My not so fun experience with Menopause

Menopause...... I say that with a big heavy sigh as it has not been the most fun chapter of my life!

This month is Menopause Awareness Month and I thought I would like to share some of what happened for me.

Menopause is different for every woman and some just breeze through peri menopause, menopause and then post menopause and then other like myself have a ridiculous number of the symptoms that impact our everyday life and into the night! 

So let's talk honestly about some of the physical symptoms as listed by Jean Hailles and how they affected me (and remember everyone is different:

• I had very irregular periods 
• I had the worst hot flushes, imagine your in a meeting with mostly males and suddenly a surge of heat rises up through your body to your face and you actually break out into an unexplainable sweat dripping on your forehead 
• I had the night sweats and still do, waking up sopping wet and needing to change your top or PJs - doona on, doona off, one leg out, sleeping with a fan again not fun
• I am now a very bad sleeper and constantly wake up to pee in the night, often having trouble going back to sleep sleep
• I still have the occasion unexplained sore breasts, but mammograms so far have not found any issues
• I have itchy, crawly or dry skin often and need to moisturise often, I was using the Nivea spray moisturiser but that's off the market now so any suggestions welcomed 
• I am constantly suffering from exhaustion and fatigue, but I also wonder if this is just a symptom of growing older .... eg the grunt when I get up from sitting 
• I have had a very dry vagina internally and was given some suppositories to use thankfully this has resolved itself I also had itchiness on my vulva and was using a great cream which is also no longer being sold 
• Definitely have a loss of sex drive (libido) but also wonder if this is an age thing 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️
• My headaches and migraines got quite severe and so I have been on a preventer for migraines which has worked beautifully 
• I definitely had more pronounced premenstrual syndrome (PMS), anger and almost range for no real reason - think wanting to actually stab your husband (not to death) but just cause he's annoying
• I have aches and pains mostly when exercising but also feel this is normal and just an ageing thing - which is why I take fish oil to keep my joints lubricated
• I can't say that I really noticed a lot of bloating that was outside of the usual when a period was coming on
• I did not thankfully have any urinary problems although I guess I do have an urgency to urinate sometimes and a weak bladder and have on occasion used teen pads just in case of a leak
• I definitely have had a slight weight gain due to a slower metabolism but I also have less hunger on some days and I know if I cut back chocolate and/crisps I could do better 

There are also Psychological symptoms which can be experienced and here's how I fared there:

• Definitely had irritability
• Definitely had increased anger for no real reason
• Not sure about the low mood. I already had depression and anxiety so couldn't really say it was caused by menopause 
• I had brain fog and that was very frustrating, trying to concentrate and just feeling like I wasn't present or able to concentrate 
• The forgetfulness was overwhelming. I forgot appointments, catchups, birthdays, events I even now write everything down as I feel like I can't remember things.

The other thing people neglect to mention is that this can go on for years. More than 5 years in fact, and so even the thought of this is overwhelming. 

It should be noted there are treatments and my sister and mother had hormone replacement treatment. Unfortunately for me I could not take the HRT because of my other medications, so I had to just navigate my way through.

Would love to hear about your experiences (good or bad) if you wanted to leave a comment below.

This is where you can find more information about menopause, and there's a great article all about it: https://www.jeanhailes.org.au/