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[Cookie25]

Hi Ladies

I am constantly thinking about giving up work due to my crippling peri symptoms. The insomnia and brain fog have the most detrimental effect on my day job. I currently work full time from home & feel I'll really struggle with a transition back to office when covid allows. I also do a second part time job.

I'd ideally like to give up the day job and just do the part time but feel guilty about this at 46! Plus financially it wold be tough ofcourse.

I'm really keen to know how others have coped or whether anyone took long term sick leave while they got their hrt stabilised?

Exhausted but can't sleep 
Thanks Cookie25 xxxxx

[Flan747]

Hi Cookie! When I crashed into peri I had 3 months off on sick leave! I could not leave the house so going to work was not an option! HRT helped with a lot of symptoms to enable me to return! You need to think do yourself first! Good luck

[CLKD]

Crashing fatigue can be a problem.  Many women World wide have given up work for similar reasons.

B4 U do I would take a note of your monthly incomes and outgoings 4 four months, then consultant a financial advisor.  We did this 4 a year, handed the result to our FA who agreed that we could retired early.  We are now better off 

At 46 you could consider HRT to protect bones and heart.  Hopefully someone else will be along .........

[Perinowpost]

Hi Cookie25

I took voluntary redundancy at 52 as my role changed and it was going to be much harder. Despite being on hrt (which really helped) it still felt too much for me. My manager was male and I didn’t feel I could explain what I was going through so I left.
 This was 4 years ago, with all the talk currently about the impact of menopause in the workplace I sometimes wish I could have opened up. It’s a shame really, but it’s too late now x

[Lyncola]

I’m hoping to make it through the year, but think I’m months away from stopping work.
My husband wants me to stop now. With menopause, IBS, rib pain, headaches and facial pain every day and all day. I just feel a bloody mess and barely keeping my head above water.
It doesn’t help that my job is physical, I clean people houses. Lucky my husband is the main income earner, I just feel bad because I’m about to turn 47 years old and feel that’s a bit young to be retiring.

[Rathead]

I gave up work about 3 months ago now. It was customer facing and I was finding it more and more difficult. My husband is main earner so I have been lucky enough to take a break. I’m hoping that I will be able to get back to work in the future as I’m only 52 but right now I believe it was the right way to go.

[Taz2]

I would have had to give up my job in my early fifties if I hadn't started HRT. Within weeks I was back to my usual self but I know without it I just wouldn't have been able to carry on. The hot sweats were the most debilitating part for me and, of course, with them came foggy head due to lack of sleep and then loss of confidence and poor memory. Having to recover from a sweat every twenty minutes took away my concentration too of course. I also had to take in spare clothes as I got fed up with sitting in soggy underwear all day. Oh the joys!

Sorry about your facial pain Lyncola. I didn't suffer from this during meno but it sounds very difficult to cope with.

Taz x

[Nas]

Yes I regularly think about giving up work.
I’m post menopausal and feel horrendous at the moment.
Insomnia and braIn fog despite HRT ( which doesn’t appear to be working for me) so just getting down now.

I’m only 50 and cannot afford to quit work. My job is quite low paid anyway, but I’m the state I am in , cannot even contemplate looking fro a better job. It’s awful really.

[Perinowpost]

I got around it by taking a less stressful part time job and worked for the next 4 years (and taking hrt). I’m fully retired now at 56.

I do feel for those who are on their own/or cannot afford to give up work though, it’s really tough. + of course moving the goalposts on state pension hasn’t helped at all x

[Michelle7474]

I’m off work now because of aniexty caused by hormones
I’m still trying to figure out best Regime for me and praying I find it soon
I miss work and work colleagues
But how I am now is why I had to leave.
I struggled for a year continuing work buy in the end my well being had to come first.
I’m bored of not working & hope to go back to work very soon ( once I’m sorted )

[KarineT]

Hi everyone,

I feel for you all.

