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
![Grin ;D](https://www.menopausematters.co.uk/forum/Smileys/extended/grin.gif)
It'd be lovely to know that what I've just written actually strikes a cord with others.