Puberty, Pregnancy, Sex. All of these things are talked about at length as you grow up.  In the Western world, the information out there is vast. The folklore passed on from each to their young or their peers.  But… The one thing that almost no-one talks about is the… menopause.

I had one of the biggest learning curves of my life at the age of 41, when I thought, just for a moment, that I had the flu coming on, then believed I somehow had malaria, and then just couldn’t for the life of me understand what the hell was happening to me. One minute fine, the next dripping with sweat, then cold, then fine, then dripping with sweat.  This lovely little process happened 14 times from waking up at 6 till I eventually got out of bed feeling disgusting at 7. It was the WEIRDEST sensation of my previously non malarial life.

It was true that I had been particularly moody and weepy for quite a while before, that some older colleague had asked whether I was perimenopausal, which I had no idea what that was, once I did I felt like slapping the bitch, I was only 41 for god’s sake. Turns out she was exactly right.

I’m very curious to know if other women feel the same or if they feel completely prepared for it when it happens.

232 words