Did you know that a woman could spend 40% of her life in menopause!!!

If you are like me when I heard this and think, just kill me now! If you feel like an alien has crawled inside your body, blew it up and dumped a load of cotton wool inside your brain where your brain used to be, then read on. 

If you don’t know if you are in perimenopause, there are a myriad of symptoms;

• • Problems with memory, concentration and ‘brain fog’ (and/or lost words)
• • Weight gain around the middle
• • All sorts of hormone issues
• • Anxiety
• • Changes in mood – such as low mood or irritability
• • Changes in skin conditions, including dryness or increase in oiliness and onset of adult Acne
• • Difficulty sleeping – this may make you feel tired and irritable during the day
• • Discomfort during sex
• • Feelings of loss of self
• • Hair loss or thinning
• • Headaches or migraines
• • Hot flushes– short, sudden feelings of heat, usually in the face, neck and chest, which can make your skin red and sweaty
• • Increase in facial hair
• • Joint stiffness, aches and pains
• • Loss of self-confidence
• • Night sweats – hot flushes that occur at night
• • Palpitations– heartbeats that suddenly become more noticeable
• • Recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs), such as cystitis
• • Urge and stress incontinence
• • Reduced sex drive (libido)
• • Tinnitus

This is just what the NHS say but there are many more as we women are all unique:

• • Burning tongue: Some women may feel pain or a burning sensation on their tongue, lips, or gums.
• • Bloating and digestive problems: Women often don't correlate their increased bloating with the changes in hormones at the time of perimenopause.
• • Breast heaviness and soreness
• • Ear and hearing changes
• • Feeling of insects crawling on the skin
• • Altered spatial awareness
• • Body odour
• • Electric shocks
• • Gum disease
• • Cold flushes
• • Numbness or pins and needles in the hands, feet, arms or legs
• • Duct Ectasia and nipple discharge: A condition that arises when a breast milk duct expands and its walls thicken
• • Dizziness and vertigo

No you are not going mad!

For me it was the loss of confidence, the crippling anxiety and the lack of sleep. I almost thought I should give up driving!!!!!!