The menopause - oh, God!

I am definitely experiencing symptoms of the menopause. Feeling hot and sweaty with no reason, feeling a bit scratchy (as in bad mood, not itchy) with no provocation and an irregular sleep pattern which makes me permanently tired. My blood pressure has shot up and my skin has reverted to its teenage tendency to break out in zits for the slightest reason at the most inconvenient time. But by and large, nothing too dreadful and so far, The Hubby is getting off lightly.

I say getting off lightly because I have not yet felt the urge to take a large kitchen knife to him or thrown anything across the room at him, which, if you believe the trashy women's magazines, is what we are supposed to do when we hit 50 and the menopause. And of course it's my opinion, I don't know if he would agree and I haven't asked him. I might not get the right answer!

To be honest, the worst of it all is the poor sleeping. I can go to bed really tired, feel my eyes drooping and put the light out, the lie there for hours not able to nod off. The longer you lie there the more active the brain seems to become and it becomes more and more impossible to sleep as you start thinking of more and more things. More than once, I have given up in disgust and got up at 3am to make a cuppa. Let me tell you the cats look pretty startled to see me at that hour! And after a couple of days of it, I start to feel really ill. As someone who needs their eight hours to function properly, trying to survive on three is a nightmare (no pun intended!).

I know that lots of women suffer much more than me, and really if this is the worst of it I shouldn't complain. For the moment it's more of an inconvenience than anything else and after a couple of nights of sleep problems I know I will have a night of solid out-for-the-count sleep as I will be so exhausted. But it is debilitating while it happens and affects the rest of your life in terms of concentration and application. I perform less well at work, and can't concentrate at rehearsals or at home.

Do men have a menopause? I'm not sure. It seems pretty unfair if they don't. After all, we women do all the conception, birthing, child rearing and so on, and Mother Nature has dumped us with all the hormonal imbalances which affect us in later life too. All men seem to get is a beer gut (or, as The Hubby would call them, love handles!).

I am determined not to resort to HRT unless there is a compelling reason to do so. It seems to me that women who take it end up on tablets for years and that it can cause as many problems as it solves. I will just sit tight and live through it hoping it doesn't get any worse. And in the meantime, put a combination lock onto the knife drawer just in case and get The Hubby to change to combination!