The Hidden Struggles of Menopause Uncovered with Nurse Di Gibbs

Embark on an enlightening exploration of menopause with Di Gibbs, a seasoned Women's Health Nurse from Women's Health Centre in Bairnsdale. As we converse, Di brings a wealth of knowledge and compassion, unravelling the once-muted narratives of menopause and championing the modern crusade for awareness and support. Together, we address the importance of understanding the changes women's bodies undergo and examine the wide spectrum of symptoms that accompany this life stage. Hormone therapy's role emerges as a beacon of relief for many, spotlighting the progressive dialogue and advocacy that women over 40 are now courageously leading.

Womans Health Clinic
Jean Hailes Health Clinic 

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:21

Welcome to the Rural Venture Collective podcast, the show that celebrates the string, innovation and resilience of women across East Gippsland. Whether you're a local resident or someone curious about the unique spirit of East Gippsland, this podcast is for you. Together, we'll explore the triumphs, the lessons learned and the dreams that fuel these East Gippsland women. Through this podcast, we'll dive into the heart of East Gippsland and shine a spotlight on the incredible women who are shaping business, creating art, nurturing the land and fostering connections across this vast region. Get ready to be inspired, to learn and to be a part of a collection that celebrates the shared experiences that make East Gippsland more than just a place but a home. So grab a cup of your favourite local brew, find a cosy spot and tune in as we embark on a journey of connection and discovery together. I'd like to acknowledge the Gunai-Kurnai people as the traditional owners of the land on which we are gathered and pay my respects to their elders, past, present and future. Welcome to the Rural Venture Collective. We have a little bit of a different conversation today. Let me give you a bit of a background. Recently I was away with a group of girlfriends all over, shall we say, a similar age, a certain age and on the very first evening the conversation turned around to that dreaded M word menopause. One of our friends is quite passionate about researching menopause, finding out what is happening to her body and taking control of it. The conversation got quite hearty and actually continued for the whole weekend. There was a group of five girls and everybody had their own story and was interested in hearing more about one another's story. But what we decided at the end of the weekend was that none of us really knew much about the mysterious menopause. So today I figured we'll go and get the information straight from the horse's mouth. Joining us is Dai Gibbs from the Women's Health Centre in Menstow. Welcome, dai. Hello Lou, I've come and met you in the Women's Health Centre, which is a fabulous facility here. What is your role? Well, my role is the Women's Health Nurse. I do that one day a week now and also I'm the McGraw-Brisker Nurse for East Gisland, so it's all about women's health, really, the role that I play here. Yeah, so I guess you're hearing lots of stories from women from all age ranges and in all different stages of their life. Is menopause something that you deal with a lot? Yes, the Women's Health Clinic sees a lot of women around the what we call a perimenopause around the age of sort of 40 onward, because there are other services now that sort of cater for the younger people in the community. So I do see a lot of women post menopause as well and, yeah, their health needs do change over that time. So Dai tell me this Menopause is something that there's not been a lot of talk about.

Speaker 1 4:01

I know it's not something that my mother or my elder sisters spoke about, so it's not something that I know much about and my friends are reporting the same thing by kind of learning as we go along. Is that something indicative to us or is that something that's generational? We are the generation who are breaking new ground and saying we want to know more about this. I think that women now really want to know what's happening to their bodies and we hear a lot about hormones and what controls us through when we're having children and things like that, and then when all that sort of finishes, their hormones sort of levels all fluctuate again and change and then we really wonder what's going on with our bodies and sort of that can happen. Menopause actually means when the period's stopped and for 12 months, and so that's the word menopause. But the time leading up to menopause can vary. It could be 10 years before that sort of happened. So women have issues with periods and irregularities and heavy bleeding and also hot flushes start and things. So there's no sort of any set time when that's going to happen, but can lead to much discomfort when people are working and they wonder what's going on with their bodies. And I think just education now is so important, so that women understand their bodies and so do their friends or their work colleagues and things. That makes it an easier transition for them.

Speaker 1 5:30

One in three women will probably go to a doctor and talk about menopause and they may need some assistance as well. You know, with some medication their quality of life is interfered with that. They can't function on a day to day basis, but most women will be okay and they'll work out what's for them. They might seek out complementary therapies or alternate therapies and that might get them through a difficult time. Or even just having education, they might sort of understand what's going on a bit more and be able to cope better with the time. So is it fair to say that the approach for many generations has been you're a woman, this is what happens. Just deal with it and get on with it.

