Six years ago I had my only child at 45 I'd done IVF in my 30's with no luck and had given up trying but amazingly got pregnant naturally (it was a total surprise and unplanned but very much wanted) at 44.
Prior to becoming a mum I always looked very young for my age and I bloomed through pregnancy and felt amazing. After the birth I was on maternity leave for the next year and very wrapped up in my baby as all new mum's are. I did have some stresses with my daughters health and with breast feeding and of course my sleep was interrupted but being off meant I could nap through the day and I probably wasn't thinking too much of myself.
I think it was after I returned to work and my daughter went into nursery that things really started to go down hill for my appearance and health. I was still breastfeeding and was losing too much weight at this point and I think I was losing muscle mass as well. My face became very gaunt and my teeth started to deteriorate quite a bit and I did lose some teeth, my hair thinned and went totally grey which I still dye my natural auburn colour. My daughter was still waking during the night and it often felt like me and my husband were only ever half asleep most nights if at all. I was exhausted and stressed and then with nursery it seemed that my daughter, myself and my husband were always ill with D&V bugs or colds or flu even impetigo!
I was in perimenopause at this point although in denial about it because I'd just had a baby so how could I be menopausal? However my periods never really came back properly after the birth and breast feeding and I realise now that the whole time I was breast feeding my estrogen levels, whatever I had left were decreased.
I think the constant rotation of illnesses and sleep deprivation that went on for a few years really along with parenting, work stress, pandemic stress, aging parent stress, moving house stress, DH's illness stress etc really hollowed me and my husband out, we aged a lot and during those years and it didn't feel like we had any time for self care at all. I did try to get more energy at one point by taking up running but I was so depleted that I think it only made things worse and I now seem to an ongoing hip issues.
So I am now 51, post menopausal according to my GP and I look a lot older than my age. My friends who are all roughly my age all still look amazing, many started HRT years ago and had the time and money to really look after themselves at this stage of life with whatever treatments, exercises, diets and so on they felt would support them. They are either childfree or had their kids much younger and they are very supportive, a mine of information on things like skin treatments, HRT and exercise but I think I need a complete renovation as opposed to the upkeep they are all doing!
I just want to make myself look and feel a bit better as my daughter is now getting to the age where she is noticing I look older than her parents friends and I don't want to stick out like a sore thumb, I really don't want her worrying about our ages at all as DH is even older than me.
I am still too thin (body and face) and I think I still have muscle loss from my legs and bottom, can I get that back at this age, would HRT help? I could afford some treatments like laser / radiofrequency or to get my eyes done or some filler but I can't afford it all or to do a full face lift. I have started on tretinoin now but its very hard going and I don't think it can really help that much to be honest.
Any advice? I wish there was some kind of knowledgeable service where I could go and state my budget and they would be able to advise me of the best options to get the most bang for my buck but I'm just worried about being hard sold on certain things just because a particular provider offers that treatment. I had that happen with some treatment for acne I had in my 20's and it was not a good choice for me.