all know this?
Two out of three Alzheimer's patients are women.
That's a sobering statistic.
Think about that -- two out of three.
Is menopause connected to our brain health?
We talk about that next with Maria Shriver.
Oprah: Dr. Pelin Batur is a top women's health specialist...
Nice to see you. You too.
...at the Cleveland Clinic.
Talk to me. How can I help?
Uh, about a year ago,
I started experiencing hot flashes, fatigue.
Everything just hurts all the time.
Dr. Batur: There are 6,000 women
going into menopause each day in the United States.
That equals about 63 million women in the U.S.
Oprah: In response to this overwhelming demand,
Cleveland Clinic launched
the Women's Comprehensive Health and Research Center,
an innovative and holistic program
that reimagines healthcare for women.
Menopause impacts so many cells in our body,
and everybody's experience is so unique,
so people are really at a loss for who to go to.
About half of American women
are not happy with their sex life in some regard,
so please speak up.
There are vaginal hormones available,
including a vaginal ring, for example,
that you leave in for three months.
Just gives a tiny dose of estrogen.
We have non-hormonal treatment options, too.
We have a daily medication that can be taken.
We have injectables that can be used.
Oprah: The center's chief visionary and strategic adviser
is women's health and Alzheimer's prevention advocate
Maria Shriver.
Shriver: You must be determined when it comes to your health.
You must be a fighter.
You must fight for what you deserve,
and you must see yourself as a loyal partner with your doctor.
Maria Shriver is here, my friend.
And I'm so proud of you,
because you helped co-found that whole clinic.
I know you work for years to make that happen.
Yeah, that's a revolutionary center.
And I'm hopeful that these kind of centers
will begin popping up all across this country,
because we need to be revolutionaries
when it comes to women's health in general
at every decade of our lives.
Absolutely. You know, Maria and I have been saying for years,
you cannot outrun, outfox,
out-yoga, out-meditate menopause.
It's coming for you no matter what.
So what do you want to say about this moment now
for women in menopause?
Well, I want to say to women, first of all,
that it's a blessing, because it means
you've lived long enough to actually go through it.
Can we just emphasize that more?
Because I think when women deny their age
and lie about their age and --
you are denying time spent here on Earth
and everything that you've learned
and everything that you've gained.
Well, it's understandable,
'cause we need a radical reshift about women's aging.
Yes. Right? In this culture,
because women aren't valued.
They aren't seen. They feel invisible.
They feel that when it comes to their healthcare.
Yeah. And this is a moment not just for menopause.
That's great, but it's for Alzheimer's.
It's for osteoporosis, for endometriosis.
It's for aging.
It's for all of these diseases
that disproportionately impact women.
I love what Halle was saying earlier, too,
about this will be a different story for her daughter.
She knew absolutely nothing,
but it will be a different story for her daughter.
I know you have two beautiful daughters, now in their 30s.
Yes. Are you all having conversations about it already?
They're like, "Stop, please.
Could you please stop?"
I'm talking to my sons.
And they're like, "I don't want to know any of this."
I said, "Yes, you do." And to my brothers.
I talk about it to everybody,
because my mother never said a word to me about anything.
What we're now finding out is that women
didn't connect the dots between their brain and their vagina.
No, we didn't. They did not.
And people don't make the connection
between their brain and their body at all.
And that is my work.
So when I discovered that women
were at the front and center of Alzheimer's,
I started the Women's Alzheimer's Movement
to fund research into women's brains,
because nobody was looking at women's brains.
They thought Alzheimer's was something that just happened.
So we have funded research to be able to view
what actually happens, how it changes,
starting at perimenopause through menopause.
We can now see that.
Thank you. Thank you.
Dr. Rhonda Voskuhl is a neurologist
for the UCLA Comprehensive Menopause Care Program.
Welcome, Doctor.
What happens in our brains during menopause?
So our brains are affected by the loss of estrogen.
Just like loss of estrogen's bad for skin, bone, vagina,
lo and behold, it's bad for the brain.
And by that, we hear about brain fog.
Those are the clinical symptoms.
They include not being able to think of a word.
They include losing train of thought.
There are these very discrete problems that occur.
and they undermine confidence.
Women get to this certain stage in their life.
They're 50, they're at the top of the careers,
and then they're undercut with confidence
because they have these focal problems.
What it's not is it's not decreased IQ.
The women are just as smart as they ever were.
It's also not just because they're not sleeping.
I agree, sleep is very good for cognition.
Not having it is bad. But it's more than that.
Why is it more than that?
Because we see it on neuroimaging.
There are structural and functional changes in the brain
that occur with menopause.
So women who have been in menopause
for longer periods of time, over 10 years,
versus shorter periods of time, less than five years,
they have atrophy in areas of the brain.
Bottom line is, atrophy of areas of the brain
are more when they've gone through menopause
for a long period of time. Wow.
Now, what it's not -- it's not whole-brain atrophy.
It's not global anything.
And that's why it's all been missed,
because it's cognitive domain-specific problems
and it's regional brain problems.
And this needs to be fixed.
Okay, and you say it's crucial to seek menopause treatment
after the first hot flash or first symptom of menopause.
Right? Absolutely correct.
As is the case with any neurodegenerative disease,
as a neurologist, I can tell you it's very difficult
to let things happen and try to repair them.
You've got to go in early, and perimenopause is a good point.
Okay. Shriver: Yeah, the other thing that I think
is something we should talk about
is that at the same time
that women are going through perimenopause,
they're dealing with a lot of other things
that are on their plate.
They're caregiving for parents.
They're raising children. They're working full time.
And so they may mistake what they're going through
in their life for depression.
And so doctors need to begin to ask them questions.
