The menopause made me forget how to drive my car
About 12 years ago I’d given a speech and done a book signing and was ready to drive home. Then I realised I couldn’t; drive, that is. I simply had no idea how to drive my car. Panic flooded in. “Don’t be silly. You’ve done this a thousand times!”
No good. What if I put my foot on the wrong pedal and crashed? I rang home in tears. “I can’t remember how to drive,” I sobbed.
“Don’t worry, darling, it’s OK,” Himself reassured me. “Deep breath.”
It took a few minutes to recall how to drive the car. It took a lot longer – years – to realise that what I’d experienced was a symptom of the perimenopause. Forgetfulness, brain fog, a sudden plunge in confidence.
It all came back with a jolt when Davina Mccall was interviewing a woman in her second Channel 4 programme about the menopause. She, too, had forgotten how to drive. Paula, a senior executive, said her memory was so bad she assumed she had early-onset Alzheimer’s.
The first programme, shown last year, tackled the physical symptoms of menopause. This one investigated the mental effects. In a bitter irony, it was broadcast at a time when there is a shortage of hormone replacement therapy (HRT), which takes the form of oestrogen and progesterone supplements.
What Mccall found out is that a third component, namely testosterone – can make a huge difference to cognitive functioning.
Scientists are now suggesting that the traditional British advice – soldier on for a year after you’ve finished your periods before starting HRT – is wrong and earlier treatment might potentially ward off dementia, which is a lot more common in women than men. A doctor put me on that cocktail of three hormones. It’s made a big difference. In my novel, How Hard Can It Be, my perimenopausal heroine has an imaginary helper called Roy, who she sends off to retrieve names and facts. Sometimes, Roy takes a long time to come back wth the memory.
I made up a comic character to convey something that can feel upsetting and lonely. I’m glad that, thanks to Mccall and other campaigners, women don’t need to feel alone any more.