Making choices for your menopause

How’s your journey through menopause going to go? Have you given it a second thought?  Do you know what your choices are?

Or are you now ‘through the other side’ and perhaps missing the woman you thought you knew? Do you assume she’s ‘lost’ now, fading into the past?

All women move through menopause sooner or later and that transforming time varies greatly from woman to woman.

Around 13 million women are going through menopause in the UK today, according to the British Menopause Society, and three out of five women say the symptoms they experience seriously impact on their lives (Newson Clinic).

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My journey through menopause was no easy ride. But at the time I would have shrugged and said everything was fine.

I hadn’t considered that the exhaustion and the anxiety were related to menopause and I certainly thought everything I felt was due to my ‘lack’.

Back then I thought menopause was just about hot flushes. Now I know that while they are a symptom, they’re one of many you may experience.

There were no leaflets handed out at my doctor’s surgery and it never came up in conversation. I thought I knew the facts, but I really didn’t.

And that is precisely why I am so passionate about Menopause Yoga which aims to empower women, offering pointers to up-to-date facts and knowledge that offers choices and practices that help us to help ourselves.

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Because I didn’t have them. My choices were based on what turned out to be old science and assumptions that if menopause was one way for my mother it would be the same for me.

I’m also aware that the changes we go through during this time aren’t always physical; frequently they are emotional.

My menopause symptoms weren’t physically dramatic, but the changes that went on for me during that time were extraordinary.

Between 49 and 53 my life was tipping about so fast I could have been living in a snow globe.

• I was diagnosed with stage three arthritis in my hip that required an immediate joint replacement
• Overwhelm was a frequent visitor and PMT seemed to have moved into my life for good
• I found it really hard to focus on fiddly tasks I would have found a breeze before.

Looking back, I can see my life would have been so much easier if I’d had more facts at my fingertips. But it doesn’t have to be like that for you.

Here are three things you can do to empower your menopause:

• Attend a MY workshop or retreat where you can explore postures, breath works and meditations that can help you manage menopause symptoms and find out lots more info.
• Learn from experts before you talk to anyone – the UK has excellent resources, many of them free. Dr Louise Newson’s website and podcasts are just two.
• Talk with your friends and share your knowledge and experience; or find an online community where you can meet women facing similar issues who understand.
  

Whichever route you choose, talk to your health professionals from a place of informed ideas about what you want. Your research will help you get clarity on what’s right for you.

And don’t be afraid to write down bullet points when you have conversations with a doctor or alternative health practitioner.

Brain fog moments love to strike when we need to focus and we’re talking about deeply personal issues.

And if you’d like to join me at a Menopause Yoga workshop my next one is Sunday 18 October 2020 at Yoga Life Studio, The Stables, in Eastbourne on World Menopause Day. There are 10 places available.