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[Dorothy]

Night owl, You could try leaflet delivery - you know, those people who push pizza menus or double glazing ads through your door.  I did this when I was at college and I had a 48 hour 'window' in which to deliver whatever it was.  Pay isn't great, but you are getting exercise and because it is flexible, you can pick decent weather or a time when you are feeling ok-ish.

Sometimes places like vets look for receptionists to cover late opening nights.  Maybe look for businesses that cater to older clients and drop a CV off. Places where the clients would prefer to deal with someone in their 50s instead of a teenager.

peegeetip, I think one of the problems with getting the menopause taken seriously is that it affects different people in different ways.  I have a friend who just had a few mild flushes and no other symptoms, no HRT, no doctors appointment, she just carried on life as normal.  You mentioned bad backs and depression - if you have one of those, you definitely have a problem, but if you are going through the menopause, you may feel fine.

[CLKD]

Starting with a volunteering position where you can choose your hours might be the way to go, it will introduce you to people in a new area if you are planning to move.  I find that people still require pet sitters  ……… WI or WRVS, Home Start, Salvation Army …… local Church …..

[Night_Owl]

Thank you for useful suggestion, ladies - I hadn't thought of leaflet dropping, good exercise.  My office work days are possibly well and truly a thing of the past.  Any work has to fit in with frequent visits to my elderly (grieving) dad who lives c.2 hour drive away.  I've recently applied to Aldi.

A couple of friends do care work - I know this sounds wimpy but I'm just not cut out for it - they tell me stories that I find so upsetting, however they seem to take it in their stride.

So true - re: getting meno taken seriously as it affects different women in different ways. 

In my circle of friends, I am the only one who has had a hideous meno (since 44), they find it hard to believe what I describe, and the chronic 3 day migraines too.  Can't help wondering what percentage of women just sail through it.  Around in daily life I see (older than myself) working, vibrant, active elderly ladies in shops, surgeries, hospitals etc etc and wonder, how do they do it.  Guess they just keep on doing it, being active, once you stop and drop out of the loop, it's so much harder.  Makes me feel so inadequate / ashamed !

Does anybody do care work - personal assistant rather than personal care, ie. shopping, taking clients to hospital appointments etc.

[CLKD]

Don't be ashamed - that's not what this is about  - it's about finding our level within what we have to cope with.  You have a grieving Dad, aren't you grieving too ? be kind to yourself.

Some do sail through - I am probably one of those as most of my symptoms have been dealt with promptly by my GP.  I have in the past been unable to ask for support though when depressed, couldn't lift my head from the pillow  so hopefully, some of my experiences and suggestions will nudge someone into taking care of themselves.

Most GP surgeries require volunteer drivers.  As may some care homes/hospices.  After all, although in a care home people are still able to get out and about. Do you read?  Even if you can't do personal care, there may be people in care homes that can no longer see enough to read  ………. also, you could volunteer to drive a person to the Church on a Sunday.  Something that you don't have to get embedded into daily …. so it fits in with your other plans.

That way you meet others ……. which may open opportunities!

[Dorothy]

I had a gardening business, but also used to do dog walks, shopping etc for clients who were housebound.  I've also done some voluntary lifts to shopping/doctors/church etc.  You could set up a business and advertise doing the stuff you feel able to do, e.g. shopping, ironing, pet sitting or whatever.  Do bear in mind though, that many people who require help are either very elderly or in poor health/disabled, so maybe not a good idea if you are easily upset.  A couple of my clients died, and I have also seen some of them deteriorate mentally & physically, which can be quite distressing.  On the plus side, they were a lovely bunch, and on good days, it was a real pleasure to spend time with them.  You have to get used to some random comments though - I had one lady who would chat about the DIY her husband had been doing in the house that morning...a bit unnerving, since he'd been dead for 20 years    I had to be very careful what I said to her, as she could suddenly switch to talking about wanting to take flowers to his grave...

Or, as CLKD says, there are lots of places needing volunteers, which could be a way of working out what type of work suits you best. 

If it is the NIC contributions you are worried about, you can pay them anyway if you are worried about missing out on your pension.

[Hurdity]

Unless my interpretation is very wrong this is what it says and where I got the information from:

"You'll need 35 qualifying years to get the full new State Pension.

You'll get a proportion of the new State Pension if you have between 10 and 35 qualifying years."

The link I gave before:
https://www.gov.uk/new-state-pension/overview

Introudction:
The new State Pension will be a regular payment from the government that you can claim if you reach State Pension age on or after 6 April 2016.

