1 Symptoms of the menopause

Newson (2023) identifies 32 main symptoms of the menopause. However, there are at least 66 recognised symptoms, from the commonly recognised hot flushes, night sweats, ‘brain fog’, and mood swings, to the lesser known ones, including headaches, frozen shoulder, painful joints, fragile finger and toe nails, and the even lesser known psychological symptoms. (Kaye, 2020; Hillard et al., 2017). Some of the most common symptoms are shown in the following figure.

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An image showing symptoms of the menopause:

• Irregular periods
• Chills
• Vaginal dryness
• Night sweats
• Hot flashes
• Sore or tender breasts
• Sleep problems
• Headaches
• Weight gain and slowed metabolism
• Mood changes
• Thinning hair and dry skin
• Memory problems

Menopause can impact on just about every area of a person’s life – work and career, close personal and family relationships, friendships, and social lives, as well as on their inner lives, with confidence, self-esteem, self-concept and sense of purpose often affected, and those in menopause feeling ‘invisible’ (Thebe, 2020). These effects can be the most difficult to identify and talk about. Now we will explore some of the most significant symptoms in more detail.