Speaker 1 6:16

But people are starting to change that dialogue now, aren't they? People are starting to actively seek some sort of understanding and treatment that in the past we knew a little about. Yes, I would say that, and I think that the internet has helped a lot with information, and then women can actually then be able to have the information when they go to the doctor and expect that, if they need, they might be able to get some assistance with some medication. There was a study done with hormone therapy which then changed a lot in about 20 years ago about the thinking about going on hormone replacement. But now there's more information out there, women who need it and can be understood as seeking that help, and I think that's all of a sudden. Everyone was scared off of it and now there is a place for it, and there's a guideline now about how long you should be on these therapies with menopause symptoms and things, which is safer, much safer now.

Speaker 1 7:26

So people talk about coming out the other side and when menopause is finished, but actually your body doesn't ever bounce back like it's a permanent change, isn't it? Yes, yes, because the hormone levels that you know, were high, which was our estrogen, and that produced Rome, which controls this until to metaphors. Well, that is no longer. We do get estrogen produced in our body in a different way, which I probably won't go into that today, but we do get some estrogen. But that drop in estrogen levels do cause changes in a woman's body which then, yeah, that's, that's sort of permanent, I guess.

Speaker 1 8:10

So women do seek what they can do about those changes and how they can manage them, and a lot of women do talk to me about you know they might put on weight, you know, in in random, in a pause time, and that that is a hormonal change as well, can't be blamed for all weight gain, and so you know, if that is happening, then I guess, when women talk to me about it, we need to then talk about, you know, saying healthy, you should not carry a little bit more weight and might not be able to stroke, you know, get it off very easily. But if you're, you know, living a healthy life, eating right, the sizing right and doing what you can and having a positive, you know, outlook like that, the weight still might be a bother, but you know, it becomes sort of well, I'm doing all I can and I'm healthy and I feel good, and sometimes the fact of life. So women ask you about our weight gain during menopause. Is what other? What other common questions do you receive from people? Um, well, when we do a women's health assessment, we ask about, you know, the sexual and reproductive health and things like that.

Speaker 1 9:16

Also, you know, after having children, a lot of women have sometimes have problems with continence issues and urinary incontinence. Usually is the the problem, and so what can happen is that can resolve it around the menopause. When the estrogen levels draw, the pelvic floor can weaken as well, and so that perimenopausal time, which is about the 10 years which will be, say, 40 to 50 years of age, some women then complaining that they you know if they cough or sneeze or they just don't have the control of their the urine as much as they did before, and you know that can be embarrassing and they want to know what they can do and even though they've been told pelvic floor exercises and that's what they should do, most women don't do that. So we can give them a pamphlet for a start and if they do need extra assistance and sometimes they do we can then refer them to like the continence service and think, and by talking about it out of the you know, out of just in the context of the assessment, they can feel quite comfortable to think, okay, well, it's not just me and yes, I will take up a referral and and try and, you know, get to have some improvement in this for this. I think that's a trick. Firstly, I think people all over here skip slano doing their pelvic floor exercises as we speak. But I think the trick is knowing that you're not on your own, it's not just you, it's happening to a large part of the population.

Speaker 1 10:50

But, more importantly, there are things that can be done to help. You know, people don't need to be embarrassed by these things. There are services out there, like the women's health clinic. So we're in the women's health clinic in Benzdale, located at the Ross Street clinic. Yes, there are also women's health clinic in Swiss Creek, orbost, and the Orbost clinic actually travelled to Malacuta a few times a year, so there is access to assistance locally. But there's other places that we can get some assistance, and you referred earlier to the internet.

