There's got to be a better name for this, than "menopause"

I've grown increasingly dissatisfied with the use of the word "menopause" in describing what my body is going through these days. Even the word "perimenopause" doesn't cut it -- putting the "peri-" in front of "menopause" seems an ill-concealed attempt at making the process seem less notorious. But notorious it remains, for a variety of reasons. Most people still can't get past the concept of menopause signalling the end of a woman's useful life.

Okay, technically, it's accurate to refer to this change-of-life process as "the cessation of ovulation and menstrual periods." But that's not all I'm going through. It's not only my ovaries that are changing -- it's my whole hormonal system. The way I think, the way my body uses nutrients, the way I sleep, the way my hair and nails and tissues are built. I'm producing varying amounts of progesterone and estrogen, and that affects much more of me, than just my ovaries. Even when I am bleeding, I'm still experiencing all the other symptoms that go along with this Change. To make this process ovulation-centric seems just a tad myopic.

Indeed, it's myopic and over-simplified. The end of ovulation is only one aspect of a whole re-wiring of my system that's going on. And to frame it in purely reproductive terms, not only diminishes me as a whole person with much more to off than an egg each month, but it over-simplifies a complex transition. If this Change were as simple as just ceasing ovulation, then it would be a quick once-and-done kind of thing. But ceasing to produce eggs is only one symptom of many during my Change; therefore, to make it all about my menstrual identity, is just plain simple-minded.

What's more, when we make this change only about women's reproduction, we alienate half of the population from a transition which affects them, as it does us. The men of the world are impacted by the changes in our internal chemistry and "coding," and to reserve the change as a purely female reproductive one, cuts them out of the process and unnecessarily mystifies it. It's a hormonal change -- but it's one that impacts our relations with them in the social realm, not only the intimate physical one. Everyone is changed, as we change, and not only our internal organs.

Sure, there's "male menopause," but I've heard the term used more as an alternative for "mid-life crisis" or even as a joke, than seriously. Besides, calling it "male menopause" is a contradiction in terms -- "meno-" refers to menstruation. If they bled for 5 days, every month for a quarter century, it would be one thing. But no man that I know, ever has. So, let's do away with the term "menopause" when we talk about their hormonal changes.

What we need is a whole new word that's more viable than "menopause" and which can apply to both men and women. How about "vitamorph" ("vita"from the Latin "life, way of life" and "morph" from a variation of "metamorphose" from the Latin/Greek which means "to transform"). It really IS a change of life we're going through -- and change of life should not be a euphemsism for menopause -- rather recognized as the overarching reality of this time in our lives.

Menopause inappropriate indicates a brief cessation -- and it's not. It's a done deal -- the end of the mixed blessing of a woman's reproductive life. But it's not the end that so many people make it out to be, for there's far more to women than their reproduction. And the change affects more people than just the women going through the Change.

I'm not perimenopausal. Nor will I be menopausal. I will be vitamorphing. Along with the millions of other women, who will number in the tens of millions in another 20 years or so.