Halle Berry has revealed that a doctor wrongly diagnosed her with an STI after experiencing perimenopausal symptoms.
We all know that research and knowledge about women's health is nowhere near as good as it should be.
But a doctor misdiagnosing perimenopause for 'one of the worst' STI's he's ever seen is a whole new level.
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Halle Berry, 57, opened up about the traumatic experience earlier this year after meeting the love of her life during her mid 50s.
The Catwoman star, 58, attended the A Day of Unreasonable Conversation summit in LA on 25 March where she was joined by First Lady Jill Biden for a conversation about women’s health.
During the event, Halle - who has become an impressive menopause awareness advocate over the past few years - revealed a doctor once misdiagnosed her perimenopause for an STI, with him branding it the 'worst case he'd ever seen'.
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The pair discussed a handful of issues, including how older women's stories are told following President Joe Biden's signing of an executive order centred around improving women’s health research earlier in the year.
Halle said her aim with getting involved in such talks is about 'changing the way women and men feel about women during their midlife and how they feel about this - which used to be a dirty little word - menopause, perimenopause, and we in this room have to change that… it can’t just be the doom and gloom story. This is a glorious time of life'.
Elsewhere in the talk, the actor opened up about how she found out she was in perimenopause.
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"First of all, my ego told me that I was going to skip it - I’m very safe, I’m healthy, I managed to get myself off of insulin and manage my diabetes since I’m 20 years old," she explained.
However, at the age of 54 she finally met 'the man of her dreams' - her partner Van Hunt - and chatted some more about all the sex they were having before Jill joked: "I didn’t know she was going to tell this story. I’m not talking about mine!"
Halle then recounted the extreme pain she would experience after having sex and, after getting her symptoms checked out by the doctor, she was told she had the worst case of herpes he’d ever seen.
Both herself and her new man were tested and neither came back with a positive result for herpes.
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"I realised after the fact that is a symptom of perimenopause," she explained, with the pain being due to dryness rather than an STI.
She added: "My doctor had no knowledge and didn’t prepare me, that’s when I knew, 'Oh my gosh, I’ve got to use my platform, I have to use all of who I am and I have to start making a change and a difference for other women'."
Preach.
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If you have been affected by the contents of this article, please find more information and support via Menopause Matters on their website, or email [email protected].
Topics: Celebrity, Health, Menopause, Sex and Relationships
Rhiannon Ingle