Credit: SWNS
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00If you're a woman, you just get on with it.
00:02You know, you don't complain, and it shouldn't be like that.
00:07Hi, I'm Stephanie. I'm 52 years old.
00:10I'm perimenopausal, and I am gladly sticking two fingers up,
00:16stereotypes of age.
00:18I come from a generation where the menopause wasn't really talked about,
00:23and the only symptom I really associated with it was hot flushes.
00:29So I knew my periods were going to stop at some point, and I'd get hot flushes.
00:35What I didn't know was perimenopause, which is leading up to the menopause,
00:38can take years, and your periods don't stop.
00:41You're not classed as having been through the menopause
00:44until you haven't had a period for 12 months.
00:47So for all this time, for a long, long time, you're constantly having symptoms.
00:54And I just assumed, and it's a word I really hate,
00:57the change, because it sounds so simple, doesn't it?
01:01Like it happens overnight.
01:02I mean, I'm still in perimenopause. It's been kind of over three years now.
01:06All of a sudden, I start feeling really anxious, very tired, joint pains.
01:13I'm just not kind of feeling myself.
01:18And then it kind of hit me, hang on a minute, you know, I'm 49.
01:23This is probably, you know, I'm heading into perimenopause here.
01:27I've had a bit of sort of anxious periods throughout my life,
01:29as I think most people do.
01:31But this was kind of different level anxious.
01:34So I couldn't eat. I felt too anxious to eat.
01:40My sleep pattern was completely disturbed.
01:42And I'd catastrophize a lot.
01:44So I'd take the smallest, most innocuous thing
01:48and turn it into something absolutely huge.
01:51I just didn't feel like me.
01:53You know, to the point where you start feeling that you start despairing
01:58because you think, you know, where has me gone?
02:00You know, why aren't I happy?
02:02Why do I feel scared and anxious all the time?
02:05I went to see my GP and I didn't get much help at all.
02:13And we just offered me antidepressants.
02:15And I think that's common from what I've heard with quite a lot of women.
02:19I've got to be more assertive.
02:22And I've got to go back to see the GP again.
02:25Lockdown hit.
02:26There's no chance at that we've seen a doctor.
02:30And I thought I've got to do something.
02:33And so I started writing comedy.
02:36Funny, mucky books for ladies.
02:38If I can make one woman laugh when I tell them that
02:42I did actually go to the corner shop
02:43and try to play with my shopping with dog treats
02:46and that makes them feel less alone, then, you know, my job is done.
02:51Because it's this age old thing, isn't it?
02:54If you're a woman, you just get on with it.
02:57You know, you don't complain.
02:58You just get on with it.
02:59And it shouldn't be like that.
03:02Nobody should have to suffer in silence.
03:04We shouldn't just be educating girls and women.
03:06We should be educating boys and men as well.
03:09So that they are equipped to support their partners.
03:13I think that's really, really important.
03:15In terms of coming into perimenopause and menopause,
03:18arm yourself with as much information as you can.
03:21Get to see a doctor and, you know, don't take no for an answer.
03:27Join as many groups as you can.
03:29Speak to as many women as you can because you are definitely not alone.
03:32I'm not taking any medication.
03:35I can't say I won't think about going on HRT, you know, if it carries on much longer.
03:42The menopause is it can be a time of new beginnings.
03:44It's definitely not an ending.
03:47You know, menopause women were fabulous.
03:50We're fun.
03:50We're feisty.
03:52And you can't beat experience.