So, early menopause is a b*tch.........!!

Now, I have been pondering on writing this post for a loooong time as it is just so personal but I figured there must be other ladies who are a similar age going through a similar stage in their life, so here goes.....!!

About 18 months ago, I had it confirmed after many sets of blood tests that yes, my suspicions were correct & I was going through early-menopause.  To be honest, it came as no shock at all as it runs in all the females on my mum's side of the family but still, I was only 38 at this point so it left me feeling a bit "oh bugger!" as I'm the youngest one yet out of our family.

I guess the point of this post is to fill you in on the joys of things I've been experiencing lately & basically, to have a bit of a moan & get it off my chest!

Irregular periods

So this is the main reason I thought I was beginning to go through menopause.  My periods became really irregular & I could go months with no period or have 3 within a month, fun yes?!  They are still very weird although seem to be dwindling again (24 hour long period?  Yes, that'll do nicely thanks!)

Whiskers

Ah yes, the dreaded facial hair!  Every day I have to have a wee plucking session to rid my chin of the foul black, spiky needles sprouting out of it.  Not nice but nothing a pair of tweezers can't fix!

Thinning hair

My hair has always been really thick but it's thinning so much, it feels like I have hardly any round my hairline.  I do of course, it just feels yukky.  But again, I can live with it.

Spreading waistline
This, I'm not liking!!  I've been many dress sizes over the years from an 8 to an 18 but I've always had a waist.  I have been feeling my waistbands getting a wee bit tighter lately & my tummy is definitely erm, spreading, shall we say!?  Nope, not liking this......

Mood swings
You think PMT is bad, it's not a patch on menopausal mood swings.  They've been that bad, I've been pissing myself off!!  I've had days where the stupidest little thing sets me off in such a rage, it's ridiculous.  But no amount of deep-breathing or counting to ten works, it just has to come out.  Unfortunately, it's normally my husband who bears the brunt of it, poor Mr F!!  Equally, I've had times where hysterical crying is flavour of the day!  I volunteer regularly at my son's primary school & one afternoon I'd gone in to help & the teacher hadn't received my email with all the project work on it ready to print.  Cue full-on meltdown in the staff toilet!!  I was sobbing that much, I just ran out the school & went back home.  Totally irrational but it all just felt too much & I absolutely could not function for the rest of the day.  Unfortunately, you have to go with the flow & get it out your system but there have been days where I've genuinely thought, "this is it, I'm actually cracking up!"  Not nice.

Hot flushes
I seem to go in cycles with these.  I can go months with nothing & then have a month where I'm getting full-on flushes.  It literally is like someone flicking a switch & the temperature rises, sweat springs from every orifice, my cheeks are beetroot bright & then 20 seconds later, poof, it's gone & everything's back to normal!!  Bizarre but bearable.

Acne
Humpf, this one I am certainly most unhappy with!  I've always had great skin, never had spots as a teenager, am meticulous with my skincare routine but still, I've developed acne on my chin - and sometimes cheeks - and it's bloody sore!!  I can tell when I'm having a hormonal surge as my chin just goes mental with big, angry red bumps appearing all over it.  My GP wants me to try & ride it out for the time being before prescribing anything stronger for it but this is the thing that's really getting me down to be honest.  God, that makes me sound so superficial but I feel really self-conscious all the time, I just don't like it at all :(

I was referred to the hospital to attend the Menopause Clinic (I know, I know, I laughed too!!)  The doctor I saw wants me to start with HRT due to the fact that I'm more susceptible to getting osteoporosis because of my age but I'm not sure about this yet, I'm still thinking about it. But the best bit, it's located within the Sexual Health Clinic (ie STD clinic) so the paranoia was setting in wondering if the teenage lads were thinking "hmmm, she looks too young for the menopause, I wonder if she's got crabs?!"  Definitely a day for no eye-contact, heh heh!!!

