It's getting hot in here
Hot flushes & brain fog
There’s things in life that you sign up for and things you didn’t. Menopause is something I definitely didn’t sign up for!
Sophie here, bringing you this week’s newsletter and most days I feel like the image below… beaded with sweat and an unnatural colour!
Now I’m no expert on menopause and technically I’m only in the “peri” phase, the real deal hasn’t hit me yet, but I do know some (read “a lot”) of the symptoms personally and how it impacts me at work.
Before I get into the detail, I’d just like to make an observation.
It’s called meno-pause.
What the chuff is pausing? Surely it should be meno-stop, meno-never-again, or meno-this-shop-is-shut.
Let’s talk symptoms
There’s all the obvious ones that you probably know about like hot sweats, mood swings, weight gain, brain fog but did you know these are all symptoms too:
Hair loss
Migraine
Urinary tract infection (UTI)
Heart palpitations
Itchy skin
Tinnitus
Restless legs
Heartburn (acid indigestion)
Low mood
Night sweats
Anxiety
Change in body odour
and my personal “favourite”
Itchy ears
Yep, you read that right, itchy ears. This one has me up in the night as it drives me potty. I often wake having scratched my outer ear raw (only ever on one side) which is painful and looks horrific.
There’s way more symptoms than these and my last count was experiencing around 16 different symptoms so far.
If these just happened in the comfort of your own home, then that wouldn’t be as bad (potentially) but having these happen when you’re working just isn’t cool.
Menopause whilst working
I am an independent consultant with my own business, so when working for clients I need to be on my A-game all the time.
I don’t have time for forgetting words, get tongue-tied during presentations or meetings or another favourite, trying to say a word I can picture in my mind but my mouth refuses to shape the word & sound so I sit there like a fish out of water gasping for breath.
I don’t have time for the crippling anxiety that takes over and with it brings its friend, Little Miss Imposter Syndrome making me doubt why I’m even in the room talking about the topics I’m a subject matter expert in.
I don’t have time for the soul-destroying poor body image because I’ve struggled to lose hormonal weight or the hair loss that took my one thick hair to a thin, straggly place.
Somehow, with experiencing these things and everything else, I’ve got to find a way to push through and keep presenting my best self. To maintain my personal brand, be energetic, engaging, leading others and delivering value to my clients.
I honestly don’t know how I get through some days and I also know that what I’m experiencing is a fraction of what other women experience. I’m not negating my own experience here, but in many ways think I’m getting off lightly.
Many organisations have programs of education to increase awareness of menopause and all that comes with it, which is great. It means that there is support available for some, but we’re still in the early days of this subject being truly understood in the workplace.
For those who don’t have an organisation with a support network, you’re not alone and there is support out there. For example:
And I’m also going to include this one,
because your mental health is important and there is support out there.
You are not alone
If you’re going through menopause, or you’re experiencing a sh*t tonne of symptoms and you don’t know what’s going on, you’re not alone.
If you’re having a hard time at work, concentrating, feeling like an imposter or just trying to not dehydrate from copious amounts of sweat, then we’re here.
We will have members in our community going through something similar and I’m here too, suffering through meno-stop too.
Please remember, that despite the changes your body is going through:
You are capable!
You are strong!
You know your stuff, you deserve to be in the role you’ve worked hard for!
You’ve got a community out there!
And of course, whilst it may not feel like it remember…
This too shall pass