Pauline's Menopause Journey

Let me take you through my journey, hang in there it does get better…

My Miserable 40’s!

Changes in periods, heavier, sporadic.
Frequent flooding, regularly couldn’t travel to work, given tranexamic acid tablets.
Joint pain, ankles and knees, naproxen prescribed.
Low mood– antidepressants prescribed.
Marriage breakup – my choice (in hindsight, and knowing what I know now, I do wonder if peri menopause was the trigger as there was no other typical reason).
Chaos with my teenage children, they often told me I was “mental” as I overreacted to small events. I even threw 2 of them out of the house.
Often walked up and down the hallway trying to encourage myself to just leave.
Overwhelmed with EVERYTHING!
Suspected labyrinthitis.
Long-term absences from work.
Always been hot stuff (read that as always had hot flushes) so didn’t take much notice of them increasing in frequency and severity.

My even more miserable 51 to 53

Admitted to hospital for hemorrhage period, biopsies taken as thickened womb lining.
2 months later had the Mirena coil fitted for the bleeding, which worked.
Still no mention of menopause by any of the medical professionals.
Then the anxiety started, eventually had churning stomach morning, noon and night.
Brain fog was now noticeable and got increasingly worse.
No confidence at all.
Had to always sit near a door in meeting rooms or panic ensued.
Constantly tired during the day and especially in meetings (of which there were a lot!)
Extremely low mood.
Seriously considering leaving my job.
Put my house up for sale and was planning on moving to Spain, a wee flat somewhere in Scotland, anywhere away from “here”!

Pauline's Menopause Journey

Let me take you through my journey, hang in there it does get better…

My Miserable 40’s!

Changes in periods, heavier, sporadic.
Frequent flooding, regularly couldn’t travel to work, given tranexamic acid tablets.
Joint pain, ankles and knees, naproxen prescribed.
Low mood– antidepressants prescribed.
Marriage breakup – my choice (in hindsight, and knowing what I know now, I do wonder if peri menopause was the trigger as there was no other typical reason).
Chaos with my teenage children, they often told me I was “mental” as I overreacted to small events. I even threw 2 of them out of the house.
Often walked up and down the hallway trying to encourage myself to just leave.
Overwhelmed with EVERYTHING!
Suspected labyrinthitis.
Long-term absences from work.
Always been hot stuff (read that as always had hot flushes) so didn’t take much notice of them increasing in frequency and severity.

My even more miserable 51 to 53

Admitted to hospital for hemorrhage period, biopsies taken as thickened womb lining.
2 months later had the Mirena coil fitted for the bleeding, which worked.
Still no mention of menopause by any of the medical professionals.
Then the anxiety started, eventually had churning stomach morning, noon and night.
Brain fog was now noticeable and got increasingly worse.
No confidence at all.
Had to always sit near a door in meeting rooms or panic ensued.
Constantly tired during the day and especially in meetings (of which there were a lot!)
Extremely low mood.
Seriously considering leaving my job.
Put my house up for sale and was planning on moving to Spain, a wee flat somewhere in Scotland, anywhere away from “here”!

The epiphany

My daughter told me about a funny midlife FB page, then the penny dropped as I was reading the hilarious posts that mentioned menopause. I did my own research, eventually got the courage to go to the GP with all my symptoms on a tracker and asked for and received for HRT. 13 years from initial symptoms!

It’s a miracle!

After a few months, I seemed to calm the “eff” down, feel better, less anxious, brain function slowly increased, stopped planning on leaving everything and walking away. My relationships with my children, friends and family improved dramatically. I even managed to cope with and support myself, my children and my Dad through my Mum’s palliative care and subsequent loss only 3 months after starting treatment. Which would never have been possible beforehand!

Then Mo and I had our “water cooler” conversation, it couldn’t be just us needlessly and unknowingly suffering, and this wonderful journey began!

I am now thriving in the job I was going to leave, co-founder and Director of Saorsa, family relationship are great (even with the ex-husband, he is still the ex though 😊) and I’m the most content I have been in my life!

The epiphany

It’s a miracle!

Then Mo and I had our “water cooler” conversation, it couldn’t be just us needlessly and unknowingly suffering, and this wonderful journey began!