'I didn't realise what was happening until I put two and two together'
A mum said she thought her “life was over” after she lost her “zest” and struggled to get out of bed most days. Amanda Prince, from Prenton, is a medical expert with years of experience in various fields.
The mum-of-two sons, who now lives in Bebbington, spent over a decade as a paramedic for the NHS and is a qualified physician associate. Despite this, the 57-year-old couldn’t quite put her finger on a sudden change in her own body.
The business owner told the ECHO: “When I was going through it, I didn't realise and wasn’t aware that this was what was happening. I wasn’t pre-warned, but I was just hit with extreme fatigue, which is a lot for me because I was very active.
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"I’ve always done my sports and training, but I just couldn’t get out of bed. I thought I had post-Covid for a while. I felt lost and low in my mood. It was as if life was over.
"At that time and stage in life, it is when your children are leaving home, and going off to university, and you feel like you’ve lost your purpose. It affects all your relationships, and you don’t know what is coming next.
“I had no motivation, no interest in the opposite sex, and I was single at the time. And I just kept asking myself ‘is this it?’. It was a feeling I had never felt before."
Amanda said it was only when she put “two and two together” she realised there was a deeper meaning behind why she was feeling the way she was. The mum was going through menopause - with signs, that she overlooked, starting in her mid-40s.
She said: “I didn’t realise or understand the impact it would have on my life. Looking back now, I realise I had been experiencing hot flushes, sleeplessness, brain fog and fatigue that was at times all-consuming.
“I started to experience stiff and painful joints that prevented me from exercising for a couple of years. I never for one moment thought of menopause, you don’t really as a busy working woman with children to support.
"You don’t tend to think about getting older or putting your needs first. I was taking the contraceptive pill but without having periods it’s difficult to monitor where you are with menopause.”
Amanda said that with this new-found epiphany of what was happening, she forced herself out of bed in a bid to get her “zest” back. She said that for her, the natural route of exercising, eating a healthy diet, and cutting down on alcohol had initial benefits, but these quickly subsided.
It was only when she discovered two things Amanda managed to get her former life back. She added: “I started Pilates, and it played a big part in my recovery from joint problems. I became pretty expert at it and continue it now. I can remember waking every morning at 3-4 am, and because I couldn’t sleep,
“My HRT journey was also a revelation. I felt like I was back to being me again. My energy levels returned and I felt like leaping out of bed in the morning instead of rolling over and going back to sleep.”
A recent survey from the British Menopause Society revealed that 36% of women said their symptoms impacted their social life, 50% said it affected their home and sex life and more than a third said it affected their work life.
Amanda is helping some of these women through her new business venture, an online clinic named after herself. It officially launched in August last year, after being in the pipeline for a number of years.
She offers an initial free consultation and following this, an in-depth 60-minute consultation that explores medical history, lifestyle and symptoms. Amanda provides her clients with a management plan, treatment options and, when necessary, HRT prescriptions. With it being only a few months old, Amanda wants to continue raising awareness and hopes to make moves into the corporate world.