MENOPAUSE MONDAY!
OK let’s get into this. I’m thinking of posting ‘Everything you Never wanted to know about the Menopause’ on a Monday. Let’s start with the perimenopause.
Way back when I started to flood... you know what I’m talking about (for those that don’t, google it).
It’s a time in my life that I’d rather not picture but here goes. My periods were getting heavier. I think I was in my forties. I was working full-time in a school. Shout out to all you teachers. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. For those of you that don’t know there are days where you hardly get the chance to have a wee let alone grab a coffee. So when you begin to experience ‘leakage’ in the middle of a double lesson … I’ll leave the rest to your imagination.
Flooding can occur any time of the day and night when you are on your period. On further investigation it was discovered that I had fibroids. Attempts at fitting the mirena coil failed miserably. Then one day I spotted a leaflet in my GPs waiting room on Microwave Endometrial Ablation. Skip forward to after the operation and I’ve not had a period since. It’s not guaranteed to stop any bleeding but should lesson menstrual bleeding. I guess I was one of the lucky ones.
That ‘luck’ came back to bite me several years later, when I was discussing my latest debilitating symptoms with my GP, wondering if I could be menopausal. No, I couldn’t tell him when I had my last period because I hadn’t had one for years.
I have an admission to make here.
At the time of my appointment I had never heard of, had no idea about, perimenopause. I was having these symptoms and little did I realise that my downward descent towards menopause hell was just beginning.
My GP sent me for a blood test. Nope, not in menopause. My ovaries were still producing oestrogen. End of that discussion. No mention of perimenopause, hence my total ignorance and embarrassing naivety.
When I look through the list of the signs of perimenopause it makes me smad; sad and mad. I am transported back to that doctor’s office explaining as best I could how I was feeling. My physical symptoms were night sweats, difficulty sleeping, incontinence and bladder problems. My mental symptoms included feeling depressed, mood swings and loss of interest in sex. Click the link below for ‘What is the perimenopause?’ https://www.bupa.co.uk/newsroom/ourviews/perimenopause
I was put on anti-depressants.