How Often Should I See a Doctor to Help Manage My Menopause Symptoms?

If you are starting down the road of a menopause journey, it can bring all kinds of questions to the surface, with new challenges to managing your daily health and wellbeing. For many busy women, one of the most common questions is how often they should be seeing a doctor for help with their menopausal symptoms, uncertain as to what’s ‘standard’ and what’s unusual during menopause’s changes.

We wholeheartedly believe that menopause isn’t a journey that should be taken alone. By working with a team of experts and professionals, as well as through engagement with your friends and family, menopause can be navigated with peace of mind and confidence, drawing on a wide base of support to overcome many of its challenges. If you’ve been uncertain about how often you should be consulting with your doctor throughout your menopause care, we’re here to help.

Understanding menopause’s changes

Menopause is a significant moment of transition for women that marks the end of fertility and menstruation, bringing a suite of symptoms along with it. These differ in impact and severity from individual to individual, and can be notoriously unpredictable in their intensity and duration.

This is one of the reasons why it’s so important to draw on professional medical advice and support throughout this life stage, finding the specific resources and treatments necessary for your individual experience of menopause. By prioritising quality care, you’re much more likely to find effective treatments that can reduce the negative impacts menopause may have on your quality of life.

Your initial menopause consultation

As menopause’s onset fluctuates widely from woman to woman, the initiation of perimenopausal symptoms that signals the need for your first menopausal consultation will fluctuate as well. Keeping on the lookout for clear signs of perimenopause can help you to give your doctor insightful data across your general medical appointments as its onset gets closer.

These can include:

• Irregular periods – as perimenopause and menopause gets closer, menstrual cycles tend to become unpredictable. Periods may be heavier or lighter than usual, with varying durations between them
• Hot flushes and/or night sweats – sudden feelings of heat (that often result in sweating) that can also become disruptive to sleep patterns
• Mood changes – sudden and fluctuating feelings of irritability, anxiety, depression, or sadness can also often point to the upcoming arrival of perimenopause
• Low libido – decreases in sexual desire or arousal can also be symptomatic of perimenopause’s arrival

With a range of other perimenopausal symptoms, minor changes to your health and wellbeing can signify the arrival of this transition period. By noting any changes and sharing them with your doctor, you can begin to develop management tools that can assist in minimising the disruptive effects of these symptoms on your daily wellbeing.

The frequency of regular menopause check-ups

Just like with the management of any ongoing health condition, the appropriate frequency for check-ups with your doctor will be largely dictated by your individual health factors and menopausal experience.

Annually scheduled appointments can act as a starting framework for your menopause management, allowing for ongoing monitoring of your overall health, the adjustment of any treatment strategies, and any emerging concerns to be reviewed and addressed.

Of course, if you notice a significant shift in symptom severity, start to develop unusual symptoms, or are concerned about a particular aspect of your health throughout menopause, scheduling additional appointments is always recommended. Too many women suffer needlessly from preventable menopausal symptoms. By keeping a close eye on your health and wellbeing, you can work closely with your professional healthcare team to work towards the best experience of menopause possible within your individual health factors.

What to discuss during your regular check-ups

One of the best tools that can assist you throughout menopause is clear communication. You may find you need to discuss your health and menopause experience with a range of healthcare providers, and the more comfortable you can be in sharing these insights, the more personalised the care will be that they can provide you with.

It can be helpful to keep a comprehensive diary of your symptoms, along with any changes to lifestyle habits, in between your regular check-ups. This can help you to take a curated list of questions and concerns to each appointment, enhancing your communication quality and making sure you’re not missing any factors that are important for your doctor to be aware of.

Alongside discussing your existing symptoms, these regular check-ups are an important opportunity to review your treatment plan. With a wide range of treatments available, including hormone replacement therapy, your doctor will be able to support you in ensuring you’re receiving the highest quality of care that effectively reduces the impact of your menopausal symptoms.

Finding the right healthcare provider

While it’s important to have a good rapport with your healthcare provider throughout every life stage, it’s particularly important to have a comfortable relationship throughout menopause. Working with a specialist can often be the best way to find personalised treatment throughout this life season.

At the Australian Menopause Centre, we work with women throughout Australia via telehealth consultations to provide the highest quality of menopausal care. Our treatment programs can provide significant relief from menopause’s symptoms, using body-identical hormone treatments to provide patient-centred and specific care. With obligation-free initial consultations, we’re here to support you throughout the unknowns menopause may bring, highlighting the treatment options available to you, anticipated results, and providing careful ongoing monitoring to support your health and wellbeing.

Conclusion

Menopause is too significant a season to navigate alone, and regular check-ins with your doctor are the cornerstone of proactive menopause management. By remaining closely connected to your healthcare team, you can benefit from the varying forms of menopause treatment, find support for symptom management, and ensure your overall health and wellbeing is monitored and prioritised throughout each of menopause’s distinct stages.

To find the highest quality of menopause support, connect with our friendly doctors today – we’re always here to help. With more than 20 years of service behind us, we’re passionate about providing Australian women with ongoing menopause care that transforms their menopause experience.