Lives in Dalston (London)
Age 49
Author, Empowerment CoachAt Ridley Road Market
Writing in Ridley Road Social Club Kitchen
I started my peri- menopause at the age of 42. I wasn’t sure at the time what was going on. I experienced night sweats and I knew it must have been hormonal changes. Then my symptoms started to become hot flushes in the day, memory loss, the brain fog and not being able to sleep properly I decided to go to my GP The GPwas just talking to me about possible anxiety and stuff.As I’d never really experienced that in my life, I just thought “I don’t think it’s that”. I kept on going back with other symptoms like constant urine infections. The doctor just kept on testing me for sexually transmitted diseases!At that time I wasn’t even interested in having sex with my partner, to tell you the truth.
I’ve found out this happens to many other women. It’s really quite disgraceful. I didn’t realise that when the changes happen down there you are prone to getting infections.After insisting I see a gynaecologist, they ran loads of tests and said I was definitely peri -menopausal and had been for four years. I was offered the HRTOestrogen gel just to stop the infections. I really believe in holistic therapies, but as nothing was working I used it for 5 months, and it was brilliant.And then that was it. I’ve never used it since, I didn’t need to.
I haven’t had a menstruation cycle for about 10 months, but they wait until it’s 12 months and one day to diagnose actual menopause. Last year, I think it was 11 and a half months and then I got one! I feel like that was probably the end of it last December, but it’ll take a few months for them to formally diagnose it.
I’ll be 50 in February when the exhibition opens. That’ll be a really nice thing to do. It’ll be a celebration. I want to do 50 fun things when I’m 50. It’s a time to just kind of step into yourself and be in alignment, being comfortable with yourself. People automatically associate menopause with aging and the ending of something. I feel like it’s the ending of people- pleasing and living small. It’s the time to dream and fulfil your life because you’re half or three quarters of the way through it. You have to decide what you really want to do and what legacy you want to leave behind.
I published my first book in 2019. It’s called “7 Steps to OvercomingAdversity &Transforming your Life”. It’s about the steps I use in my life to overcome over 30 years of adversity. I know it works, it’s lived experience. I’m quite a spiritual person; the book just came to me through dreams, visions, note- taking and just writing down ideas. Before I knew it, a programme was there to support women. I help women reconnect with themselves with tools, tips and things; teaching you to go deep in yourself and really reconnect with your actual authentic self and then start living your life.