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☀️ Part 2: What’s Actually Happening — The Facts Behind the Hot Flush

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Oonagh Grace

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Part 2 of the OMG Menopause at Work series — busting myths, breaking silences, and bringing a little clarity to the chaos.

Here’s something I wish someone had told me earlier: menopause isn’t one day or one moment. It’s a whole transition that can stretch over years.

Let’s break it down:

  • Premenopause: everything before things start changing.
  • Perimenopause: the rollercoaster phase where hormones fluctuate wildly (and symptoms start to show up).
  • Menopause: technically, one day — the 12-month anniversary of your last period.
  • Post-menopause: the rest of your life.

And considering women spend 40% of their lives in menopause, it’s time we treated this as a long-term wellbeing conversation, not a brief inconvenience.

The OMG Data Moment

Did you know that menopause is barely covered in medical training? Some doctors — even specialists — get as little as two hours of education on it. Two hours!

No wonder 78% of women report experiencing symptoms they didn’t even realise were related to perimenopause. That’s not ignorance — that’s lack of information. You can’t know what no one teaches you.

It’s not “just” hot flushes

The top five symptoms women say affect them most at work might surprise you:

  1. Fatigue and insomnia
  2. Brain fog
  3. Anxiety or low mood
  4. Memory problems
  5. Hot flushes

Sound familiar? Those aren’t just “getting older” — they’re biochemical changes happening in real time. Oestrogen affects hundreds of systems in the body — yes, you have oestrogen receptors everywhere. Brain, skin, joints, even your gut. No wonder it’s a full-body experience.

So what can we do?

Start with awareness. The more you understand what’s going on, the more empowered you feel. It’s not weakness; it’s physiology.

For workplaces, that means moving beyond silence to education. Train managers. Update wellbeing programs. Add menopause to health insurance plans. Make space for empathy, not eyerolls.

💖 OMG Takeaway:
Menopause is not a mystery, it’s biology. When we understand it, we can manage it. When we talk about it, we normalise it. And when we normalise it, we make work better for everyone.

— Oonagh Margaret Grace (OMG)
omgway.blog | @omgway

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Hello,

I’m Oonagh

I am the writer behind OMG: The Women’s Health Brief, where I break the silence around perimenopause, menopause, and the medical OMG moments women are too often told to “just accept.” Drawing on my own experiences with hormone therapy and medical gaslighting — and my work as a transition coach helping women navigate midlife — I aim to support and inform women as they move through this stage of life and beyond.

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Welcome to OMG: The Women’s Health Brief — a space for breaking the silence around women’s health. From the chaos of perimenopause to the crash landings of menopause — and every baffling, frustrating, and overlooked medical moment in between — this blog shares the stories, research, and resources women deserve but don’t always receive.

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