October 2, 2026
By Staff
This story was originally reported by Candice Norwood of The 19th. Meet Candice and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy.
For most of Kwaneta Harris’ life, menopause was not something she heard people talk about.
She didn’t learn about much beyond hot flashes, night sweats and irregular periods in her nursing school training, or at any point during her decade-long career in the medical field. Her mom never passed along tips about that particular stage of life — just as her grandmother never shared any menopause wisdom with her mom.
This legacy of silence meant that Harris’ crash course in menopause came in her late 40s, while she was incarcerated at a Texas state prison. For three years, Harris experienced a litany of confusing ailments: shoulder pain, memory loss, heart palpitations, thinning hair and mood swings. She saw specialist after specialist, each visit costing $13.55 — a substantial amount for a person with no income — and typically requiring an hours-long bus ride to a medical facility in Galveston. None of these visits resolved the fears spiraling in her mind.
Read the full story from WMNF here.
