Menopause

Carolyn: I feel a bit of a fraud but I sailed through it  really fortunately, without  the need for HRT or anything else.

Maria: But I do have moments as well where I'm scatty. I don't know if that’s a combination of  it as well, but I go a bit scatty and forget what I'm saying or forget what I'm doing and, yeah, so those are my, my, moments.

Charlotte: Yeah and I've been caught out. You know, I've been in a situation where I went, drove to the Trafford Centre shopping with my daughter and I had, you know, had tampons and pads on. And I stepped out the car and there was this whoosh.

Cheryl: I was not able to cope, and I would fly off the handle at the slightest thing, and I'd be more critical. My poor husband suffered I think. I became quite nit picking about things, and I think he found that difficult.

Rose: I try now and have at least three, if not four nights a week where I have no alcohol, and it pains me to say it, but I sleep better and the hot flushes are reduced.

Marcia: You know, we talk about pregnancies I mean, you know, periods are advertised on the telly, tampons and things like that. But there's no discussion about menopause. And I think that that is a is a real barrier to people.

Susan: There's something about the menopause that is a going underground, a dying to one's former self, a going into purdah behind the veil. It's all of that. But all I can say is from where I am here and now is you emerge again, and that it is a place of hope and renewal and refreshment.