The average age of menopause in the UK is 51, but symptoms can start years before periods stop completely. Perimenopause and menopause can affect daily life, relationships, social life, family life and work, and symptoms can continue after menopause has ended. Dr Amir Khan points to a common mistake: treating new symptoms as ordinary ageing. If the change is persistent or disruptive, it is worth a GP conversation.
Seven myths that delay help
Myth 1: It is just ageing
That idea is too blunt to be useful. Perimenopause and menopause symptoms vary widely, and ethnic background can affect how severe they are and how long they last. The perimenopausal stage normally lasts for a few years leading up to menopause, so symptoms can start well before periods stop completely.
The practical correction is to stop comparing yourself with a single stereotype. If you are in your late 40s or early 50s and new symptoms are piling up, especially if they are affecting work or home life, that is not something to shrug off as normal ageing.
Myth 2: Hot flushes are the only symptom that counts
Menopause-related changes can include low mood, anxiety, low energy, sleep disturbance, joint and muscle aches, and low libido. Symptoms can also happen after menopause has ended, so a woman who has already stopped bleeding is not automatically past the problem.
If sleep is fragmenting, mood has shifted, pain has become more common, or sex has become painful or unwelcome, those are legitimate reasons to speak to a GP, not just to wait for flushes to appear.
Myth 3: It only lasts a few months
In British Menopause Society materials, the menopause transition has a median of 7.4 years, and menopausal symptoms affect up to 80% of women. In a joint position statement from the British Menopause Society, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Society for Endocrinology, more than 75% of women experience menopausal symptoms.
The correction is to plan for a phase, not a blip. If symptoms are dragging on, cycling up and down, or stacking up across sleep, mood, joints and libido, that pattern fits perimenopause for many women and deserves proper assessment.
Myth 4: HRT is too risky for most women
That claim is older than the current guidance. The benefits of hormone replacement therapy usually outweigh the risks, and recent evidence shows the risks of serious side effects are very low. NICE's menopause guideline, NG23, was first published on 12 November 2015 and updated in November 2024, and it states that people have the right to be involved in discussions and make informed decisions about their care.
Fear should not replace discussion. A GP should be weighing your symptoms, history and preferences against the current evidence, not leaving you with the impression that treatment is automatically unsafe.
Myth 5: HRT is only about flushes and periods
Bone health is part of the menopause conversation too. The Royal Osteoporosis Society identifies HRT as an osteoporosis medicine, which is one reason it belongs in a serious discussion about midlife health rather than being reduced to a single symptom.
That is especially important because the years around menopause are when bone-health conversations often need to start. If you have concerns about fractures, family history or bone strength, raise them with your GP rather than waiting for a separate problem to force the issue.
Myth 6: Memory, joints and libido are not part of the same picture
They can be. Sleep disturbance, low energy, joint and muscle aches, low mood, anxiety and low libido can cluster during the perimenopausal years.
The correction is to look at the whole picture. If several of these changes are happening together, especially alongside cycle changes or after periods have stopped, it is sensible to ask whether menopause is part of the explanation and whether other causes also need checking.
Myth 7: There is no point seeking help because the system will not take it seriously
That is starting to change in a concrete way. The Department of Health and Social Care will include menopause questions in routine NHS Health Checks, and the Local Government Association calls that move a long-overdue recognition of menopause's impact on women's health.
The reliable route through the noise is straightforward. Named, evidence-based guidance is a better guide than social media posts. If advice does not name the issuing body, separate symptoms from treatment claims, and show its caveats, treat it as opinion, not medical guidance.