Lesley Byrne's Meno Story
How old were you when you first discovered you were in Menopause?
46
How did you know you were in Menopause?
Hot flushes and missing periods
What stage of the menopause are you in?
Post menopause
What were/are your symptoms?
Anxiety, brain fog, acute forgetfulness, lethargy, poor sleep, joint aches, depression - and others I’m sure to have forgotten
What effect did/do your symptoms have on daily life?
This ranges from feeling tired all the time , some days to the point of dysfunctioning, to making me feel sad & low for no reason so I withdraw.
Have your symptoms affected your relationships with others?
Ended my marriage and isolated me from my son during very important formative years.
How are you managing your menopause?
HRT and exercise and nutrition.
What has been the worst thing about the menopause for you?
Loss of marriage and loss of self esteem at work.
What is the best thing to come out of your menopause journey?
My support group on Facebook.
What do you want other women to know that may help them to get through themenopause?
Join my support group! details below!
Lesley and her son Laur
Connect with Lesley:
Please check out my facebook group - Is it hot in here?
More about Lesley:
I’m Lesley Byrne, 58 years young and 12 years menopausal. I’ve been married twice and have a son aged 27, who is transgender.
A keen swimmer and runner, my proudest sporting achievement has been swimming the Thames marathon, 9 miles in 2016.
My life has been full of challenges,– both of my ex-husband’s survived life threatening illnesses and my (then) daughter had extremely invasive spine surgery at 15. Life was at an all-time low in 2009 suffering suicidal thoughts & depression when my once happy 20 year marriage fell apart (menopause changed me as a person) and I was made unexpectedly redundant from a 31 year career with a bank.
For the past 10 years I have worked for West Midlands Police, currently as a missing persons investigator.
A chance remark at work, "ooo it's hot in here" led me to the door of the menopause support group in May 2016 and it gave me the confidence to start a secret support group on Facebook, aptly named ‘Is It Hot in Here’, which now has over 1100 members. My own personal experiences inspired me to create a safe space for women to understand not only what was happening to their bodies & minds, but as importantly not to feel alone. I am now one of the Force leads for menopause support.
I met Laura through our mutual menopause work. There are many similar women who are building on true life experiences to share, educate and raise awareness of the changes brought on by the ‘Change’. I’ve learned that it can be so much easier to deal with if you consider it a new phase in life, a learning curve and chance to get to know a new and better self.
“Don’t regret growing older, it’s a privilege denied to many”