Sleepless nights....

I have had irregular periods for years, the gap was so long between my periods that after I went to the doctors a few times they sent me for a scan, nobody said it could be the menopause. My mother had a hysterectomy for cancerous cells and that's why they thought I should have a scan. They found no issue so did nothing more. When I went back to work after covid I was very overwhelmed and anxious, but I was running a business through a pandemic, my son was sitting his GCSES and I had another child at home - I was worried about dying from covid, if the business would survive covid, if my mother would survive being that she has brittle asthma, if my children would be ok being taught on line, how we would get our son through his GCSEs, dealing with many other issues - I put how I was feeling down to this. On talking to someone in the gym I found that there was a new doctor in town and she specialised in the menopause - after talking to the gym ladies I thought that maybe some of my symptoms were the menopause - and they were. Almost straight away from taking HRT I felt better. I could go on and on.

SYMPTOMS

Brain Fog, Weight Gain, Sore Breasts, Vaginal Dryness, Less Libido, Night Sweats, Skin Tingling and Sensitivity, Low Mood & Anxiety, Irregular Periods, Sleeplessness, UTIs and other Bladder Issues, Diziness / Headaches , Joint Pain

WHICH OF THESE SYMPTOMS HAVE YOU EXPERIENCED AND HOW DID YOU MANAGE THEM?

My sleep is the worst thing, followed by anxiety.

WHAT HASN'T WORKED FOR YOU?

Having a little rest - when on earth would this happen??

IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WISH YOU HAD KNOWN? IS THERE ANY ADVICE YOU WOULD GIVE WOMEN ABOUT TO START THE PERIMENOPAUSE?

I would have liked to have known about it before hand, I thought that I was too young. I wish that the doctors had helped more, I wish they knew more. I was lucky that the local doctors had for a few weeks a specialist - also then that I was able to see a private expert.