Giving the Two Fingers to the Menopause

For the last month or so, I’ve not felt my usual self.  I’ve not been firing on all cylinders.  I’ve been forgetting things and loosing things, and that makes me anxious.  Last week I couldn’t remember the word water polo. I had to ask my husband, what’s the sport “swimming with a ball?”  That’s not me. Excuse the pun, but I’m on the ball!

Today I lost a file with important contact details in it.  Thankfully I found it, but it involved 10 minutes of frantically searching and getting my blood pressure up and holding back the tears.  Normally I’m organised and I pride myself on that.  It’s part of who I am.  Not being, makes things feel out of control.

I have also been back waking up during the night needing the loo and then I can’t get back to sleep as I wrestle with feeling too hot and then too cold after I’ve thrown off the duvet. Some nights I will lie awake for a couple of hours and then wake up feeling tired and jaded.  It’s a negative spiral.

 I’ve been listening to Davina’s book “Menopausing”, and I would urge all women from their mid 30s onwards on to read it.  It’s written alongside Dr Naomi Potter and is packed full of information that, as women, we need to know.   For husbands and anyone who works with women, I would urge you to read it too.  It is important you understand these changes that we are experiencing.  It is not us, it’s our hormones.

 Listening to the book, I’ve laughed, I’ve cried and at times I’ve been, excuse the French, fucking raging! As women we are ill informed, but perhaps scarier, is the fact that many medical professionals are ill informed on the peri menopause/menopause too.   It is not part of the curriculum on many medical courses in the UK.  This is resulting in a great many women being wrongly treated for their symptoms with antidepressants and other drugs, when the changes they are experiencing are a result of declining hormone levels that can be easily resolved through replacing these hormones.  This is far from ok.

For a long time, I tried to manage my symptoms by taking supplements – Menocool and Red Clover.  I tried moving to a vegan diet.  But the symptoms did not subside, and they were impacting my quality of life, my relationships and my ability to run my business.  Part of me felt a failure for needing HRT – my mum and gran had got by without it, and I was worried about the long-term effects of taking it.  What I have since learnt is that there are in fact long-term benefits of taking HRT, as having these hormones in our bodies for longer, reduces the risk of Osteoporosis,Cardiovascular Disease and Dementia.  

I was very fortunate. I called my doctor at 8.30am one morning and by 10am that day I was given a prescription for HRT.  I swear I have one of Scotland's finest GPs. Within days my symptoms were easing and for well over a year I felt pretty good.  Over the last month though the symptoms were coming back.  One night as I lay awake, I put in my ear buds and listened to Davina’s book.  I came up with a plan to “Bring Lyn Back”.  I was going to call my doctor and ask for a stronger dose of HRT, I was going to get myself magnesium to help with sleep and vitamin B complex to help with energy and I was going to get myself a new coach to help me get greater clarity on what I want from my life and business, and to support me to stop playing small in my work.  I have loads I want to do and achieve, and I don’t want the peri menopause/menopause to get in the way of that.

 I would urge other women not to suffer in silence, as previous generations have.  We need to talk about the menopause and be honest about how it is impacting us and, if required, advocate to get the right treatment that works for us.  

#menopause #makemenopausematter #lifecoachingforwomen #lynraycoaching

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