General Hospital’s Laura Wright opens up about the ONE thing EVERY woman can relate to

While General Hospital’s Carly deals with getting her son Michael (Chad Duell) the best burn treatments he can get, her portrayer Laura Wright has also been going through some difficult times. There’s nothing wrong with her romantic relationship with former co-star Wes Ramsey (Peter). Wright’s issues were more physical than anything else, and through her trying experience that all women deal with, she emerged on the other side as an advocate for herself.

General Hospital’s Laura Wright didn’t know what was wrong with her

General Hospital's Wright explained to Woman’s World that she had two surgeries, one in 2020 and another one in 2021, to deal with some big hemorrhaging issues. It took a while to figure out what was wrong with her, and she eventually learned that she was in a perimenopause stage.

The actress stated that most OBGYNs are not trained to deal with menopause, just mainly childbirth. She commented, “They’re [OBGYNs] incredible, quite frankly, but no one’s bypassing the menopause stage, so to not honor it and treat it as something that is a huge deal is a disservice to all women.”

Wright felt that if she hadn’t been misdiagnosed, she wouldn’t have had to go through the surgeries. She had no idea what was wrong and recalled a time when she was affected on set. “I remember doing a scene with Maura West (who plays Ava on General Hospital) about a year and a half ago and I kept going up — and I don’t go up,” she stated which meant that she had forgotten her lines. She continued, “I’ve been doing this for a long time, so it takes a lot for me to mess up and not remember a line 10 times in a row!”

She found that her sleep was interrupted hourly with hot flashes coupled with anxiety attacks, adding that “It was truly debilitating…At work, I’d have to keep walking offset, thinking I was going to start crying. I had panic attacks and if you asked me what I was afraid of, it was not in my mind. It was all physical.”

She recalled that when symptoms first appeared, she told Ramsey that she understood “Why women in the ‘50s and ‘60s and earlier generations became alcoholics at this point, because you just want to drink and escape from how horrible you feel!” But she also took a more serious tone with the advice: “If you are suffering, you have to be your own advocate to keep going. And quite frankly, if your doctor doesn’t get it, find a new doctor that listens to you, believes you, and doesn’t just want to stick you on an antidepressant.”

Wright further noted that many options include, “Hormone replacement therapy and drugs that help with menopause, hot flashes and weight gain that don’t go down the hormone path to diet, exercise, meditation techniques and breathing.” With the proper treatment, Wright’s been able to get through it and has used her experience to guide her daughter by telling her to become prepared for the day when menopause will arrive.

Wright's real-life issues haven't affected her performance on General Hospital, and she's been killing it as a vulnerable Carly who's trying to help her son. Carly's budding romance with Brennan (Charles Mesure) is starting to heat up, and fans are enjoying the buildup as they've become the couple to watch.

You can watch new episodes of General Hospital on ABC and Hulu.