Mistaking Peri- and Menopause Symptoms for Mental illess

There should be a best practice around screening women who may be entering Menopause or Peri-Menopause and are presenting with anxiety or depressive symptoms.   May need to include a full history and also bloods to determine hormone levels.  This should also be accompanied by specialist education to Emergency Department and Mental Health clinicians around the symptons and impacts on women's mood and cognitive functioning.  Education also needs to be provided in the community around this phase in a woman's life and what to look out for that may be problematic - as well as treatment options.

There is not enough support in services for women who are going through menopause or peri-menopause and their families.  This phase in life can be accompanied by all sorts of physical, cognitive and emotional symptoms, and there needs to be education and a more enlightened approach to how to treat this and alleviate symptoms. This is especially important with the provision of safe hormone replacement therapy at an early stage to make the transition healthier and more tolerable.