Delaying menopause is an incredible medical feat for some – but I wouldn’t be who I am if I’d halted mine

Modern medicine is an incredible thing and a recent breakthrough in the field of fertility means that a simple 30-minute surgical procedure can halt the menopause for up to 20 years.

This has fantastic benefits for women who, for many reasons (including cancer treatment), are catapulted into a premature menopause years before the average age of 51. Other likely candidates are those with a family history of osteoporosis who are unable to take hormone replacement therapy due to medical reasons, and young women who have needed hysterectomies due to diseases such as endometriosis. If anything can spare these women further trauma, then brilliant. I’m also all for helping women who are genetically predisposed to an unfairly early menopause and find themselves in hormonal free-fall before they’ve had a chance to have a family.

The procedure, called ovarian tissue cryopreservation, is said to be straight forward and relatively painless. It simply involves removing a small piece of the ovary via keyhole surgery when a woman is in her twenties or thirties, which is then frozen at -150C and re-implanted as she enters the menopause, be that medically or naturally. At this point, the re-implanted tissue kick-starts her hormones back to normal (premenopausal) levels and it’s all systems go.

Currently, the surgery, including freezing and re-implanting, costs up to £14,000, which for some women is the price of a handbag and a holiday.

While I am delighted that young women who have already had a miserable time medically can be helped with this revolutionary treatment (and I hope they get it for free on the NHS as soon as possible), I do worry that there is a more sinister market for this kind of work.

Apparently, one private clinic practitioner in Birmingham, where the treatment is already available, has promised his daughter cryopreservation for her 30th birthday. Hmm, one wonders if she actually wants it or whether she’d rather have a new nose or a second-hand car.

I suppose the thing that bothers me most is that there’s an element to this that smacks of the usual distaste for women getting older. How dare we be hot and sweaty and go around slamming doors? Wouldn’t it be better all-round if women just signed up for a tiny bit of keyhole surgery and went about their business in a cuter and sexier way until they die?

Please don’t think for a moment I’m dismissing the incredible life-changing difference this pioneering treatment can do for the people who need it, especially if it restores fertility to women who would like to have children – how miraculous is that?

I’m just wary of how fashionable it might become among those who don’t really need it, but can afford to pay for it, a bit like botox and filler and those big puffy lips that some women buy.

I have a problem dealing with the concept that because the menopause is considered unattractive, we should do away with it, or put it off until we’re really old and ugly because who cares how we cope with it then? At least you won't be at work, huffing around the office, annoying everyone by opening every window and crying over leaving your favourite scarf on the bus.

Personally, I find the idea of having to deal with the menopause on top of every other geriatric health problem slightly off-putting. Imagine changing the batteries in your hearing aid while having a hot flush, no thanks.

For me, the menopause has been a rite of passage and yes, parts of it have been uncomfortable and annoying, but it has also been interesting, it has changed me as a person and it has made me so much more aware of who I really am.

But then a lot of people would argue that as I don’t have a proper job, I wouldn’t really know what it’s like to be menopausal in the workplace, to which I say, it’s 2019, the workplace is dealing with vast numbers of people, all of whom have all sorts of problems. We are better at this kind of stuff than we used to be, we’re better at being kinder to people who are struggling with all sorts of things, from period pains to eating disorders and anxiety – let's not turn the empathy clock back.

Of course, all women deal with their menopause differently. Personally, after some spectacular slanging matches on the street, I went down the HRT route to help with my anger issues, others choose to bite down hard on leather. What I don’t think we should do is turn menopause into a condition to be avoided at all costs.

There’s a great deal about being a middle-aged menopausal woman that is a bit of a drag (the weight thing I could do without, but then I could also do without eating great big slabs of cheese). However, there’s a great deal to celebrate too, and as I approach 60, thanks to the menopause, I am better at being me than I ever have been.