Post By: Claudine Aitcheson | Founder, Flourishing Through Menopause | Healthcare Administrator | Surgical Menopause Advocate, November 14, 2025

Six Years Without Treatment: Why I'm Fighting to Create Menopause Medicine as a Medical Specialty

The Question I Asked in the Dark

A few months ago, during one of my lowest moods, I asked my husband a question I never thought I'd ask: Why did God save me during the surgery?

The doctors told me I almost died on that operating table in March 2018.

Surgical menopause, both ovaries removed, hysterectomy, everything gone at once. I was young. I survived. But in the years that followed, I wasn't sure survival was enough.

Today, my husband answered that question.

He said: This is why He saved you. Because someone has to do this, and that someone is you. Because no one else is doing it.

He's right.

The Six Years I Lost

Here's what most people don't know about my story:

After my surgery in 2018, my doctor offered me hormone replacement therapy. I said no. I was terrified of breast cancer. I'd heard the warnings. I'd seen the black box label on HRT packaging, the FDA's strongest safety warning. The message was clear: this medication could kill you.

My doctor said, Okay. And that was it.

No explanation of what my body had just lost. No discussion of what happens when you remove both ovaries from a young woman.

No mention that the very study behind that black box warning was flawed, that the women in it averaged 63 years old (well past menopause), and that the formulations they used are no longer even common.

Just: Okay.

I went six years without hormone replacement therapy.

Six years of mood episodes that made me question why I survived. Six years of osteoporosis developing in bones that should have been strong. Six years of borderline high cholesterol. Six years of dry skin that no amount of vitamin C serum could fix. Six years of fragmented care from doctors who didn't know how to help me. Six years of wondering if this was just how it was going to be for the rest of my life.

I didn't start HRT until 2024. One year ago.

The Announcement That Changed Everything

On November 10, 2025, just days ago, the FDA removed the black box warning from hormone replacement therapy.

Let me say that again: they removed it.

After 20+ years of scaring women away from life-saving treatment, the FDA admitted this was wrong. FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary called it an American tragedy and one of the biggest mistakes in modern medicine. He estimates 50–70 million women over the past 23 years were denied treatment because of this fear.

Women like me. Women who said no because we were told we'd get cancer. Women whose doctors said okay and let us walk out untreated. Women who suffered for years, decades even, because no one was trained to explain that for most women, especially those in surgical menopause, the benefits of HRT far outweigh the risks.

Six years. I lost six years to a lie. And I'm one of the lucky ones. I eventually got treatment. Millions of women never did.

What I'm Doing About It

I can't get those six years back. But I can make sure no other woman loses hers.

Today, I am submitting a comprehensive proposal to major medical institutions across the United States to establish Menopause Medicine as a board-certified medical specialty.

Not a weekend certification. Not a fellowship tucked inside OB-GYN training. Not something doctors learn about for three hours in medical school.

A full medical specialty. With a 3–4-year residency training program. With subspecialty fellowships in Menopause Cardiology, Menopause Psychiatry, Menopause Dermatology, and more. With board certification. With comprehensive, evidence-based training in hormone therapy, mental health, cardiovascular health, bone health, sexual health, and everything else women experiencing menopause need.

Right now, over 1 billion women globally are in post menopause. Most of us will spend 30–40 years of our lives postmenopausal. Yet there is no medical specialty that claims menopause as its primary domain.

OB-GYNs are trained to focus on pregnancy and reproductive years, not the decades after. Endocrinologists manage diabetes and thyroid disorders; menopause is a footnote. Primary care doctors are overwhelmed and undertrained in menopausal care.

So, women suffer. Women are dismissed. Women are told their symptoms are just aging or all in their head. Women like me go six years without the treatment that could have saved them from unnecessary pain.

Why Now? Why Me?

I'm not a doctor. I'm a UCF alumna with a degree in Health Services Administration. I'm a Black woman who underwent surgical menopause at a young age.

I'm the founder of Flourishing Through Menopause, a platform where I share my journey and advocate for better care.

Some might say I'm not qualified to propose a new medical specialty. But here's what I know:

I understand healthcare systems. That's what my degree taught me. I understand what women need. That's what seven years of surgical menopause taught me. I understand health equity. That's what being a Black woman in a broken healthcare system taught me. Black and Hispanic women experience earlier menopause, more severe symptoms, and greater barriers to care, yet we're the least likely to receive adequate treatment.

And I understand that if not me, then who?

Medical schools are unlikely to create this specialty without external advocacy and a clear blueprint. It will remain a topic of discussion in faculty meetings rather than action. They'll acknowledge the problem. But without someone handing them a comprehensive solution, a roadmap, a training structure, a financial model, a vision, nothing will change.

So, I built it. I wrote it. I researched it. And now I'm submitting it.

What Happens Next

I don't know if I'll live a long life. Women who have surgical menopause, especially those who went years without HRT, face higher risks of cardiovascular disease, cognitive decline, and other complications.

But here's what I do know:

Even if I die early, even if no one ever gives me credit, I will die happy knowing that someday, women will look back and say: Really? There was a time when there was no menopause doctor?

I will die knowing that no woman after me has to go through those darn low moods because doctors will finally be trained to care for us properly.

I will die knowing I turned my six lost years into a movement that could help over 1 billion women.

That's why God saved me on that operating table. Not so I could quietly survive. So, I can loudly change medicine.

This Is Not Just My Fight

If you're reading this, you're part of this movement now.

If you're a woman experiencing menopause, your suffering is not normal. Your symptoms are not just aging. You deserve specialized care. Share your story. Comment below. Let the world know what inadequate menopause care has cost you.

If you're a healthcare professional, you've seen these gaps. You've watched women suffer. You've wished you had better training. Support this movement. Reach out. Advocate for menopause medicine at your institution.

If you're at a medical school, you have the opportunity to lead. To be the first. To pioneer a specialty that could change millions of lives. This proposal is ready. The need is urgent. The time is now.

If you're simply someone who believes women deserve better, share this post. Talk about it. Make noise. Change doesn't happen quietly. It happens when enough people say this is unacceptable and demand something better.

The Movement Starts Today

I'm not doing this for fame. I'm not doing this for credit.

I'm doing this because in 2018, my doctor said okay when I declined life-saving treatment, and that can never happen to another woman again.

I'm doing this because my husband is right: someone has to do this.

And it's me.

The proposal is submitted. The movement has begun.

And I'm not stopping until Menopause Medicine exists.

Claudine Aitcheson is a UCF alumna (Health Services Administration, Class of 2016), founder of Flourishing Through Menopause, and a patient advocate for comprehensive menopausal care. She underwent surgical menopause in March 2018 and has been advocating for better menopause education and treatment ever since.

Join the movement:

Share this post.

Tell your menopause story in the comments.

Follow Flourishing Through Menopause for updates on this proposal.

If you're in healthcare or medical education, contact me to discuss how you can support this initiative.

Together, we're creating a future where no woman has to suffer alone.