World Menopause Day: testimony II

In this week when we are celebrating World Menopause Day, we are keeping the momentum going and, after our previous shared testimony, we present you another slice of experience sharing.

As you’ll see, in this new testimony appears one of the symptoms common to many women going through peri menopause or menopause, namely sleep disorders.
A symptom with a real snowball effect since poor sleep not only will bring fatigue during the day but also negatively impacts mood and concentration. In short, here we have 4 menopause symptoms for the price of one.

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Not to mention the fact that regular physical activity during menopause is essential to protect against the two main risks for post menopausal women, cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis.
As we described in detail in a previous post, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide and there is a doubling of the frequency of coronary heart attacks in postmenopausal women.
And, to quote another post, « (s) ome studies estimate that more than half of women will suffer a fracture due to osteoporosis in the years following menopause. »

However, when night after night we are sleep deprived or suffer from poor sleep quality, do we still have the energy necessary to exercise regularly during the day?

Sleep disorders and the ways in which postmenopausal women can make them go away definitely deserves to be the topic of a future Happy half Hundred post.

In the meantime, and always in honor of this World Menopause Day, here is the promised new testimony excerpt¹.

One’s experience is everyone’s treasure.
Gérard de Nerval

We hope you’ll enjoy this « slice of experience sharing » !

Cécile, 55 y.o. : So I knew what was waiting for me. Neither my mother nor my grandmother had taken any hormones substitution treatment. Both of them obviously had strongly discouraged me to do so. I still went to see the gynaecologist, who told me “but no, I know it’s fairly controversial, but it can really help you get through this phase”. But well, it wasn’t ruining my life. Yes, I had hot flushes, during the day but especially at night, but still, I was managing this as best I could by myself.

Where it has been more problematic, it is with sleep deprivation.
Me, who had always slept like a baby, nine, ten hours a night, well this is definitely over. Completely behind me.

For five years now I’m having extremely irregular sleeping patterns. I fall asleep easily, but then I wake up in the middle of the night, one or several times a night. And that happens randomly, but very, very, very often. It is extremely rare that I manage to get a full night of sleep.

And this happened right away? Did you first start having hot flushes, or did everything happen at the same time?
Everything started happening at the same time.

And when did it start?
So, I would say it really started two years before my period stopped.
At first it was few and far between, but still…I felt that it was like the first warning signs of what was to come.

To continue reading Sophie’s testimony … and more : Menopause Story(ies)

Are you interested in the experiences of women at different stages of their menopause? Would you like a reminder of the physiology of menopause and the main symptoms? Download our free ebook, Menopause Story(ies).

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