Speaker 1 11:25

I have heard speak of a menopausal guru. In our clinic we use a lot of the resources from the Gene Hale Center for Women, which has been around for probably 50 years and grown in a lot of ways, from a, you know, adopter's surgery to now, you know, research they did a lot of research on hormones in the 80s and 90s A lot of menhausal resources being created from that. And so we know I know that you know there are gynecologists there who based at the Gene Hale Center for Women, who do travel Dr Elizabeth Farrell, who does podcasts on the website. So anyone who's wanting some information to see whether that's you know where they need to go to do they need to see a guru or can they just get the information and the understanding and feel comfortable with that and not feel alone with their symptoms. They can look up the Gene Hale's website and on the resources there's webcams, webcasts, webpodcasts, and Dr Elizabeth Farrell has been around for a long time, probably 40 years, I think, and don't quote me on that, but she's more of a walk than I imagine. Yeah, she's been around for a long time, even, you know, a bit longer than I have been in the women's health, so it must be probably about that and she does travel to Yaron or down in South Gippsland. So you know, or now the Gene Hale Center for Women actually has a clinic in the city, in the CBD, and it was based at Clayton, which was always a bit hard for sometimes women who did want to seek out some expert information. I mean, sometimes it means going to your GP to get a referral to a specialist, but sometimes women are actually just wanting someone who knows about women's health from the beginning so they might go down to the GP one of the GP's there and talk about the women's health issue of their concern. So it is accessible now in the city, which you know has made it much easier for people. With it, you know, can go by train and see someone and then come home again. So, yeah, so that's only been the last few years. So that's an excellent resource as well. Great. And of course we'll put links to the Gene Hale Centre and to our Bensdale Women's Health and the other Eskipsland Women's Health clinics in the show notes. So don't have to be looking for a pen in your handbag or, you know, getting off the tractor to try and scratch into the sand the details we're giving you. You will be able to find that information in the show notes.

Speaker 1 14:07

So, dye, we've talked about women who might be suffering from menopausal symptoms, but we haven't actually talked about what those symptoms are. So what sort of things do you find people presenting with? Okay, well, the most common one probably is, you know, the hot flashes at start and sort of come over in a hot wave. They call them hot flashes sometimes and they can be quite distressing, particularly if they keep happening, you know, not during the day. And then also night sweats too, which you know keep women up in the night. There's degrees of that. They might be sort of mild night sweats or they might be soaking night sweats, which are quite distressing when you know women have to get up and, you know, change their clothes and things like that. So, yeah, so that's probably one of them. You know one of the common ones Also, problem sleeping, sometimes because of the night sweats and things, but otherwise it's just you know, problems sleeping, sometimes some anxiety and mood changes and things that haven't been like that before.

Speaker 1 15:12

So that's sort of distressing to some women, just general tiredness, bladder changes and things which we did talk about and discomfort and you know what they can do about that. And with continence issues as well and the change in the periods you know the irregularity of periods and not knowing when they're going to. You know, have a period which can be quite, which are not prepared for that. So all those sort of changes, sometimes they become very heavy and you know something that needs to be discussed with it if it continues, because then their iron might go. You know iron levels get lower and that can lead to tiredness and things and also vaginal symptoms, because estrogen protects the pelvic floor, the cells of the lining of the, you know, the urethra which leads to the bladder and also the vagina. So you know discomfort with dryness down there, we say down there, which then can lead to problems with intercourse and sometimes relationships and things like that.

Speaker 1 16:16

So women seek some advice about that and some women don't have any issues or haven't ever spoken about things like that before. So you know it's an opportunity to get some advice and not feel as if they're the only one that that's happening too. So if women aren't sleeping and they're anxious and their relationships are all in a bit of turmoil, they're tired, moody and often women say you know, it's not like me, I'm not moody, I've never been moody and you know, not tolerating day-to-day activities and things they may need, you know, some assistance and to talk to a special, so their GP and they may need sometimes the quality of life. Women are prescribed some hormone replacement therapy, but nowadays women don't go into that lightly. It's usually something they've researched and discussed at length and which is a good thing, I think, for women to be in control of what they're taking as well, yeah, yeah. So imagine if you're tired and you're, you know you're feeling kind of anxious and overwhelmed with things.

Speaker 1 17:30

You know, some women are having trouble working as well, actually functioning and holding down a job. Yes, it can be as extreme as that. It can, yes, it can, and of course that's upsetting. You know, there have been a woman who's been in control and organised and, you know, then their life starts to change and they can't be that person and they try, they try, and then of course they can become teary and they may not have even been a teary person either, you know, and so they're just not functioning to how they want to be.

Speaker 1 18:04

So so, dore, have you always worked in women's health? Well, I did my nursing, then I did my midwifery and then, yeah, I did always have an interest in women's health and then I went into sexual school, family planning, then sexual and reproductive health and then in the early 90s then I did what they call the PAP test provider course, which was an extension of that course, yeah. So then it's gone from there and you know, to provide an option for women to come and have their PAP test, which was always unpleasant usually for women or uncomfortable, and it gave. We actually had the ability to have holistic sort of assessment and take a bit more time. So that's sort of where the women's health clinic sort of grew, yeah, and it's been going for a long time.

