How to talk to your partner about menopause

Menopause is a conversation that's hard to start — on both sides. If you're going through it, you might feel like you're asking for patience you're not sure you deserve. If you're beside someone who is, you might feel like you're walking on eggshells, afraid of saying the wrong thing.

Here's the thing: the conversation matters more than getting it perfectly right. Here's how to start it.

Words that open the door

• "I'm having a hard time with sleep lately, and I think it's the menopause."
• "I don't need you to fix it. I just want you to know what's going on."
• "Can we sit down for ten minutes? There's something I want to tell you."

Words that close it

• "It's just hormones." (It isn't 'just' anything when it's happening to you.)
• "You'll feel better soon." (You don't know when, and that's not the point right now.)
• "Have you tried just relaxing?" (If she could, she would.)

You don't have to understand it all. You just have to be willing to sit beside her while she figures it out.

In Her Corner is the guide we wrote for exactly this — the partner who wants to help but doesn't know how. It answers the questions most people don't ask out loud.