When your GP doesn’t have the answers, where do you go?

Lightly edited for readability.

I sat in a GP’s office while she Googled my symptoms in front of me. Another doctor told me they were going to book me in for surgery, and when I asked what for, I didn’t even get a straight answer. So if you’ve ever walked out of an appointment feeling unheard, or you’re lying awake wondering who you’re even supposed to see about your symptoms, then this podcast is for you.

I’m Sharryn Ludlow. I’m not a doctor, and I’m not the health expert. I built Menopause Resource Hub because I couldn’t find the people who actually know this stuff, and I figured if I couldn’t, a lot of other women couldn’t either. Across this series, you’re going to be introduced to practitioners who really focus on perimenopause and menopause for midlife women. GPs, dietitians, naturopaths, physios, whoever is looking after women like you and me. We want to hear from them, so that you know what comes next and who to book.

We all know that menopause and perimenopause are part of a life transition. We hit it at different ages, but we start to notice changes in our body, and that’s what happened to me. I had a few symptoms and I went down the GP path, with different appointments, and without going into detail, I can just say it was a disappointing experience. I encountered people who didn’t know a lot about it. They didn’t know how to help me, and they were Googling answers while I was in the room. One person just said, well, we’ll book you in for surgery. And I said, for what? Needless to say, I came away very disappointed.

Then I started the Google search. How do I find a provider? Where do I look? How do I know who to trust? How do I even know if that GP knows anything about menopause? And then I saw people everywhere having the same problem. They’re going to a GP and they’re not getting the solution they’re looking for. That’s not to say people aren’t trying, and it’s not to say all GPs are the same. It’s just an area that hasn’t been highly focused on.

One beautiful doctor who has since come on board, and who actually sees the vision of what I’m trying to create, made a statement to me that stuck. She said the problem is that for most GPs, menopause is not a sickness. It’s a life transition. So it hasn’t been the focus of education, training and concentrated effort unless they have specifically chosen to focus on it.

Things might be starting to change in Australia, and we can hope for that. We now have a Medicare rebate for menopause health assessments, and millions of dollars have gone into research. But there’s still a gap of trust and a gap of pathway. Where do you go? How do you know who to trust? That was my journey. I went down the Google rabbit hole. Who are these people? Am I going by their website? Am I going by reviews? How do I know a GP is the one who has the answer?

The more I explored, the more I thought, surely there’s somewhere I can go where the resources are there for me to find. But what I found were sites with lots of doctors listed, and that doesn’t mean they’re menopause informed. There might be a whole list of other services, but does that mean they’re menopause informed? It can be pricey going from one provider to another, or getting the wrong treatment. It can be a tricky pathway.

I think it’s an area that hasn’t really been focused on, and it’s still forming. It’s a little bit like the Wild West out there at the moment. Who knows who to trust and what to listen to? I see a gap after the medical appointment. You go to the GP and ask what’s happening to you, but if we look at ourselves as a whole person, the whole of me doesn’t always need a GP. The GP might be the solution, but maybe what I need is to change my diet, or maybe what I need is a psychologist who can help me through this phase. Call it your own board of directors for your health, people with different skills that you can pull around you.

When I first started Menopause Resource Hub, it was just a directory idea. I was going to find these people and put them in one place, so that even I knew how to find them. I could look on a map near me and see if they offered telehealth. I started to build that, and in the process I realised that some providers really are menopause focused and others are just using the phrase for search engine optimisation. So I started to refine the process and who I would invite on, because it’s a manual process. I’m actually vetting them all.

The goal is for women like you and me, who have no idea who to look for. We don’t know who to trust. How do you trust a Google search? How do you trust AI? It’s a tricky place. So my goal is to create a place where, at the minimum, you have some options in front of you and you can decide. In this case I might go to a naturopath, or I might go to a chiropractor. Who can look after the various parts of your health journey? My goal was that it would be manually vetted and that it would be across disciplines, because our health is multifaceted. It’s not just going to a GP. While a GP is a really important part of the health journey, it isn’t the only part.

What I love about speaking to these providers across Australia is that they love the idea of a support network too, sharing with each other when part of someone’s treatment isn’t within their own scope.

So that’s my journey of disappointment. My background is predominantly in the online space. I’ve built websites, I’ve had an e-commerce business, and I’ve done coaching, consulting and leadership development. I’m also a travel agent. I’m a bit of everything. But a couple of decades of exposure to business has helped me see the gap in the market. This comes out of my own experience, but also out of what I understand about the online space and what I see in Facebook groups.

