Why it was a shock to learn I am perimenopausal and need hormone replacement therapy

It is almost a rite of passage for women, so why did I never think the menopause would affect me? Writes Charlotte Cripps

Waking up in the middle of the night is a common symptom of the menopause (Getty)

Mention the word menopause – or perimenopause for that matter – and I always used to yawn. I had no hot flushes. No night sweats. No brain fog. It wasn’t happening to me. In fact, I was so certain I wasn’t suffering from it that I dropped my copy of Davina McCall’s new book, Menopausing: The Positive Roadmap to Your Second Spring, off at the local charity shop for someone who might need it.

Of course, I’d heard about the symptoms women go through. Yes, the hot flushes and night sweats, but also loss of confidence, hair falling out, crawling skin, brittle nails, vaginal dryness, incontinence, and burning tongue. These are symptoms that have led one in 10 women to leave their job in the UK, according to a new survey.

I’d also seen the news. In 2002, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) got a bad rap thanks to a study that warned of the increased risk of breast cancer and therefore many women stopped taking the treatment. It took about 10 years for the data to be re-analysed to find major flaws in the study.