So there we are, it's been fun central in my body for the last 18 months!!!  And to any other peri/early/post-menopausal women out there, I salute you & feel your pain!!!

Next A/W '14 wishlist

                

Next A/W '14 wishlist by fortytherapy 

Hi all, this sudden transition from summer into full-on wintery conditions has led to me making the most of the last couple of days of the school holidays & perusing the A/W catalogues!!  I've even resorted to lighting the bloody fire, can you believe that?!

Anyway, it's no secret that as much as I love the sun, winter is my thang!  Maybe it's due to the lack of skimpy clothes about & I can cover myself up again or maybe it's due to being acceptable (in our house!) to be getting into your pjs at 5.30pm, who knows....but I do love it & get excited when the shops start changing over their stock!!

Next have got some great A/W staples in just now, above is just a small selection of what I've seen.  I'm having a bit of a love affair with grey & navy this year, which is bizarre seeing as I seem to live in black.  But chuck in the gorgeous citrine crepe dress (which I'll order in 'tall' so it's a tad longer!) & a few tan accessories, namely brightly coloured scarves & a few titfers, and I'm a happy bunny!  I would also like to categorically state that I am LOVING the fact that capes are high on the radar for this season *cue happy clapping*

Has anything caught your eye in the new season collections yet?

Wanderlust

Hi all, I'm back!  I've got a few 'catch-up' blog posts planned but first, I want to share my very exciting news!  As you may know, my 'big' birthday is fast approaching & I've said since I turned 30 that on my 40th, I would love to go back to New York so in June, we finally booked it!

This is an adult only trip & my dad, step-mum, sister & brother-in-law are coming along too. We'd short listed 3 hotels, all in a midtown location so we could be pretty central to everything & when we came to book, we got the best deal in the Sheraton Times Square.  I'm ridiculously excited to be seeing the city I fell in love with when I worked there as an 18 year old again & I've been making lists like a mad woman!! Yes, even more so than normal (Paperchase is getting a lot of business from me at the minute!!)  The Sheraton looks beautiful too & is ideally placed between Times Square & Central Park.

But, but, but......it doesn't end there! As I've mentioned before on a post, myself & a couple of great friends had decided we were going to have a trip to Marrakech.  For one reason or another, we didn't get round to booking it before & consequently, the flight prices shot up so we said we'd wait & try & get a last minute deal as we just wanted a cheap weekend away. 

However, last week I popped on to Easyjet.com just out of interest & joy of all joys, they were advertising that they're now flying to Marrakech from Glasgow! This means we would only have an hour & a half drive to the airport as opposed to 5 & a half hours to Manchester so much, much better for us. And even better, after playing around with some dates, I found return flights for £80, bargain!!  So, click......it was booked & another friend is now joining us too.

My ipad should have steam coming out of it from overuse at the moment as any spare minutes are spent googling restaurants & tourist attractions in NYC or perusing Tripadvisor looking for riads in Marrakech!  However, everytime I found a beautiful riad & thought "we won't find better than this", I'd find another one!  And then I stumbled across this little beauty, Riad Houma & just knew that this was 'the one'!  I quickly emailed the girls to tell them to look it up online & they all loved it so yet again, click......it was booked, we didn't want to risk the rooms all selling out!!  It just looks so luxurious, I cannot wait to be lying on that roof terrace with a glass of vino in one hand & a trashy holiday read in the other, nattering with great friends!  Have a quick look at their website, the whole place looks divine.

I'm aware it seems that I'm being a bit spoilt with 2 city breaks within a month of each other but it's all very exciting as I very rarely get to go away anywhere & I've never had a 'girls' weekend abroad! It also takes the edge off turning 40 too *said with tongue firmly in cheek!!*  I'll try not to be a bore about it but I can't promise anything as I have lots of blog posts planned!!  I also need to dash to the shops to see if they have any summer season clothes left at all......

Have you ever been to Marrakech or New York?  Let me know your recommendations on things to do, places to eat etc!