Lisa's Story: How I Finally Made Peace with My Menopause

I’m 51, and if I’m honest, menopause blindsided me. It didn’t arrive politely or gradually, it crashed in. It started with little things like forgetting what I went upstairs for, snapping at my husband for chewing too loud, waking up drenched at 3AM and staring at the ceiling until morning. Then came the anxiety. The kind that made my chest tight for no reason. I thought I was just stressed or burnt out, maybe working too hard, until I realised something deeper was going on. My periods started spacing out and my patience disappeared.

When I first went to my GP, she told me it was “just my age”. That still makes me cringe. I left seeing the Dr feeling invisible and dismissed. A few months later, I found a menopause specialist who actually listened. She explained perimenopause, hormones, HRT and all the things no one had ever mentioned. I started on low-dose HRT, and honestly, it was like someone turned the lights back on in my head. My mood lifted, the fog cleared, and I finally was sleeping more than four hours.

Alongside that, I started small amounts of exercise and physical activity, walking every morning, lifting light weights, and paying attention to what my body needed instead of pushing it to exhaustion. I stopped trying to “bounce back” to who I used to be and started getting to know this new version of me. I’ve learned that menopause isn’t the end of anything. It's not something to be feared. It strips away what doesn’t serve you and gives you permission to take up space, slow down, and care for yourself differently. If you’d told me five years ago that I’d be talking openly about my vaginal dryness and night sweats, I’d have laughed. But now, I do it because no one should go through this in silence. Menopause is messy and confronting, but it’s also freeing. I finally feel like I am getting my life back