Menopause Tips and Help

2015 was a weird year for me. It was the year that I turned twenty one and was also the year that I was put through the menopause.

 I was given a medical treatment of monthly injections that act on the pituitary gland in the brain. The pituitary gland produces and stores various hormones, including the sex hormones. The injection stops this gland from producing hormones.

Hence a simulated menopause.

Although it was simulated it came with all the nasty side effects, hot flushes, night sweats, aches, memory problems you name it, sadly I got the full house.

So during the year I tried all sorts of things to help with the side effects. These are just a few of the things that really helped me and made it a little bit more bareable.


My top tips of things that you can do to make it a little easier,

• always wear loose fitting breathable clothes, when a hot flush hits the last thing you need is to be wearing uncomfortable clothes.
• carry around some type of handheld fan, its a god send, really.
• Buy a fan for night time. Night sweats are awful and can keep you up all night so invest in a fan. You can open all your windows and sleep under a sheet but sometimes you need a little extra.
• If your suffering with aches and pains buy a heat pack or have a soothing bath. 
• Buy a note book for jotting things down, I know I had a real problem with forgetting to do things but writing it down really helps.
•  gentle exercise can work wonders on aches and joint pain and on improving your mood.
• Get plenty of rest, it can be exhausting physically and mentally so take it slow.

 There are also some brilliant diet changes you can make to help with symptoms. Things like,

• peppermint tea for bloating 
• Sage tablets, oddly if you take one a day it really reduces the frequency and severity of your hot flushes and night sweats.
• Avoid things that can bring on hot flushes, spicy food, caffeine, alcohol, hot drinks. 
• eat little and often to help with energy levels. No surgery foods to snack on instead fruit and nuts.
• eat proteins that contain the amino acid tryptophan. This manufactures seritonin and can help moods, appetite and your sleep. Find it in turkey, cottage cheese, oats, legumes.
• Eat more phyto-oestrogens. They help to keep hormones in balance. these are found in soya milk & flour, linseed's, tofu, temph, miso, seeds, celery, rhubarb, green beans.
• eat more oily fish. The omega 3 is brilliant for your health and joints.
• slice of Menopause cake once a day. I'll write up the recipe above.

Just remember it will get better and you are stonger than anything it can throw at you.
Good luck ladies.