Heddie was eating spaghetti when she had her first hot flash. She remembers thinking something spicy must have been added to the dish because she was suddenly sweating and flushed. But that wasn’t the case.
At 53, she quickly put the pieces together. She thought to herself, “I must have just had a hot flash. I guess this is menopause.”
She wasn’t ready for what came over the next few months – crippling exhaustion caused by sleepless nights.
“I was a wreck. I couldn’t function,” says Heddie. “I’d go to bed at 11pm and wake up at 1am, confused. Then boom. Ten seconds later the hot flash would come, and I'd be all sweaty. I don’t think I had four hours of sleep together at any given time.”
She felt little relief during the day. She was working part time as a teacher and the combination of fatigue and ongoing hot flashes was enough to bring her to tears.
“I would get these hot flashes at work and try to stand near the open window hoping the kids wouldn’t see me sweating and turning red. Hot and bothered is the perfect way to describe it.”
Finally, after some unsuccessful treatment attempts with her family doctor, Heddie asked if she could try hormone replacement therapy. Her physician didn’t feel comfortable prescribing it, so she referred Heddie to the Menopause Clinic at Mount Sinai Hospital, now part of the Centre for Mature Women’s Health. That’s where she met Dr. Wendy Wolfman, a trailblazer in mature women’s health and Director of the centre.
“My initial conversation with Dr. Wolfman was about quality of life – and how I wasn’t having any. She was able to put me on hormone therapy and adjust for what worked best to manage my symptoms. She was very supportive,” says Heddie.
Even now, more than 15 years after her first hot flash, she still sees Dr. Wolfman to help manage symptoms like hot flashes, insomnia, and mood changes. While menopause symptoms typically last for seven to 10 years, some women like Heddie experience them for even longer. For her, the Hot and Bothered™ campaign is opening a much-needed conversation about menopause to bring awareness to what women silently cope with.
“This campaign is amazing. To me, it’s equal to all the campaigns bringing awareness to mental health,” says Heddie. “Half the world has menopause and nobody talks about it. Education is important, especially for family doctors so they feel more confident responding to women’s needs.”
With ongoing support from Dr. Wolfman, Heddie is enjoying a quality of life that she didn’t think would be possible when her menopause symptoms were at their worst. She’s retired from teaching and enjoys being active. She goes to the gym, to yoga class, spends time with her grandchildren and even takes Spanish lessons.
She’s grateful for the care she received at Sinai Health and hopes that the campaign will raise the funds needed to continue improving access to care for women as they navigate the menopause transition. With growing demand and waitlists for the clinic at Sinai Health, there is an urgent need to expand services so women will be able to get the support they need to thrive.
Learn more about how you can support Sinai Health’s efforts to transform menopause care for women like Heddie today.
How Kris Depencier’s experience with menopause motivated her to speak more openly about it at work.
Heddie wasn't ready for the chronic exhaustion she would experience when her hot flashes kept her from getting more than three hours of sleep at a time.