Speaker 1 18:55

Things are changing a little bit now because we've seen a whole shift in PAP tests. No longer Cervical screening came in probably 2017, and since then that was still the same way as done as the PAP test. But last June then they're looking for the human papillomavirus. They realised they could do that with a swab. So now women are invited every five years. So there's been a whole shift in you know times and all things every five years and if they're eligible they can just they can do a swab. It does still have to be done at the doctor's surgery or a women's health clinic At this stage. It's not going to be like a bowel screening kit for a while, but they're looking to eradicate cervical cancer by 2035 in Australia and this self-testing, now self-collecting, is helping that, because more women are coming forward now to have that test done. And the more we talk about it, of course, and de-mystify it and de-demonise it, I guess more people come forward as well.

Speaker 1 20:03

Yeah, yeah, great, so, dye, if you always lived in Gippsland, let's talk about Dye the Person. Dye, the Person, dye the Person grew up in Meatown for a little while on a farm and then, yeah, ben Stale, and then Melbourne Nursing, and then back to Ben Stale and family and here I am still here now. So you moved back to Ben Stale to raise your own family. Yeah, can't back people. Had children, yes, and then, yes, had children and, yeah, it's been a lovely place to grow up and live. Yeah, what are some of your favourite things to do? And here in Gippsland, or beach mountains, yeah, war, enjoy gardens and just enjoy the Mitchell River. You know like can't beat that. It's a great relaxed lifestyle, isn't it? Yeah, do you manage to walk to work? Or I should? I should, and I've been talking to ladies about, you know, doing exercise, the exercise post-menopause. Yes, I should walk, but I try and go for a walk when I get home. Well, we had an early morning walker, but yeah, well, it's either an early morning walker or an evening walker and I don't think you can switch up which one you are and you die.

Speaker 1 21:23

What else do we need to know about the women's health clinic? It's part of the Ben Stale Regional Health Service, and do we need to plan ahead to make an appointment or, generally, are they? Yeah, so I need to make an appointment. At the moment the clinic is on a Monday, but with a bit of flexibility because I do have other roles here so I can be a bit flexible. Especially, you know, we have women coming from outside Ben Stale quite often. I do do an outreach clinic to Bucket about twice a year. That's, you know, since COVID we're starting that up again to try and sort of reach rural women to save them coming, you know, down if we can. Sometimes when we do that, we do a bit of an information session in the communities, if it can be organised. So, yeah, so we do have appointments on other days if people can't make us on Monday, right, well, thank you for your flexibility. It's a really. It is a great service and something that we need locally and that we need as women.

Speaker 1 22:29

We're really interested to hear back from you, the listener in this instance. So if you want to hear more information around this topic, we can perhaps reach out to some specialists and talk more specifically about things like HRT and getting treatment or living with symptoms and how long symptoms are likely to last all those sorts of things. If you think that it's something that you'd like to hear more about on this podcast, we'd really be pleased to hear from you. So hit us up on Facebook or Instagram, send us a private message and just let us know what you liked about this podcast and what you'd like to hear more of. We're here for you and we want to connect women through the rural venture collective, make sure people are hearing topics that are relevant to them.

Speaker 1 23:18

So, again, I'd just like to thank Nurse DiGibbs. Am I allowed to call you Nurse Gibbs? Yes, we don't usually get called that much anymore, but that's very old, very old fashion. But that's OK. I thank you, nurse Gibbs. We really appreciate your time, we really appreciate your expertise and hopefully we can connect to women who don't know about this service and perhaps could utilize it ongoing. Thank you, liz, and I'm very happy if people wanted to come in and have a chat. They don't have to have a cervical screen, but if they've just got some things they want to discuss and a guide to where they might get some assistance, I'd be very happy to see it. Thanks, di. Well, that's us for today. Thanks for joining us on the Rural Venture Collective. Remember to like and subscribe so you'll be updated when our next podcast lands. Most importantly, stay connected and get out there and enjoy our beautiful East Skips Land Bye. This podcast is brought to you by East Skips Land Marketing with the support of the Victorian Government, recorded at the James Yates Studio, bendisdale.