Hi Gill, I could have written most of that post myself. Your story does resonate with me.
I also work for a large organization and we don't have a menopause policy. Fortunately, my leadership team are mainly females around the age group 42-55, so when this sh*t storm hit me out of the blue in April, not knowing what was wrong at the time, they did fully support me by reducing the workload and encouraging me to take the time I needed to figure out what was going on medically and emotionally. Jump forward a few months and countless GP's / consultants, I started HRT.
I've gradually improved and have had more energy and fire in me than I have for a long time, on reflection I was probably slowly declining a few years before although I didn't recognize it until the acute anxiety hit in April.
Whilst my workload and responsibilities have gone back to what they were, I still get the sense I am being overlooked or fobbed off for high-profile or large scale projects that would normally have been assigned to me. It's not been mentioned but I think they think I'm still fragile and couldn't be relied upon. Worse part is that my chief exec level colleagues are requesting for me to lead on certain project (I was always in high demand and built a solid reputation for getting things fixed), it seems my immediate boss keeps giving them excuses saying I'm busy with other work, yet I'm working on assignments that are more for junior members, that can be done by my junior colleagues. I appreciate it all sounds a bit braggy. It's not my intention, it's just to say I can relate.
On the other-hand, I am not having to travel for business like I used to, and I don't feel quite ready to do that to the same level I did, which involved flying somewhere every week, and is still expected when the world properly opens up again. I try and remind myself that I am fortunate that I still have my job given the pandemic situation (and that I'm in the travel industry) and I have a supportive boss that is looking out for me - after what happened with me she is pushing our HR dept for a menopause policy and to be covered under our health insurance. There are hundreds of ladies in the age range where I work, surely I wasn't the only one to suffer.??!
Terri xx