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Facing the stigma of VMS

Updated on October 23, 2024

Not everyone's experience with VMS is the same. 

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Transcript

00:00
--I hear from some of my elders is that you're too young to be going through that so soon. Like, I didn't start having those flashes well
00:07
until my mid 50s. [GENTLE MUSIC]
00:16
One of the stigmas that I face with my night sweats is people believing that I'm having them at 44 years old.
00:26
I hear from some of my elders is that, you're too young to be going through that so soon. Like, I didn't start having those flashes well
00:34
until my mid 50s. But, yes, I am experiencing night sweats like three times a week. With my mom, she started experiencing it
00:42
in her mid 50s, some of my great aunts, same thing. So it didn't happen in their 40s.
00:48
So everyone's looking at me, like, really? Are you sure? Right, right, so questioning if you
00:55
are having the experience that you're having. Yes. Wow. That, and that then--
01:01
it makes you kind of recoil and go, am I really having, you know-- Right. Am I-- is it all in my head?
01:09
Right? Right? Yes. I'm sure, Ronni, you probably have probably felt the same way. Tell me your experience.
01:15
What really bothers me is the people that don't have it who want to be the, oh, why aren't you putting this ointment on?
01:23
You know, and you just rub this on and you wear a patch. And why aren't you calling this person?
01:29
And, oh, you don't take this. And, you know, everybody wants to give you advice.
01:36
But until someone really understands my hot flashes, especially my night sweats and like
01:42
how Tasha's speaking, like I just so empathize with her because she's in her early 40s.
01:49
And I'm in my early 60s. And the same thing happened to me. And it came out of nowhere. And nobody that was as young as I was, was experiencing it,
01:59
and let alone experiencing it 18 years later. Wow. [AUDIO LOGO]

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