Lisa Snowdon has opened up on her ‘awful’ menopause, admitting she felt ‘completely alone’.
The 50-year-old presenter has spoken publicly about the menopause, which can happen to women from their mid-40s to early 50s, with symptoms including anxiety, hot flushes, weight gain and hormonal imbalance.
Lisa bravely shared her experience, and told OK! that she first began feeling “low and anxious” in her early 40s, which she says was the beginning of the menopause, usually called perimenopause.
“I was prescribed antidepressants, but they didn’t feel like the answer,” she explained, revealing that “more symptoms” developed over the next few years.
The TV star and model, who is engaged to fiancé George Smart, said she was put on the right HRT (hormone replacement therapy) by her doctor, which she said was a “game changer”.
“I’ve got my brain back and I can sleep again. It’s something that I couldn’t be without,” Lisa confessed, as she said her experience has made her “so passionate” about discussing the menopause publicly.
The former Capital radio DJ said she suffered from “years” of feeling the effects of the menopause, and felt “completely alone and lost”.
“It was years of feeling awful and angry and sleep deprived, with skin, hair and body changes. I ended up putting on quite a bit of weight, and when you don’t know what’s happening, you feel like you’re going mad,” Lisa shared.
She vowed to be honest on social media while going through the menopause, as she wanted to make the experience “less lonely” by reaching out to her followers who were going through the same.
Lisa admitted she put on weight during the menopause, and despite usually having a “pretty positive body image”, she was “a little bit broken” when nothing in her wardrobe fit.
“That’s a really hard thing for us girls. I remember sitting on the floor and just crying. That was a bit of a turning point for me,” she said.
Lisa urged women to write down their symptoms to take to their doctor, and urged them to “push back” if they’re dismissed by their GP.
Now she’s hit her 50s, the presenter said she feels “really positive” about the next stage of her life.
“I’ve joined a campaign called the Menopause Mandate to make change happen. And I want to do a book at some point. Life is really good,” she smiled.
