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HRT not more wine
- Menolink all things menopause
- May 5
- 3 min read
My Name and Age
Nikki 56
My MenoJourney Story
My menojourney started at the age of 48 when I’d had what I thought was a shocking hair cut. I was convinced my hairdresser was having a bad day and had cut far too many layers into my long hair. A photo taken by a friend further confirmed my suspicions – my hair looked so thin I could see straight through it. The truth is, my stylist had cut my hair the same as always – there was just suddenly considerably less of it.
At the same time I was having some pretty shocking hangovers. Truth be known, I love my wine but suddenly it was no longer the friend that made me feel relaxed and carefree – it was an enemy that gave me headaches like I’d never experienced before in my life. I thought it was a bit strange though as I would have a migraine-level headache even when I hadn’t had much wine. For the first time in my life I asked the doctor for some migraine tablets. They worked for a while but made me feel like a zombie. Then they stopped working altogether.
I did then wonder whether my hormones were at play here – I was of THAT age after all. So I started to monitor when the headaches were worse and, sure enough, it was around the time of my period and, as time went on, it wasn’t just the week of my period. Suddenly I had these damn headaches all the time and nothing would touch them.
Tentatively I discussed this with my mother-in-law who, twenty years older than me, still sat in my lounge dripping with sweat whilst I wrapped myself up in blankets. Yes, she confirmed, it affects us all differently but, in her words, “Don’t worry Nik, you’ve only got another 10 years to go” 😳
Finally, totally exhausted from sleep deprivation, I listened to my gut, did my research and begged my doctor to give me HRT. Now, this was 8 years ago and, whilst “menopause” was no longer quite the dirty word it had been in the past, it was early days and still classed as “suspicious”. The jury was out on whether it was good for you or bad for you and I had a task on my hands convincing my doctor to let me give it a go. I’m ashamed to say I dissolved into a big blubbery mess and literally begged her.
I was warned that there were several types available and the one she had prescribed for me may not work and we may have to go through a few options before we found the one for me – if it worked at all.
Two days – TWO DAYS – later I got my life back. My headaches went from “not tolerable” to “not too bad” to “gone completely”. If was literally life changing! Over the years, as my body has changed going from peri-menopausal to menopausal and now, hopefully, post-menopausal, I’ve changed patches a couple of times and they’ve now become by best friends.
I may have got my life back but I didn’t get my lost hair back sadly. Having spoken to a friend older than me with lustrous locks, I resolved to try the collagen she used. 6 months later, when I was on the brink of deleting my subscription to quite an expensive product, my hairdresser said “What’s all this Nik?” She pulled up a section of my hair and the blood drained from my face as I saw what I thought was breakage 1 cm or so from the roots. She quickly reassured me that it was, in fact, new hair growth and it was all over my head! Suffice to say I kept my subscription going and, whilst my hair has not fully recovered to its youthful bounciness, it is much better and, coupled with a new blunt bob cut I’ve learnt to adapt and accept the ageing process a best I can with a bit of grace and a lot of help.
The very best things I’ve done is a) talk to my friends who understoodd and validate how I felt b) listen to my body c) do my research and d) take recommendations from real women who know what you are going through.
Good luck on your menojourney ladies. Have faith. I’m coming out the other side and so can you. copy and paste her story
My Symptoms
Headaches
What Worked
Products or Advice That Worked
HRT and collagen
Product Name | ? out of 5 | Buy Here |
|---|---|---|
type name | insert star rating? | insert link to shop |
Kollo collagen | 5 | |
Kollo collagen
What Didn't Work - Beware
Products or Advice that DIDN'T work
More wine
I wish I'd known....
Ask, research, have faith.
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