Is it me or is Menopause one of those things that doesn’t get talked about enough? Let’s see if we can talk about it, and try not to over-analyse it like I usually do! In this article I’m going to show you how to help you and your menopause.

Being in my mid to late forties I knew it was coming just hadn’t realised what it would be like or how soon it would happen. I googled it and the first website it took me to was the NHS site:

“Menopause is when a woman stops having periods and is not longer able to get pregnant naturally”

It also went on to talk about the age groups that women can get menopause which I already knew. However I did not know about the premature menopause and pre-menopause. I honestly believed when I got to this age I would be prepared for this. I remember my mum going through it. The only symptom I could remember her telling me about was the hot flushes. When I asked her again recently she confessed there was many more and that she was very good at hiding them!

I’ve been randomly getting pains in my joints (feet, legs and hands), at different times of the day. I have been told by my GP that apparently that’s a symptom. This as well as most of the other symptoms have been coming and going.

Apricots

A friend last week told me that these helped with her mothers symptoms. So on the way home I bought a whole punet, I’m a salesman dream I’m sure! Having looked into this it made perfect sense. Apparently apricots are an estrogenic food. They’re a known food that improves blood circulation and helps towards combatting against some major diseases.

Other high estrogen foods include: broccoli, almonds (amongst other nuts, avocados and flax seeds.

Mushrooms

My mum told me about this and it just so happened that she had some in her fridge at the time, so guess what? I ate a bowl of those too.

I looked into what other foods that are supposed to help with menopause. Another of the things you should be eating are fresh fruit, vegetables, fish and white meat. It’s all a bit too obvious to realise that the best things to eat and drink are the things we should be eating and drinking anyway. With avoiding refined sugar and processed foods which is what we are craving most of the time!

Acceptance

Learning about what you can and can’t do to make yourself feel better is important. Menopause symptoms are different for each invidual. When I told my mother in law I was going through it she shrugged and told me it didn’t bother her. She obviously had less symptoms than others and managed to carry on as normal (lucky her!)

And here I am now at that stage in life, oh what joy! It’s like telling yourself you’re old. I was having a text conversation with a friend the other day and my exact words were, “I guess we’re at that age now?”

Realising that it wasn’t just my mental health was my acceptance. The crying for no reason happened, but that’s happened before. It was other symptoms like anger towards my husband for putting my glass that I was about to use in the dishwasher, I had no idea I could get that angry over something so stupid. Then upset that my four year old couldn’t go to sleep, that was beyond ridiculous and now I remember it I’m laughing to myself.

Medication

HRT is widely known about and I was convinced I could get through this without medication. I’m already prescribed Fluoxetine and I had hoped that this would help but I think I was being too optimistic.

Finally I realised and accepted that I needed help with this journey so I contacted my GP .

Everyone is different

I have reservations about the medication and I am worried about the side affects, which I need to realise is probably not worth worrying about until it happens. I need to focus on what I can do to help this alongside of the medication. Out of all the things I need to do what is most important? Healthy diet, exercise, mood and energy. Channeling my inner-self wondering what would be the most important to ME, not my family or friends or work life but just me.

I like being in control of my happiness which is what my main focus will be, so with that in mind I have decided in the next six months I will AIM do more of the following:

Doing fun things with my family.

I always seem to be rushing to do something, whether it be housework or food shopping. I am going to slow down and still do these things but also have time with my family. We have pledged to have one breakfast out once a month and a day out at least once every fortnight.

Dancing

I don’t care what I look like, I have music and a son who also loves to dance. I will make an effort of doing it more regularly!

Music

Listening to music is a huge thing for me, it’s not very often that I don’t have music playing as it takes me to my happy place wherever I am.

Friends

My friends also make me happy, so I will make more of an effort to see them on a regular basis. Lockdown has got me being lazy, scrolling through Facebook to see what they’re up to or sending a text message isn’t enough for me anymore

I hope that this post has helped you with the start of your new journey, remember there is so much support out there.