Hello everyone. I live in Australia but menpause problems are universal so it doesn't matter where you live, you still feel rotten some of the time, even if the sun is shining. I joined this site yesterday because I was having a terrible day - I couldn't stop crying and I just felt I have reached the end of everything. Rationally I know that this isn't true but emotionally I feel the best of me is done – my looks, my usefulness at home and at work, my ability to feel passionate love, my energy, my visibility…………..
Physically I feel drained and endlessly tired. I'll be walking the dogs or walking around the supermarket and I'll just want to sit down, anywhere, just on the floor. I feel nauseous, I ache, my head and my heart hurts, I keep thinking that maybe I've got cancer or something badly wrong with me. I would like to get fit but I can't be bothered. I sometimes feel so hot that I think that I might just burst into flames and suffocate. I cannot sleep without sleeping tablets. I have zero libido, I don't even want to be touched even though I'd love to feel loved in a romantic way again, to feel special and beautiful and desirable. When I do make love out of a sense of duty to my husband, it hurts.
I am 55 so a late starter and haven't had a period for well over a year. I'm on estrogen patches - very low dosage because the higher dosage gave me constant menstrual cramps (but no bleeding) and I have a mirena, which I've had for 6 years so it probably needs changing. I also take natural supplements to help the menopuase symptons. I'm not even sure that I can be bothered to seek out any additional help - I hate going to the doctors and mine doesn't seem to think that there is much more that is available to me.
Just knowing that I am not the only one feeling like this might make me feel better! No one wants to talk about the menopause - it's like some strange dark secret and most women I have tried to talk to about it claim that they sailed through it and didn't have any symptons!!! So clearly it's just me
It'd be lovely to know that what I've just written actually strikes a cord with others.