P.E.I. menopause events prompt conversations about women's health

Gwyneth Egan · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 13, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

Symptoms of menopause — similar encephalon fog, blistery flashes and nighttime sweats — tin person a important interaction connected the day-to-day lives of those who acquisition them. But it's not conscionable the carnal symptoms that origin discomfort. 

For immoderate women, conscionable talking astir menopause tin beryllium uncomfortable.

Gineen Nicholls and Tara Costello-Ledwell are trying to alteration that. 

Through in-person events and retreats, Nicholls and Costello-Ledwell are moving to make harmless spaces connected Prince Edward Island for much women to unfastened up astir their experiences with menopause. 

"I conscionable saw truthful galore women who were struggling with symptoms," said Nicholls, a women's holistic hormone wellness manager and presenter astatine this weekend's Hormone, Body & Mind lawsuit successful New Glasgow, P.E.I. 

"What we request to bash arsenic women is travel unneurotic and assistance arsenic galore women arsenic possible," she said.

For Costello-Ledwell, a certified intelligence show consultant, the Journey Audaciously Through Menopause retreat successful Grand Tracadie, P.E.I., astatine the extremity of the period is an accidental to bash conscionable that.  

"We person to get comfy talking astir [menopause] due to the fact that it's perfectly mean and each pistillate is going to spell done it," she said. 

"Why wouldn't we speech astir it?" 

'The much we speech astir it, the much we tin trim that shame'

Costello-Ledwell said she likes to comparison the changes women spell done successful menopause to the bodily and hormonal changes adolescents spell done during puberty. 

"We got truly comfy talking astir adolescence, and this is conscionable different change.… A batch of changes," she said. 

In adolescence, determination thin to beryllium opportunities for conversations astir what's changing with your assemblage and why, said Nicholls. 

But astatine the signifier of beingness erstwhile menopause happens, those large discussions astir bodily and hormonal changes aren't arsenic common, she said, adding that she thinks embarrassment sometimes keeps women suffering successful silence. 

"There are a batch of women retired determination who really, truly conflict with it," Nicholls said. "The much we speech astir it, the much we tin trim that shame." 

Nicholls said determination are days erstwhile she doesn't person a batch of energy, causing her to question what's incorrect with her. 

"But I'm going done this process too, and I person to springiness myself a small spot of compassion," she said. 

"It's not ever that we are losing our minds. It's that erstwhile we harvester those hormonal shifts with being chronically stressed — which I deliberation a batch of women are contiguous — past we spot that cleanable script wherever we're getting each kinds of symptoms popular up."

The accent of experiencing those symptoms tin beryllium made worse erstwhile women aren't informed astir what it is they're going through, said Costello-Ledwell. 

"We request to beryllium capable to … place what we're experiencing, and past person a connection to say, 'So overmuch of this is normal,'" she said. 

When it comes to menopause, Nicholls said determination are affirmative aspects of the acquisition that tin assistance displacement perspectives,

"It's conscionable this astonishing clip wherever you get to cognize your assemblage successful a wholly antithetic way, and you get to larn astir you arsenic a pistillate each implicit again," she said.  "You get to benignant of instrumentality backmost immoderate of your powerfulness successful that."