Ep 88 - MenoChat No 4 with Ruth Jones

There are some symptoms related to perimenopause that we just don’t like to talk about. Let’s face it, it’s personal and embarrassing.

But maybe we should. Maybe it’s time to take any embarrassment and shame away from being a woman and acknowledge that our bodies don’t always behave the way we want them to and it’s not our fault!

In my 4th MenoChat I’m talking to Ruth Jones, who candidly and without apology shares the impact of her symptoms.

She shares the story of having to tell her male supervisor she needed to go home to change because she’d flooded and how she felt forced to miss a weekend break with her husband because they couldn’t risk being away from home when her periods were so heavy.

Ruth also shares her frustration at not being able to find the words she wanted, her bouts of anger and snappiness with her family and her dilemma around whether to choose to have her insides burnt or a coil fitted to stem her excessive bleeding. (between both of our menopausal brains we couldn't recall the word for cauterising the uterus – ablation).

Ruth’s story is raw and it’s real and it’s what we absolutely need to be sharing.

We need to make it ok to talk about these symptoms so that we don’t feel embarrassed or alone in dealing with them.

Story sharing is an important part of how we can figure out what the right way forward is for us as we navigate menopause. There's no one size fits all, and often hearing other people's experiences allows us the chance to take a different perspective.

So I'd love to invite all the women listening to come and join our amazing community in Your Best Midlife over on Facebook where you'll find over 1000 women sharing experiences, cheering each other on and building each other up so we can all thrive through midlife and beyond.