Some of those conversations are so heartbreaking. Women are going through symptoms they can’t cope with. Their relationships are going through crisis. Some are in deep distress about how they’re handling their work life and their family. Inexplicable things like rage, or no sleep. There are so many things, and it’s a tricky space.

I think some women assume they’ll go to the GP, get HRT, and that’s the solution. But it’s remarkably evident if you look five seconds beyond that, that it isn’t the whole solution. For some people, HRT might be the perfect option. For others, it might be a big problem depending on their medical background. Some people might not even want to go there and would choose a natural path. Everybody’s position is valid. No one should be invalidated because they chose a path of their own. That’s my position with Menopause Resource Hub. I’m not going to gatekeep you and force you to only go through a GP, for example.

As much as I love GPs, and as much as I love partnering with them, the ones who understand menopause are the ones more likely to understand the power of collaboration across disciplines. That’s what I’ve been finding in my conversations with them as they’ve come on board, and some really lovely ideas are coming out of it. The goal is really caring for women, because this is a journey.

For me, it’s been at least eight years of various symptoms, different things, not knowing, and it changes all the time. Some people go through it for 15 years or longer. Some people just breeze through. I wanted to create this place so that people have information to make their own choices, and that’s the reason for the conversations that are going to start coming through this podcast.

They’re not there to give treatment advice. What they will do is bring you into the world of each kind of provider: what they look at, who they’re serving, what got them into it, and how long they’ve been looking after menopausal women. Why would I go to a nutritionist instead of a dietitian, or the other way around? Why would I go to an exercise physiologist, a personal trainer or a chiropractor? How do you know which one?

A lot of us do try things, and sometimes we’re afraid because we don’t really understand them. I’m not always going to go down the medical route. Sometimes it will be a food-based route, or an exercise-based one. We want to be able to look at all of it, and that’s what Menopause Resource Hub is designed to do.

Since we launched in January, we’ve been building steadily. The website is developing. We have the Appointment Ready Workshop to help you, which we’ll talk about in another episode, and there are some simple downloads if you just want to know about symptoms, treatment options or support. I’ve had a long history of working with non-profits around the world and within Australia, so part of my life has always been about helping people find a solution, in whatever form that looks like. And this journey has been a lot of fun.

Even though our experiences might overlap, everyone’s story is different. What I see in the Facebook groups, which is really heartbreaking, is women asking very specific questions. Personal, intimate questions you’d think they’d be asking their GP, but sadly, in a lot of cases, they aren’t being heard.

What I appreciate about a GP is that they are a general practitioner. They’re supposed to be a little bit good at everything, so that nothing catastrophic is happening to the person who has come into their room. They’re looking after you first, then hearing you. In a ten-minute appointment, that’s a lot to ask, when they have to assess the whole range of health issues it could be. So I think we have to have a bit of grace here, and at the same time find the people who care enough to be educated in this space, get them around us, and ask them the questions.

So that’s been my journey, and I invite you to come along to Menopause Resource Hub. I invite you to share your ideas for it, and to tell me what you want to know about menopause.

I think we need to look after ourselves. We’ve been doing a lot for a long time, whether or not you’ve got kids, whether you’re married, whether you’re working. We care, we listen, we share the journey, we help each other through the rough patches and celebrate the good ones. We’re still very productive in the economy. We have responsibilities with our families and finances, and we’re often the centre of our families. A lot rests on us. So being really smart about how we look after ourselves and each other is a valuable asset for Australia. That’s my goal, and I invite you on the journey with me.

Whether you’re a provider who wants to be part of it, or someone with experiences you can’t for the life of you figure out, there may be providers in our directory you can reach out to and have a conversation with. There are resources and articles, and we’re building things all the time. I invite you to jump on the email list so you hear about what’s coming. There’ll be some distinct things that aren’t conventionally part of a directory.

All of that being said, it’s a new thing. I’m hoping it really connects with people, because we all want to understand our health and know who to trust with it. That’s what we’re forming here.

That’s my story, and it’s why this podcast exists. In the next episode, I’ll walk you through how to get taken seriously at your next appointment: what to bring, what to say, and what to do if it doesn’t go well. I’ll see you there.