There are over 10 million women over the age of 40 in Canada who will experience perimenopause symptoms, from hot flashes and trouble sleeping to headaches and joint and muscle aches. While the conversation and understanding of menopause has grown, women experiencing perimenopause can often find themselves feeling alone and unheard.
The lack of research into perimenopause can leave women feeling isolated and on their own to find the answers and help they need. This lack of information and support is what brought Mikelle Ethier and Michelle Stainton together to start This Is Perimenopause, an online community supporting women as they experience the different stages of perimenopause and menopause.
Women can begin to experience perimenopause symptoms as early as age 35. The symptoms can be overwhelming, even debilitating, but many women report their primary care providers dismissing those symptoms because of age.
“There is so much happening during that time that is not taught in medical school, and that is not discussed openly by anyone, and so it can be very lonely, very isolating, and sometimes terrifying,” Ethier said.
The period that perimenopause symptoms can start also happens to be during a critical time in a woman’s life when the demands of career and family are at their highest. Ethier said this can also be a period of life when health concerns start to come to the forefront and supporting aging parents becomes a priority.
“It's sort of the apex of life stress, so it's really easy to say you’re not sleeping well or feeling fatigued because of stress. Women often think their heart palpitations or increasing anxiety is due to life, but there are also biological changes that we need to understand,” Ethier said.
One critical health issue Ethier said many women don’t know is that the risk of cardiovascular disease can equal and even surpass that of men after menopause. Women also begin to lose muscle mass during perimenopause, which can affect their mobility and strength later in life.
“There are all kinds of things women can do, and not just medication. Hormone therapy can be an important and safe option for a woman's menopausal journey. But there are so many other things—lifestyle, exercise, and diet—that if you don't know and just keep chugging along, dealing with all of this stress, you are potentially compromising your future health,” Ethier said.
Ethier and Stainton met in 1992 and quickly formed a bond. In 2020 they were commiserating about their perimenopause symptoms and the fact that there was no information or support available.
“We couldn't find anybody to help us with the symptoms we were experiencing or give us information about what we should do. And so our third co-founder who has extensive experience in launching a startup said, ‘Well, we can do something about that’,” Stainton added.
The trio decided to create a mobile app to help women during their perimenopause journeys. They applied and were accepted into the AC:Studio program, and that’s when their plans took a new path.
“We were lucky to start with the mentors from SnapPea during this program's first phase. After initial testing of our value proposition, one of our mentors reached out and said we were really onto something based on the market research we’d completed, but they thought we should focus on our social presence and build a following,” Ethier said.
The founders decided to pivot and created This Is Perimenopause, an online community resource that acts as a safe space for perimenopausal women to find evidence-based resources.
“It’s a community that helps let women know they're not alone, and an opportunity to not go through what we went through,” Ethier said.
Ethier and Stainton write about everything from ongoing research to managing symptoms. On social media, This Is Perimenopause began growing its following on Facebook and has almost 27,000 followers. They are now expanding to Instagram and YouTube and recently launched season two of their podcast. Their newsletter launched in the spring and now has just under 2,100 subscribers.
“For us, it's about connecting to women everywhere and making sure that they understand what perimenopause is. To get the care and support they need and deserve, they have to learn the potential options, and really become advocates for their health because otherwise it's just not happening or being paid attention to,” Stainton said.
It was challenging to pivot from building an app to launching an online community, but Ethier credits their Accelerator Centre mentors with helping them through it.
“In the last four months, we’ve started to gain momentum. The flywheel is starting to get a little easier to move forward. We're at a stage where we can almost see it spinning on its own. What's so great about what we've decided to do is the impact we're going to be able to have, and that we've had so far, has been much more significant than it would have had we started with creating an app,” Ethier said.
One of the mentors the team loved working with was Rob Farnham, who passed away unexpectedly in September 2024. Ethier said he cared deeply about the women in his life and could see why the idea was important.
“We worked very closely with Rob and we're not even sure how to process this loss. He took such an active interest from the very first time we met him. He was our biggest cheerleader, but he also gave us tough love. He is one of the big reasons why we are where we are. He was incredible for so many reasons,” Ethier said.
Ethier also credits mentor and SnapPea founder Steven Fyke with helping them pivot to an online community.
“That has been the best part about the AC:Studio program. The access to the expertise and talent from Rob and Steve and all of the other mentors has been fantastic,” Ethier said.
Visit thisisperimenopause.com to learn more about the symptoms of perimenopause and the options for navigating conversations with your healthcare provider and family.
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