Age 55
Sells houseplants
With her cat
After a sunrise sea swim with Sarah
I think I'm about three years post-menopausal now. I think what I thought initially was negative and is now positive is being invisible. Where I used to have an awful lot of body image problems, those seem to have faded away now. Whilst I am invisible to the rest of the world like a lot of women in their 50s it's quite nice because I'm not quite so paranoid about what I look like now.
Most of the negative is having my brain sucked out through my ears during the menopause. My memory doesn't work, I live with brain fog. I get overwhelmed really easily As I understand it, that's because of the drop in oestrogen which has led to me being diagnosed withADHD. I think that is the main negative as you can see, my brain’s foggy now. I can't think of any more negatives. It's mostly mental. I had a few hot flushes, but they didn't last very long. I don't think I had any other symptoms.
It was almost all mental with my menopause, which was really unexpected. I don't think the rest of the world prepares younger women for that. I think it really should, because it makes it very hard to work. I had to leave a job because of the mental changes; I just couldn't understand how to do it.And this is quite often the time of life where women are at the top of their jobs. So, if you were a high functioning executive in your mid- 40’s having your brain just suddenly stop working in the way you are used to is quite a dramatic thing to happen. I don't think I'm the only one that that's happened to.
Abig positive is that I found cold water swimming. My friend Sarah persuaded me to go once when I was very depressed.That really makes a difference, it lifts my brain fog. I've made lots of friends going cold water swimming. It’s a massive positive and being friends with lots of other bonkers menopausal women!
Mercy