Age 51
Clapton (London)
Civil Servant
In the nail bar in Dalston with Louis the dog
Outside work in Victoria with Louis
Physically it’s been unpredictable and I’m struggling with the hot flushes and the sleeplessness. The hot flushes wake me up and they’re dehydrating. I’ve started to suffer with the brain fog which is frustrating. I can identify what it is as other women have described it to me, but nobody can prepare you for the complete blank that happens. For someone who’s generally able to express themselves quite eloquently it’s quite unnerving. I’m just going into it and it’s hard to know what to do because the advice that’s out there is so contradictory.
I’ve thought about HRT, but my doctor refused to discuss it with me. She said as I’m still not having periods I’m not menopausal. I’m going to have to ride it out and see how I get on. I’m thinking about trying acupuncture to try and find some “normality” because everything feels all over the place. It’s hard to think of any positives, although it’s been really interesting connecting and talking to other women about their experiences.And I hadn’t realised that other women were so conscious and considerate about their experience. Being the age I am I feel able to talk to other women, which is different to when I was 14 and I started my periods I wasn’t able to do that. Not even my mother talked to me about it.
I suppose I’m very lucky that being the age that I am in the time that I live in that society is more open about it in terms of understanding the symptoms.Although we’ve still got a long way to go, as in I wouldn’t be able to walk into a job interview and say “I’ve corpsed because of the menopause.”
Deborah Persaud