Halle Berry was wrongly told her menopause was HERPES – as doctors warn hormonal change can be mistaken for heart disease, depression and even dementia

Oscar-winning actor Halle Berry shocked fans this week with the far-fetched medical story of how doctors misdiagnosed her perimenopause.

Instead of correctly identifying the 57-year-old’s hormonal change, the doctor said her problem was “the worst case of herpes she had ever seen.”

After multiple negative STD tests, it was confirmed much later that her doctor had made a mistake. Berry is not alone in her experience of doctors failing to notice the physical changes that occur in approximately 1 million Americans each year.

Research shows that almost one in three women between the ages of 45 and 54 have had their menopausal symptoms misdiagnosed by a doctor.

And the sexually transmitted virus Herpes is just one of many conditions that women have been wrongly told they have.

From Alzheimer’s to heart disease, here are all the serious health conditions that can mimic menopause symptoms…

Sexually transmitted infections

Berry initially sought help from her doctor because dehydration during sex had caused her intense vaginal pain. She was told her symptoms were caused by herpes.

However, she discovered that the same symptoms are common during menopause.

During menopause, the vaginal tissues become thinner, drier, and more easily irritated due to a loss of estrogen, a condition known as atrophic vaginitis.

This can make sex painful and cause bumps or cuts in the tissue, which may look like another problem, such as an infection.

Many sexually transmitted diseases, such as herpes, gonorrhea, and chlamydia, can cause vaginal irritation and pain during sex. according to John Hopkins.

Heart disease

Oprah Winfrey’s early menopause systems were wrongly diagnosed as a heart condition

About 54 percent of menopausal women report experiencing heart palpitations around the time menopausal symptoms began.

Estrogen – which plummets in menopause – has a number of protective functions for the cardiovascular system, according to the British charity. British Heart Foundation. This includes regulating cholesterol levels, reducing fat buildup in the arteries and regulating blood pressure.

So when estrogen levels start to drop, such as around menopause, women may start to see changes in their heart function.

Talk show host and actress Oprah Winfrey shared on ‘The Checkup with Dr. David Agus’ that when she started having palpitations in her early 40s, doctors prescribed her medication and inserted a catheter into her heart.

“At one point, a female doctor first gave me an angiogram and prescribed heart medications, but he never mentioned that this could be menopause or perimenopause,” she said.

She went to five different doctors until she discovered that her symptoms were caused by hormonal changes due to perimenopause.

Dementia

One of the more confusing symptoms that many women experience during menopause is brain fog.

This happens because there are estrogen receptors in the brain that play an important role in memory and speech. Dr. Jessica Caldwell, a neuropsychologist, told Prevention.

So when estrogen production decreases, the brain suffers from a deficiency of the hormone and must adapt. “It’s your brain figuring out how to work without as much estrogen as it’s used to,” Caldwell said.

Women undergoing perimenopause may have more difficulty concentrating, multitasking, and recalling memories Dementia Britain.

This is similar to some of the symptoms you would observe in someone with dementia, which is a general term for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease.

“I have misdiagnosed patients with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease when in reality it was brain fog related to menopause,” Dr. Gayatri Devi, professor of neurology at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, told Prevention.

Depression

Some doctors say that prescribing hormone replacement therapy would be more effective at treating some menopausal symptoms than other interventions, such as antidepressants.

The hormonal changes caused by menopause include changes in sleep quality, anxiety, altered appetite, fatigue and mood disorders, which tick off almost all the symptoms of depression.

Experts have previously highlighted that antidepressant use in women is highest among menopausal women, with 44.3 percent of all women in the US taking the drugs being over the age of 40.

‘We often say, oh, it must just be depression. All these symptoms can be related to anxiety and depression,” says Dr. Jennifer Roelands, gynecologist said in a TikTok.

Irritable bowel syndrome

Some people going through menopause are misdiagnosed with IBS

This condition is quite common and includes cramps, constipation, diarrhea, gas and bloating. Many women also experience these changes when menopause begins to the menopause charity.

When estrogen and progesterone levels drop, studies have shown that people experience more intense bloating, stomach pain and changes in bowel habits.

Researchers from the University of Washington Therefore, many women going through menopause may experience some of the same symptoms of IBS.

fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia syndrome is a chronic condition that can cause full-body pain, fatigue, sleep problems, brain fog and IBS, according to the Menopause Charity.

Because there are no blood tests or official diagnoses for fibromyalgia, many doctors hear these symptoms, which also occur in people going through menopause, and make a hasty diagnosis. Dr. Deborah Brunt, a general practitioner who focused on menopause, wrote on her website.

One user on the MenopauseMatters forum, Hill Wimp, shared that her perimenopause had been misdiagnosed as fibromyalgia for more than five years.

‘My symptoms started out of revenge. “I had a useless GP who, after a year of complaining about brain fog, sleeping 18 hours a day, incredible joint and muscle pain and no periods, diagnosed me with fibro and chronic fatigue, along with stress,” she says. wrote.