What do you do if you cannot afford to leave?  Not everyone has a partner/husband who can support them.  The menopause is an illness but it could be considered a disability as some of you have debilitating symptoms and csnnot function.  It would be the ideal if the menopause started once we were retired so that it wouldn't impede on our worklife.

As for the state pension age, I'm only hoping that they won't increase it to 70 years old.

Karine

[racjen]

I lost my job due to being off sick for too long with menopausal symptoms (anxiety and depression). I've spent 4 years on ESA and PIP, which has been fine to be honest; I have very low outgoings so it hasn't been hard to cope, but I know it's not like that for everyone. I'm now on a combined HRT and drug regime which has helped enormously and have just started a very part-time job, hoping to build up gradually to a decent number of hours.

[ElkWarning]

I got quite ill a couple of years ago, couldn't cope at all. It was a combination of factors, toxic work environment, menopause, my own health collapsing. I did have some sick leave, couple of weeks in the July, 10 days in the December ... I don't know. At a certain point I did really begin to prioritise myself, and that meant sticking up for myself. I started weekly therapy, which helped a ton, took a good long look at my life and thought 'sod this for a game of tin soldiers.'

Anyway, I started to explore options, and realised I was more energised if I imagined myself doing something that I wanted to do ... By energised I mean actually able to get out of bed and not feel as if I simply wanted to stop existing / leave the house without having panic attacks and massive episodes of dissociation / actually sleep at night not be going round in a tumble drier of emotions feeling as if someone was strangling me.

Aaaaanyway, I found something I wanted to do, nearly talked myself out of it on dozens of occasions, but ended up going for it. I've literally just kicked my job in, jumped off a complete cliff, with no idea how I'm going to pay the bills, yada yada. I've either made the worst mistake of my life or the best decision ever. It is frightening, but do was uncontrollable high blood pressure due to stress.

Crucially, my therapist encouraged me to get good, i.e. accurate, clinical diagnoses for all my stuff, and it's helped a lot.

[Cookie25]

Wow Ladies I picked a good topic then!

It's lovely to not feel alone in this but very sad that so many of us are so badly affected. I am not career driven but for those who are it must be even more frustrating. The financial aspects are scary also and I agree that there should be workplace support on this. Hopefully if people like Davina keep talking about it then things will gradually Improve.

I am going to book some time off soon to buy me a couple more weeks to see if my hrt will start to help but I can't get the feeling out of my head that maybe I need to slow down and seriously look at working less. I see many others managing it all and I feel very guilty and inadequate at not being able to do so.

Thank you for all your responses and keep them coming, this is fascinating and hopefully we can support each other through it all!!!!
Cookie25
Xxxxx

[Cookie25]

I got quite ill a couple of years ago, couldn't cope at all. It was a combination of factors, toxic work environment, menopause, my own health collapsing. I did have some sick leave, couple of weeks in the July, 10 days in the December ... I don't know. At a certain point I did really begin to prioritise myself, and that meant sticking up for myself. I started weekly therapy, which helped a ton, took a good long look at my life and thought 'sod this for a game of tin soldiers.'

Anyway, I started to explore options, and realised I was more energised if I imagined myself doing something that I wanted to do ... By energised I mean actually able to get out of bed and not feel as if I simply wanted to stop existing / leave the house without having panic attacks and massive episodes of dissociation / actually sleep at night not be going round in a tumble drier of emotions feeling as if someone was strangling me.

Aaaaanyway, I found something I wanted to do, nearly talked myself out of it on dozens of occasions, but ended up going for it. I've literally just kicked my job in, jumped off a complete cliff, with no idea how I'm going to pay the bills, yada yada. I've either made the worst mistake of my life or the best decision ever. It is frightening, but do was uncontrollable high blood pressure due to stress.

Crucially, my therapist encouraged me to get good, i.e. accurate, clinical diagnoses for all my stuff, and it's helped a lot.

Wow EW how brave, well done you!!! It sounds like a fantastic move for you and I'm sure you'll find a new path to suit you! Let us know how you get on! Xxxxx