Menopause Mayhem

Magnets or HRT

Since my last article I have been contacted by lots of women and a few men who really appreciated me talking openly about my experience of the menopause, the symptoms and the impact it can have on work and personal life. That’s why I wrote it!

As women, we are not looking for sympathy, just a bit of understanding on how these changes affect us and those around us. Talking about it made me realise that it wasn’t just me, I wasn’t going mad and that we all have varying symptoms. Some have sailed through it no bother and others had it worse than I did.

I had a really good conversation with someone who explained how her sex life had changed and how confusing that was, she didn’t know if it was her hormones, her libido or if her partner was actually the one not interested in her. I was single for most of my symptoms (shocking I know given I was such a dream at the time), so I didn’t have to deal with that side of things.

Things came to a head for me after a meeting. At the end I apologised for making a mess of it, if nothing else at least I’m honest. I had a call the next day from a fabulous professional woman who told me that I had done perfectly fine the whole meeting and that I shouldn’t have been apologising. She told me her story and experience of the menopause and how hard it is being in a professional role, especially when the hormones can leave you with a real lack of self-worth. She was the one that made me decide it was time to call the doctor.

I can’t fault my doctor. She phoned me back and explained the options to me. She talked about HRT and natural remedies, but I must admit, my menopause brain didn’t hear what she said after she told me that some women find a magnet in their pants helps. I was off on a tangent, imagining walking through a room and anything metal flying through the air and attaching themselves to my crotch. That’ll be me I thought, Mrs Magneto. Anyway, I opted to give HRT a try. As someone that struggled my adult life with hormones, I was really scared but I was ready to try anything.

The first morning after applying a patch I woke up feeling great. It may have been psychological, but I felt like Dr Who, the David Tenant version of course, because we all know he’s the best Doctor, I almost shouted Alonseeeeeee. I thought, this is the most energy I’ve had in months, let’s do couch to 5k. Not one of my brightest ideas as the day after that I got up and was walking like John Wayne. I ouched all the way down the stairs, each step was ow, ow, ow.

All of a sudden, my brain kicked up a notch and was able to focus better, I could read work documents first time around, instead of taking three goes to get the information to stick. I no longer woke up feeling depressed and with a banging headache. It wasn’t just that I had energy to get up and do stuff, but the change to my mental energy was amazing. I wanted to talk to people and engage with the outside world again.

It has levelled off a bit now but when I think back on how exhausted I was, mentally and physically, I wish I had done something sooner. HRT has worked for me, but talking to other women, it hasn’t for everyone. I would strongly urge anyone going through menopause to contact their GP for advice and options. It may be something that women have been doing for ever but that doesn’t mean we should suffer in silence. Talk to other women. I now have menopause update texts from friends, and it helps us all, just to be able to share this experience with others who understand and to get advice. Some things can be embarrassing but when you have someone who is going through it too, it can actually be quite funny. When I asked my friend about these black marks from my jeans rubbing against the patches, she replied, yeah, my butt looks like an etcha sketch board. Lifestyle MAG

I’ll finish with a great piece of advice that I received from my work colleague. She said “remember, self-care is so important, if Netflix, chocolate and wine is what you need, do it. You don’t have to conquer the world every day.” That was so important, and even now that I’m on HRT, I tell myself that sometimes, a time out to recharge is ok. As women we are all fabulous, we may be all different shapes and sizes but inside, our bodies are amazing and we need to take care of us.