M-brace The Change

During the stages of menopause, it’s common to experience mood changes such as irritability, sadness, aggressiveness, heightened anxiety, loneliness, and depression and these can all cause emotional strain. Add into the mix, that you may be feeling that you’ve ‘lost yourself’, and/or have a perceived need to make some drastic life changes, it’s no wonder that the mental effects of peri/menopause can sometimes be even more devastating than the physical. With all this going on, it comes as no surprise that relationships can suffer and sometimes break down.

The good news is that there are lots of different approaches that can help. Whilst Hormone Replacement Therapy is the first-line treatment for peri/menopause, it's best used as part of your menopause toolkit rather than the ONLY tool in your kit 🙂

Taking better care of yourself with improvements to nutrition and exercise, and staying hydrated (yes, it's true!) are really great ways to help manage your symptoms. (And yes, we know you might not feel like doing it, so just try little steps rather than a great big overhaul!)

If you’re not comfortable with a pharmaceutical approach, you might find that a therapy such as hypnotherapy or CBT (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy) is the right fit for you.

Relationship and/or family counselling can help put things into perspective and give an important opportunity to let off steam without being confrontational and making a bad situation worse.

You may feel like you’re alone, and you might feel as though things are never going to improve. But it isn’t ‘just you’, and you don’t have to be on your own with these challenges. Those fluctuating and falling hormone levels can be replenished and rebalanced with Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), and you can further support your mental wellness with other things too. You just need to ask, and find the right fit for you to feel more like you again...

We provide support and guidance in our private M-brace The Change Menopause Support groups on Facebook too. Our main peer-to-peer support group, and our special smaller group with individualised support from our team, and access to our library of factsheets and handbooks 🙂

You'll find us Monday-Friday in our lovely corner of Facebook ❤️ Our Peanut M-brace group will still be here for you until the end of January.

Hello you 😊

We're not one of those menopause support types who do the whole "DO ALL OF THE THINGS! GET UP NOW!! GO TO THE GYM!!!", and in fact, and because reasons, we find all that stuff a bit 😬 Call it toxic positivity, if you like.

It's great if you're full of beans and energy and aren't feeling like a bedraggled carrier bag stuck on a twig mournfully flapping about, where your only movement is due to weather. But for those of us who are that carrier bag, the constant 'whooping up' and GO GET 'EM in some quarters can frankly just get on our t!ts.

So instead, we subscribe to the "do what you can, when you can" school of thought, and as it's a Monday and coming up to a busy and potentially stressful bit of the year thought it was timely to post about this as a reminder:

If you can, do some exercise, whatever it is: just waggle your legs about a bit if that's what you can muster. Go outside on the days it's as pleasant as November can be, and touch some grass and some trees. If you feel like a hibernation duvet day (and you can sidestep commitments for a bit), flipping have one! If you can, have a tidy and a clean - sort out a cupboard or a drawer that's been getting on your nerves, it can help with feeling satisfaction in a job well done. If you can't be bothered showering, just wash your face. Little steps get you just as far as big steps, even if it takes a little bit longer...

We hope that's helpful, M-bracers. Do what you can, and look after yourselves 🩷

Progesterone is needed as part of HRT for those who still have their womb to protect the lining against thickening and issues when using oestrogen.

Most people don't experience issues with progesterone, but some do. The preferred options are body-identical micronised progesterone (like Utrogestan, or Prometrium in the USA) or the Mirena coil. If these cause issues, then other types of progesterone can be used, or it can be given vaginally. In a few cases, it may be used in reduced doses with added monitoring to make sure of a healthy womb.

HRT often needs adjustments to suit each person, with timely reviews properly carried out to ensure symptom control and appropriate doses. You can find lots of previous posts on HRT follow-up reviews by using group search 🙂

Take a look through these slides from Dr Naomi Potter 👇