"You'll be able to get the new State Pension if you're eligible and:

    a man born on or after 6 April 1951
    a woman born on or after 6 April 1953"

As I was born May 1953 I have been watching this closely since I only just come under the new rules!!

If you have been told otherwise or it says otherwise elsewhere I would be interested to know. Personally I have 35 qualifying years but when I first started looking into all of this the requirement was 39 years!!

Hurdity x

[Jenna]

Unless my interpretation is very wrong this is what it says and where I got the information from:

"You'll need 35 qualifying years to get the full new State Pension.

You'll get a proportion of the new State Pension if you have between 10 and 35 qualifying years."

The link I gave before:
https://www.gov.uk/new-state-pension/overview

Hurdity - I think your quote is part of this paragraph, and so only applies to people paying NI contributions/receiving credits from 6 April 2016.

"You didn't make National Insurance contributions or get National Insurance credits before 6 April 2016
Your State Pension will be calculated entirely under the new State Pension rules.

You'll usually need at least 10 qualifying years on your National Insurance record to get any State Pension.

You'll need 35 qualifying years to get the full new State Pension.

You'll get a proportion of the new State Pension if you have between 10 and 35 qualifying years."

Do you agree?

[Winterose]

Am sure "stress" exacerbates symptoms too and it can be a spiralling downwards circle, I notice that when I am on top of things I get no meno symptoms and HRT is helping with that but if under pressure still get the panicky hot slightly out of control feelings . Please dont compare yourself to others who sale through, perhaps they have other issues you dont know about. 


Thank you ladies for all the pension links, I dont get mine either for another 8 years -( under old rules it would have been in 2 years time)  hope its still there for us all.

[Hurdity]

Well all of this got me thinking so I started looking - even though I'm in a rush - off working this afternoon and again this evening!!!

OK well it's both!

Best thing to do is to look at this leaflet which explains it all (haven't had time to properly just now!!):
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/403086/state-pension-changes-5.pdf

How I understand it is:

Anyone who reaches state pension age after April 6th 2016 will get two calculations of pension.

The first is what they would get as at 6 April 2016 under the old rules (30 qualifying years + all the stuff about additional state pension etc) - so will depend on how many qualifying years you've got up until then. Even if you reach pension age much later it will still be based on qualifying years to April 2016.

Second calculation is how much you would get if new state pension was in place at the start of your working life ie 35 qualifying years + all the other stuff.

They will then give you the higher of the two amounts.

I think this is particularly to protect women near pension age who would suddnely have to find an extra 5 years which they couldn't do. That's how I interpret it anyway - tis blooming complicated!!!! Might still not be quite right 

Sorry Night_Owl for going off tack but it's quite an important issue and not very clear at all from the website!

Must dash 

Hurdity x

[lancashirelass]

I sent ros altmann an email to praise her for her work on this as ive had issues im in early surgical meno and it took my employer months to approve a fan for me as it.might upset other colleagues who get cold and i work for a major accountancy firm. 

[CLKD]

One does need to consider the effect that using your car will have on your insurance.  Also, if you need CRB [what ever it's called] checks ….. or 3rd Party Insurance if you go dog walking, worth checking your Household Insurance first.  Then let us know how you get on!

I have met people whilst dog walking, when in the charity shops, even in the Chemist or supermarket queue - it's easy to get talking and find out what is going on in a new area 

[peegeetip]

"Please dont compare yourself to others who sale through, perhaps they have other issues you dont know about.  "

Well put Winterose.

Perhaps the pension info we've got here could go into the "This'n'That" section?

[Night_Owl]

Thanks to all for really useful, informative and kind contributions / suggestions on a range of subjects relating to meno/work/pension.


I must remember these comments, thanks.


 "It's about finding our level within what we have to cope with"

 "Please don't compare yourself to others who sail through, perhaps they have other issues you don't know about."




[Really must try to stop the comparison to others - often I end up withdrawing from certain friends/acquaintances because of this, as they're doing about 50 times more with their lives than I can do with mine!  Since my mum died, trying (and currently failing) to cope with my elderly, very difficult father, this feeling of being left behind in the work arena has got worse.  Guess it will take time to find the right, do-able, sustainable work.]



Night_Owl
x

[Emma]

BBC Radio Scotland's lifestyle programme has aired a feature about the menopause and how you deal with it in the workplace.
Catch up here (begins 7 minutes in)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b053bv0k

[CLKD]

  Emma

Night_Owl - what support is your Dad getting?