But today, Meg, who got divorced from Noel in 2001, has swapped her love of excess for a new passion: raising awareness of the menopause.She decided to speak openly about her experience after being unprepared for the impact the condition would have on her physical and emotional health when she started having symptoms from the age of 46.“I woke up one day with this wave of anxiety and fatigue. I felt claustrophobic and didn’t want to leave the house.It was the worst feeling I had ever had,” remembers Meg, who turns 52 tomorrow.“I didn’t realise at the time I had started going through the menopause. Before that I thought the menopause was just about having hot flushes, night sweats and not having a period.”Over the following few months Meg, who has an 18-year-old daughter Anais with Noel, rarely left the house and told friends she was suffering from glandular fever.“I was frightened,” she admits. “I had nausea and a foggy brain. I was having such bad headaches. I thought I needed to see a neurologist and my joints were so stiff I thought I had arthritis.“I thought I had everything other than the menopause because it’s something that people don’t seem to talk about. I had no idea it would hit me like a ton of bricks.”The menopause occurs when your ovaries stop producing eggs and your levels of oestrogen and progesterone, which regulate your menstrual cycle, fall. The average age for it to happen is 51 although it can happen earlier.Perimenopause occurs up to several years before the menopause and this is when you are likely to suffer the most common symptoms. Despite it being inevitable for every woman, it is still very common for many women to be unaware of its signs, says Dr Louise Newson, a specialist who runs the website menopausedoctor.co.uk.“Most people associate the menopause with hot flushes and night sweats but these are actually the symptoms that bother my patients the least,” she says.“It is the symptoms that other people cannot see that lead to the most difficulties and these are the psychological symptoms. “Low mood and feelings of depression can be very common symptoms of the menopause and perimenopause. Other psychological symptoms include feelings of low self-esteem, having reduced motivation, anxiety, irritability, panic attacks, poor concentration and low energy.“These symptoms can be mistaken for depression and I see many women in my clinic who have wrongly been given antidepressants by their doctors for these symptoms.”Meg gained 2st once the premenopausal symptoms kicked in. “I had chronic fatigue and low self-esteem and wanted to comfort eat while watching Netflix back to back.”Finally Meg went to her GP and through a simple blood test she was diagnosed as perimenopausal. But it still took a couple of years before she found the best way to manage her symptoms. 10 things you didn't know about the menopause Sat, April 30, 2016 Here are ten things about menopause you most likely never knew of Play slideshow 10 things you