Is it perimenopause? Is it menopause?
What is actually going on that you're dealing with?
Listen to this -- According to a Mayo Clinic study,
menopause costs American women
almost $2 billion in lost working time a year.
Keta is here.
What's your question for Dr. Voskuhl?
Well, I've been a litigation attorney for years.
And, of course, in that role,
I have to be able to think on my feet
during arbitrations and trials.
But I started experiencing symptoms
that included brain fog, lowered ability to tolerate stress,
and that's devastating for a litigation attorney.
My question for you --
Will I ever get back to where I was before
when this is over, perimenopause, when it's over?
Well, thank you for the question.
I see so many women like you.
They're lawyers. They're teachers.
They basically have to be able to speak.
They can't lose their train of thought
in the middle of a sentence, and will it get better?
I'll tell you, the hot flashes will go away
in three to five years.
But these cognitive changes, these structural changes
in the brains don't suddenly get better.
So what can be done is to, first of all, get on it early.
But the second thing is the cognitive exercise
and the physical exercise is very important.
I will say, though, as Oprah said,
we can't exercise our way out of this.
They say, "Oh, just go exercise more."
It's like, whoa, this is a serious problem.
I do think it needs a drug.
And I think for those who can take HRT, we need that help.
You need both.
You need the hormone and you need the exercise.
Okay, and I heard, too, that 73% of women
blame menopause for their divorce.
That is a lot.
54-year-old Lynn is in our audience
and says that this is her story.
Lynn? Yes.
Menopause was a very difficult time for me,
and my mental health really --
I struggled with my mental health during menopause.
My lows were very, very low.
Meaning you were depressed.
I was very depressed. I went through lots of rage.
It roller-coaster'd. Lots of rage.
So one minute I would be rage crying,
yelling at my husband that he didn't understand.
My male gynecologist was really dismissive.
The only thing that he told me about menopause
was when I talked with him about sex hurting
was that I should use a lubricant.
And that was the extent of our menopause discussion.
I ultimately got suicidal.
Really? And for the first -- Yeah.
Oh, I'm so sorry.
And, gratefully, I found my way through that,
and I switched doctors,
and the female gynecologist that I went to,
she spent an hour and a half with me at my visit.
What do you want to say to women like Lynn, Dr. Haver?
This is such a common story.
We see a 40% increase in mental health disorders.
And, you know, for me and for many of my patients,
menopause has become a necessary time
to circle the wagons around yourself.
For the first time, you have to put yourself first...
Yeah. ...or you're not going to survive.
And maybe that means leaving a relationship
that wasn't serving you.
And I'm sorry that it took so long
for you to find the right help that you needed.
But you sitting here looking so vibrant and beautiful
and brave to share your story is everything,
because there are women right now, tonight, listening to you,
and it is resonating with them.
And you're going to give them hope,
because they're not alone.
And -- And it's just everything. So thank you.
Yeah. Thank you.
I think that's why this --
Thank you, ABC, for allowing the show on the air,
because I think it's so important --
you all can even see sitting here in this audience --
to educate yourself
so that when you or somebody you know is going through it,
you don't think that, "I need to kill myself over it."
You realize that you just need to get information
and get yourself to the right doctor.
We're so glad that you held on.
Yeah, me too.
You kept going. Thank you.
♪♪
This is what we talk about all the time -- the thermostat.
[ Laughter ]
And I'll just be honest with you.
We fight. We fight about it.
Well, I say that. I beat him down.
But I want to keep it on 68
because I want to live through the night.
He wants to put it back up in the 70s.
And I know he's cold and I feel terrible over it.
I know he's cold, and I have that on 68.
I have a fan coming this way and I have a fan coming that way.
And he's just -- His hair is just blowing in the wind.
[ Laughter ]
Every woman.
[ Applause ]
"I'm Every Woman." That's Leanne Morgan.
Two fans, we all need them, don't we?
Thank you, Leanne. Thank you.
Naomi, I'm going to let you have a last word.
I would say to the younger generation,
you do not have to fear it.
We are the last generation that has had to suffer in silence
and flail our way through.
They can feel empowered.
And in the book, I say the five T's.
So watch the timelines.
Don't fear them. Just pay attention to them.
Be tender with yourself and others.
Find good teachers, people you trust,
whether that's a doctor or a mentor of some kind.
Or us. Yeah. Or us, yes.
And find your tribe.
We are nothing without the strength of community.
And then lastly, truth.
Expect truth from others and yourself and just share that.
Thank you, thank you.
Alright, Ms. Halle Berry.
I would like everybody to leave here with an action item,
because I think part of dealing with menopause
is we have to change culture, right?
We have to destigmatize it.
And so I think a really good way
that we can all take from this moment,
you know how we all have baby showers,
we have wedding showers,
we have bar mitzvahs, bat mitzvahs,
bachelorette parties, sweet 16s?
Imagine a world that when a woman realized
she was in the menopause, 365 days of that period gone,
your family was responsible for throwing you a she-esta.
[ Cheers and applause ]
I love it.
So that gives you something to look forward to
where you are celebrated in a big way, small way,
whatever your family thinks would be perfect for you.
But you get a she-esta.
And I think if your family doesn't want to do it,
she-esta your damn self.
Okay?
[ Cheers and applause ]
I love that.
There's so much more to talk about on menopause.
If you or someone you know is going through it
or will be going through it, that means all you men, also --
Thank you for the men in our audience.
I can -- I can see y'all are learning a lot.
Come on over to "The Oprah Podcast."
We have some in-depth episodes on menopause coming up.
But I thank all of my guests today,
and thank you for being such a great audience
and all of you watching who joined us
for this revolutionary conversation.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Go well, everybody.