I lived on cigarettes & alcohol.. now life is an Oasis of calm
BY RICK FULTON mid-life women were desperate to learn more about what was happening to their bodies and minds.
Menopause isn’t just about managing difficult symptoms, either. This phase of life can also be associated with other health issues and the risk of heart disease can increase for women post-menopause. OsteopoOsteoporosis can be another concern.
Meg was diagnosed with weweakened bones at 49 and, having seeseen her mother be affected by the concondition and be bedridden with it for the last few years of her life, she said it “scared the living daylights” out of heher.
ThThere are lots of things that can help thouthough, including lifestyle changes and, when suitable, HRT.
MeMeg said: “It’s all about prevention. It bafflebaffles me that thousands of women don’t hhave a clue about these things – and theyth should have.”
She spent thousands on alternative theraptherapies – including tapping and reflexolreflexology – in a bid to alleviate her distressidistressing symptoms.
IIt was only when she went back to her GP, who prescribed a body identical oestradiol gel – an HRT with the same molecular structure as a woman’s hormones – that she finally felt normal again.
She said: “You just rub it on your inner thigh or arm. Within four or five nights, my night sweats had stopped and the anxiety went – not altogether, but it was so much better.”
She said she put on two stone during menopause and felt very lethargic.
In the past, she had always made excuses not to exercise but Meg now pushes herself to walk the dog, do 10 minutes of yoga and an online workout class every morning.
But she added: “I’m not a big lover of exercise. I do it because I’m vain and I like to eat. I’m not one of these people who is gagging to exercise in the morning.”
And while the likes of Moss, who ended up lodging at Supernova Heights for a time, would call round at the end of the 90s looking for a good time, now Meg has a different purpose than being a party animal.
She said: “I get messages from hundreds of women every day.
“I feel I have one purpose in my life now – being a service to women, so that no woman should suffer like I suffered.”
The New Hot: Taking on the Menopause with Attitude and Style, by Meg Mathews, is out now.