For years, Julienne kept quiet about her diagnosis of Primary Ovarian Insufficiency (POI) – a condition that causes menopause symptoms before age 40. At just 35, she was suddenly navigating intense hot flashes, heart palpitations and sleepless nights.
“My close friends and family knew about my diagnosis, but I never really shared it publicly,” she says. That changed this past October, when she came across Sinai Health’s Hot and Bothered™ campaign and also attended The Walrus Talks Menopause. “Suddenly, people were talking about menopause in a way I’d never heard before – and I wanted to be part of it.”
Feeling ready to speak up, Julienne took to Instagram on World Menopause Day:
“Over 10 years ago I started having hot flashes, heart palpitations and sleep issues. My family MD did some bloodwork and referred me to a fertility clinic where a Reproductive Endocrinologist diagnosed me with Premature Ovarian Failure, an unfortunate medical term for women under 40 with menopausal symptoms.
I had so many questions that a fertility clinic could not support. I wasn’t ready to make a fertility plan or a downpayment. My family MD couldn’t help me, so I decided to do my own research and found the @sinaihealthtoronto Menopause Clinic and Dr. Wendy Wolfman.“
Her post went on to share how the right care restored her health and, ultimately, opened the door to motherhood.
Julienne’s family doctor referred her to a fertility clinic, assuming she would want to take steps towards motherhood immediately. But what she wanted was help for her symptoms. The experience left her feeling dismissed. “It felt like they were running a business. A specialist told me I couldn’t have a biological child and described my ovaries as ‘shriveled up.’ I felt awful.”
The care she received at that clinic was focused on conception and success rates, without any consideration for Julienne herself. “It was like: buy a donor egg or invest in expensive treatments. But I needed to take care of myself first.” Julienne began researching ways to manage her symptoms and found Sinai Health’s clinic for women coping with POI, which is now part of the Weston and O’Born Centre for Mature Women’s Health.
Everything changed when she met Dr. Wendy Wolfman, a leading expert in mature women’s health and inaugural Director of the Centre. “Dr. Wolfman listened. She reassured me that POI can be managed with specialized treatment.” Hormone replacement therapy (HRT), for example, relieves menopause symptoms by replacing the estrogen and progesterone the body no longer makes. It took time for Julienne to find the right HRT dose, but once she did, her symptoms eased. “No more heart palpitations, no more hot flashes. My quality of life improved exponentially.”
Once her symptoms were under control, and as she approached 40, Julienne began to seriously consider motherhood. Her appointments with Dr. Wolfman included gentle check-ins. “She’d ask, ‘Where are you in your fertility journey? How can I help?’” Julienne recalls. “Sometimes she’d share her own experience of becoming a mom in her 40s. She never rushed me, just reminded me not to lose sight of what I wanted.”
The conversations helped Julienne reframe what it meant to have a donor egg baby, introducing her to the concept of epigenetics – the science of how a person’s environment (including the womb) can influence how genes are expressed without changing the DNA itself. “I mourned the loss of my own genetic material – but Wendy helped me see that epigenetics plays a role too. She said, ‘That baby will be yours. It’ll have your blood around it, you’ll feed it, it will know your smile.’“
When the time came, it was Dr. Wolfman’s office that provided the referral to a different fertility clinic. “The doctor there knew Dr. Wolfman. It didn’t feel like a transaction, it felt like care.”
In January 2020, Julienne and her partner moved forward with an embryo transfer. It worked. Their son, Oscar, was born in October that same year.
The photo Julienne shared in her powerful Instagram post captures a sunny October afternoon: Oscar, a happy four-year-old, nestled between his parents on their front stoop. “I truly don’t think I would be a mother without the support I had from Dr. Wolfman,” says Julienne. “And I can’t imagine life without our son.”
Julienne’s story is an important reminder of the urgent need for specialized care in menopause and POI. “The work the Centre for Mature Women's Health is doing to advance education, training and research is just so important,” says Julienne.
The Weston and O’Born Centre for Mature Women’s Health is leading the way in closing gaps and addressing the health inequities that women face. The Centre is also positioned to provide the resources for research, education and training needed to set a new standard for mature women’s health care in Canada and globally.
Sinai Health is also home to the Frances Bloomberg Centre for Women’s and Infants’ Health, Canada’s largest academic institution for women’s health. The Weston & O'Born Centre for Mature Women's Health builds upon this institution's legacy of advancing innovative, evidence-based care for women.
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Julienne's menopause symptoms began at just 35, but with expert care she found relief, regained her health and became a mom.
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