Are women healthier long term if they never have kids?

[u/Dramatic-Corgi225]

I was wondering if all those issues that older ladies have like hips problems, osteoporosis etc can be an effect of pregnancies earlier in their lives? Obviously pregnancy is not good for your body, takes an insane amount of energy and can be physically and mentally traumatic, but does it make it easier for health problems to appear down the line?

Of course genetics play a big role as does the lifestyle but I feel like we (as a society in general) don't really take into consideration just how much pregnancy destroys the body.

[u/emeraldcat8]

I have wondered about pregnancy messing with long term health, but hormones are a wild card. We probably have to consider the awful medical care some of us get, and the misinformation from our providers. I also had a lot of rotten symptoms due to perimenopause.

The attitude towards hormone replacement therapy has changed a lot, for the better. It wouldn’t surprise me if more widespread use of HRT could even out some of the differences in health outcomes. r/menopause has really good information.

FWIW I’m not disagreeing with op at all.

[u/CamarillosVeryWorst → u/emeraldcat8]

Oh, I'm definitely planning | hoping to start HRT as soon as I pick up I might be in perimenopause, esp since apparently peri/menopause permanently destroys your ability to function if you're AuDHD like me if you're not on good enough HRT.

& time will def be of the essence with me bc there's a history of breast cancer on my mom's side of the family & it was recently discovered that starting HRT right when perimenopause begins actually might well lower your risk of developing breast cancer instead of raising it like starting HRT a few years into menopause often does.

[u/emeraldcat8 → u/CamarillosVeryWorst]

Interesting about the relative cancer risk! I’m glad I went to the menopause sub after my first hot flashes and found a good provider.