Sharon Albarelli still remembers the night sweats she experienced during menopause.

"I've had friends that were really in trouble in menopause," said Albarelli. "I worked in kitchens and I used to find one lady in the freezer sitting in the freezer because she couldn't handle. And I used to laugh and we used to laugh about it. But then it happened to me."

For some, the symptoms can be debilitating.

What You Need To Know

  • Menopause is the female health condition with one of the highest unmet needs

  • Women can be in menopause for 10 years

  • Planned Parenthood has resources availible

Bree Samson and her team of clinicians at Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood want people to know there's help out there. 

"Symptoms vary widely for each individual," said Samson. "Some of the most common side effects are things like night sweats, hot flashes. But also really common are mood disorders, sleep disturbances, changes and bleeding.

"When people think of Planned Parenthood, they don't think menopause care, and so I think that when people come to us and they are in the doors and they find out that this is a service we can provide for them, they are very pleasantly surprised."

Women spend up to 10 years in menopause, but it's the female health condition with the highest unmet need, according to Planned Parenthood.

"Candidly, wealthy white women have always had access and are quite frequently taken more seriously by the health care system than low income women or women of color are, and so we know that our patients have been underserved by the medical system in the past," said Chelly Hegan, CEO at Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood. "This is really a way for us to make sure that everyone has access to care that can really be so life changing."

The gaps in care come down to access and education for both patients and providers.

"When you're over a certain age, you become a little bit invisible to the system. And we are shamed for getting older. And we're not supposed to tell people how old we are," Hegan said. "And there's all of this sort of stigma around just getting older. And I feel like you don't have these kind of discussions with men. You know, you don't have to justify yourself and your right to really good health care if you're a man."