For generations, women kept their lips zipped about menopause. Now they won’t shut up about it. They’re on television detailing their symptoms. They’re telling all in books.  Menopause has become table talk at dinner parties, and it’s not unheard of for a woman to fan herself mid-meeting or mid-luncheon and say, “Excuse me, I’m having a hot flash.”

Menopause, sometimes known as the last taboo, has come out of the closet. Some blame/credit baby boomers for bringing it to everyone’s attention. Menopause is a hot topic because we have a generation of women accustomed to understanding their own bodies and accustomed to being informed.

These women, so used to asking questions and getting answers, are hitting that 45-55 age bracket when menopause usually occurs. At the turn of last century, an estimated 50 million women are in that age range. Menopause means only the final menstrual period. But according to Dr. Sadja Greenwood, author of “Menopause, Naturally,” the word in common usage designates “a transitional time from a few years before the last menses to a year after it.”

Menstruation becomes irregular and ceases because hormone output from the ovaries is declining. It’s that drop in hormone levels that can bring on problems or noticeable signs that the body is undergoing change.

Health care providers say hot flashes – sudden rises in skin temperature that can leave the recipient hot, sweaty and breathless – are often the symptom that sends women in search of help and information. It is estimated that 80 percent of women going through “the change” experience them. Sometimes It’s mood changes, sudden tears, irregular bleeding.

It could be incontinence or vaginal dryness resulting in painful sexual intercourse. In some cases, the changes are almost imperceptible. But other women experience menopause symptoms for years. A woman is considered through menopause only when she has had no periods or bleeding for 12 months.

That’s one thing about menopause that health care providers agree upon. But it’s a subject that’s still regarded as a disorder, a deficiency or a transitional time – depending on who’s talking or writing about it.

For years menopause was viewed in negative terms. It was a time when women dried up, lost their sexuality and attractiveness, for example. At worst it was treated as a mental illness. At best it was regarded as a rite of passage. Today, it’s taking on a new image, emerging as a phase of life that’s manageable with diet, exercise and, sometimes, medication.

It’s a passage into what can be 30 great years of a woman’s life. But menopause myths still abound. Ask health care providers which ones they’d most like to dispel and they rarely hesitate. A good friend of mine who’s a nurse and educator of midlife women, wants to dispel the myths that a woman “going through the change” (her favorite phrase for menopause) is sexless or not interested in sex, and that women go crazy at menopause.

Her favorite myth she wants to dispel is the myth that women dry up without estrogen. Menopause may have gotten its “untreatable” reputation because many of its symptoms are so vague, and it affects women so differently. Some women report minor discomforts. Others have symptoms so disturbing it affects everything from, sleep to friendships.

Sometimes it’s difficult to separate menopause symptoms from what some people call “the aging thing.” Mid-life is a time of radical change – children leaving home or the death of parents, for example. It’s support, not therapy that women are often seeking. In a youth-oriented culture, menopause isn’t always easy to accept.

The uncertainty and unpredictability of menopause are the most troublesome issues for women. They don’t know how they’ll respond, when symptoms are going to strike.

Treatment can be as simple as wearing several layers of clothing (outer layers are removed at sudden changes in skin temperature), to changing diet and lifestyle. Caffeine, alcohol and stress are known to aggravate hot flashes, so some simple change sin eating habits can have a big impact.