Chris's Story

I remember how it all started, although I didn’t realise that it had started.  I was on a cruise in the South Pacific, my dream holiday, I had been divorced for a couple of years, and I was about to start living again… I wasn’t even 40 and all of a sudden I had the heaviest period I had ever had in my life. I thought it must be the food, or the water, lets just ignore it… 

I had never  had any problems with my periods, no pain, no flooding, just text book events, until the cruise. It was a nuisance, but I didn’t think too much of it. When I got back from the cruise, I ignored the problem for a while, but finally sought medical assistance. 

What followed was an assault on my body – visits to doctors, gynecologists, taking HRT, all of it had no effect. I never even thought that I might be in perimenopause, and the doctors agreed, I was just too young, it must be something else. More doctors, more tests, and to add to the problem, now I started getting headaches – back to the doctor, back to tests, check for problems with my brain – headaches were migraines, never had a headache in my life until now, and all of a sudden, I couldn’t move without vomiting, couldn’t drive cause I couldn’t see, was in a cycle that I couldn’t escape. I had no idea what was happening to me, except that maybe I had a brain tumor.  

Back to the doctors, stopped taking HRT, because the symptoms were worse, not better. Depression started setting in. I had to bring up three children, work a full time job, and try to fit in a life for myself as well. I truly wanted to die, but I was too responsible to leave my children without their mother. Very difficult when you are sick for 2-3 days a month, debilitating so, struggling to go to work as didn’t want it to go on my record that I had a pattern of sickness… 

Next trick – naturopath – perhaps I had a food allergy, even though the doctors insisted I didn’t . Many dollars later, I was feeling great – for three quarters of the month, the rest I just felt dreadful, still had the headaches. I remember ‘flooding” while I was standing in the office of a colleague. White trousers got removed from my wardrobe, and I have only now, 10 years later, got the confidence to wear light colours again. My symptoms have now disappeared – halle bloody lujah. I still get a slight aura at “that” time of the month, but I can live with it, because I know it will pass. I haven’t had a period for 18 months. I am now 48 and obviously have defied medical science, because I HAVE BEEN THROUGH MENOPAUSE, and according to the medical fraternity, I should only be starting to go through it now. They also said that my symptoms were not related to my cycle, well, according to my calendar, they were, but nobody would believe me. 

What finally helped? By serendipity I met up with a Life Coach / Counsellor, Pam who is still to this day a very good friend. How did she help me – by talking me through my symptoms and helping me to realize that I wasn’t going insane, that my symptoms weren’t psychosomatic, but they were real, and were being experienced by many women that she worked with – an added bonus – she had a brilliant library which she was generous in sharing – Have I mentioned that she is passionate about helping women to understand what is happening to them.

If you can identify with any of this please contact me 02 4257 8546 or by e-mail and we can discuss how I can help or what other help is available to you.

Tracy's Story

Have you ever wondered why there are so many mother-in-law jokes?  It’s because those women are in the midst of one of the greatest physical and emotional upheavals of their lives and the jokers can’t tell the difference between their elbows and the parts of their anatomy that have to do with excretion.

 It’s a funny word menopause.  From the Greek it translates literally as ‘monthly cessation’.  Talk about an understatement.  If my Shorter Oxford English is correct the word, used to describe the cessation of the menses, was first coined in 1872.  You know what that means - Victorian doctors in frock coats who went to schools that taught only the Classics along with other unmentionable practices.  Many of them did not even like women let alone anything to do with menstruation or the lack of it.  God forbid they would devise a word which might show more than a slight understanding of this great life changing and yes, life-affirming event.

 I was 47 when I first noticed my own signs of ‘the great change’.  I would find myself groping for a word mid sentence (a bit of a problem when you’re a teacher of English).  I would forget information I had been given only minutes before.  I became more and more convinced I was developing Alzheimer’s, especially when I found myself sprinkling salt on my Cornflakes or putting a carton of milk away in the oven.  There were situations in the classroom which twelve months before I would have dealt with in seconds.  Now I wanted to rip the kids’ arms off and beat them over their heads with the wet ends.

 In discussing menopause, most people mention hot flushes.  I did experience them but not in the debilitating way that some do.  For me (apart from the manic rages you remind me) the worst symptoms of menopause were the irregular sleep patterns.  I would wake up at three in the morning and be raring to go.  Consequently I would be dead on my feet by teatime the next day.  Then there was the dizziness if I turned my head too quickly, the need to loosen my sphincter muscles at the slightest sound of running water, the loss of my sense of smell and therefore taste.  Most worrying of all was the sudden growth of hair in places I had not thought about in years.

 I was once one of those women who had determined that menopause was a natural part of life and should therefore be endured.  I enrolled in a support group to learn about alternate remedies such as relaxation, naturopathy, hypnotherapy, acupuncture and Tai chi. In the end, when I could endure the suffering of my loved ones no longer, I turned to HRT.  And it was a miracle.  Within days I was back to my old self.  I took it for seven years and have been off it now for three.  I can’t say that I’m totally symptom free.  I still get the odd hot flush and my bodily parts continue to submit to the forces of gravity.  I do my best though.  I wear big knickers and take off my bra as soon as dinner is over.  (What are Trinny and Susannah anyhow?)  I also use an oestrogen-based cream for vaginal comfort – amazing stuff, which really helps on the nights that I wear my stilettos to bed.

If you can identify with any of this please contact me 02 4257 8546 or by e-mail and we can discuss how I can help or what other help is available to you.