Hi everyone, I hope you don't mind a bit of a vent and a blub! Hopefully you may be able to offer some advise, as I feel I'm drowning.
I was made redundant last year and wasn't too worried, as I was very confident in my abilities and in myself, so was sure I'd find something else, which I did in a few weeks.
I'm 52 and had regular periods up to that point, knew I must be nearing menopause but didn't give it much thought to be honest. I started my new job and almost within weeks, found my concentration was dipping. Having to ask to be shown simple things over and over again, not being able to retain information. Then anxiety kicked in not surprisingly. At the same time, my period started not to turn up when expected and I had crippling PMT until it did. I stayed in that job for a few months and it was awful. I couldn't get to grips with what was being asked of me, they were becoming impatient with me understandably but i still didn't put 2 and 2 together. I was then offered another job, which seemed more like my old job and i thought, Maybe I'd be better suited there, so resigned and moved.
I started my new job and the physical symptoms started getting more severe. Very irregular periods, painful cramps up until they arrived, IBS like stomach issues again which disappeared when my period came. And the same thing happened, I just couldn't learn the new job role, silly mistakes, not understanding tasks. Trying to manage regular anxiety attacks whilst feeling physically, pretty rough most of the time.
Not surprisingly, after one mistake too many, they let me go and I am now job less. I don't blame them in anyway because I had become more of a liability then a useful employee.
What is has done, is make me take a breath and actually look at what has been happening to me. I was trying so hard to keep going, to try and get through the days, I didn't have the head space . My confidence is now through the floor. I need to work to provide for myself and my family, but I know, if I don't get myself sorted, the same thing will happen again.
I'm making an appointment with my GP to look into HRT etc and hopefully get on track again and move forward. I think I was so comfortable in my old job and knew it so well, that maybe it masked a lot of the psychological symptoms and I didn't realise until I actually had to start learning things again.
Sorry for the long post, needed to vent a little and it has helped, as I struggle to put into words how I feel.
Much love to all of us going through this, I never knew it could be this hard X