Interest in her talks on menopause had snowballed in a country where the subject was often sidelined, Marja Captijn said.
The Tapanui-based former nurse — now a personal trainer — specialised in obstetrics and gynaecology in the Netherlands.
"I had a few clients going through menopause and I thought well, that’s not a biggie, I’ll just refer them to a menopause consultant.
"But I was surprised that they don’t exist in New Zealand."
Menopause hit her "like a ton of bricks" with unexpected symptoms and she was concerned about the experience of other women.
Compared to the Netherlands, there was a culture of suffering in silence.
A failing healthcare system made this worse, as doctors were already overwhelmed and lacked knowledge on the topic themselves.
Last month she held a presentation in Tapanui with the help of her general practitioner husband and a menopause consultant friend in the Netherlands, who joined via Zoom.
Afterwards the concept snowballed, with people asking if she could do presentations elsewhere in the South.
She gave her first presentation in Dunedin on Saturday and had more planned.
"When we have children or girls, we sit down with them before they hit puberty and then we say, look, this is what’s going to happen with your body, it’s OK, it’s all normal."
However, there was no equivalent for women entering perimenopause, she said.
This was the years-long phase leading up to menopause — the end of menstrual bleeding. In New Zealand, the average age for the start of menopause was 51 and a-half.
Even if they were still having regular periods, about 80% of women would experience perimenopause symptoms, she said. These ranged from hot flushes to anxiety and depression.
"My mission is that every woman in their early 40s know what perimenopause is, what they’re going through, that they’re not crazy, and that there is help out there".
By Fiona Ellis
