Menopause has given me short term memory loss.. I have to write everything in my notebook
Loose Women’s Andrea on ‘brain fog’ fight
ANDREA McLean has revealed she must carry a notebook and pen at all times after the menopause left her with short-term memory loss.
The Loose Women panellist, who has written a book about her experiences with the menopause, refers to the condition as “brain fog”.
And she said if she does not make constant notes about her daily chores, she would forget her routine.
Andrea, 48, said: “It’s short-term. It’s that sort of memory loss where you walk into a room and think, I came in here for something, what was it?
“You walk into a bedroom and think, ‘What did I do this for?’. You have to go back downstairs and retrace your steps... ah, that was it! You find most things in the fridge. That sort of thing. It’s like a brain fog. It’s annoying.”
Andrea likens her problem to director Christopher Nolan’s 2000 film Memento, in which a man with a 15-minute shortterm memory has to jot down clues as he tries to solve a mystery – and even gets them tattooed on his body.
The former GMTV weather presenter said: “I have a notebook I take everywhere, and I write everything down.
“Do you remember the Guy Pearce film Memento where he kept tattooing himself? I’m going to have to do that.”
Andrea suffered an early menopause following a hysterectomy in 2016.
She said: “My symptoms started rumbling at 37 but they really kicked in at 42. My mum was 40 when she went through hers, so I wasn’t surprised.”
As well as memory loss, Andrea said the operation has lowered her immunity and she now frequently picks up bugs and colds.
“Since my hysterectomy, my immune system has been shot to bits,” she said.
“I get every sickness going. If there’s anything going around, I’ll catch it and it lasts for longer. It’s a pain in the neck.”
Speaking about her other symptoms, Andrea admitted she has suffered mood swings – but at first put them down to her divorce. She split from husband of three years Steve Toms in 2012.
“I got used to the colossal night sweats and the physical signs,” she said. “I was feeling a low rumbling anxiety but I was in the middle of getting divorced, so it was quite hard to differentiate between all the stresses and emotions that you go through then with the menopause. “But once the divorce settled down, I realised, ‘This isn’t right’. People might have noticed I got a bit antsy. Inside there was an inferno going on but I’m intrinsically polite so I held it all in.” Andrea, who got married to businessman Nick Feeney last November, has launched the new Become brand of clothing for menopausal women. Her book, Confessions of a Menopausal Woman, is out in June.