Ashveta Budhrani first learned about menstrual cycles in sixth grade. When the teacher asked if anyone knew what a period was, Budhrani confidently raised her hand, believing it to be a class period. When she asked her family about periods after school, they met her with silence.
“My sister asked me to ‘shhh,’” Budhrani said. Later on, she learned this rule extended to menopause, too. Around 16, she started experiencing menopausal symptoms, including hot flashes. Menopause is defined as one year without a period, which signals the end of reproductive hormone production, such as estrogen and progesterone. Though this natural phenomenon happens anywhere from the late 40s to early 50s, for some South Asians, menopause is coming shockingly early — much earlier than in other communities.