A Kildare woman walked away from a 30 year corporate career as her perimenopause symptoms were so severe she was unable to perform to the best of her ability in work.
Ann McAteer, 54, is now a wellbeing coach and menopause wellness practitioner. She retrained after experiencing really difficult perimenopause symptoms, which doctors initially dismissed, only offering her antidepressants.
Ann, who lives in Kilcock in Kildare, says her symptoms began when she was moving up the ladder in the corporate world. “I worked in the financial services industry, I was middle level management by the time I left,” she says.
Read more: How alcohol impacts your hormones: Fertility, Dementia, Menopause, Skin and Ageing
In 2014, Ann took voluntary redundancy from AIB. “I took a career break, and then I went back to the corporate world, it was then when my symptoms started.”
Between 2016-2019, Ann started to doubt herself and experience brain fog. She was in her mid-40s at the time. “I was lacking in sleep, I was feeling irritable, overwhelmed, anxious, suffering from low mood and recurring UTIs. I had some heart palpitations and weight gain. I had no idea what was happening to me, as I still had some good days, it was up and down.”
When it came to menopause, Ann had only ever heard of night sweats and hot flushes. “I never had those, my perimenopause symptoms were completely different,” she admits. “I went to various medical practitioners and the possibility of hormones causing my ailments was never discussed.”
Existing muscular problems worsened and her performance in work started to falter. “The sleep deprivation and brain fog was what made me walk out of the workplace. There were things I could do in my sleep, but even those tasks were proving difficult.
"Like when I was presenting a case, I knew it inside out, but I’d go blank. I recall one manager asking me ‘What was that all about?’ after a presentation, and I couldn’t answer her as I didn’t know what was going on with me.”
Towards the end of 2018, she visited a GP and explained she was stressed, teary-eyed, and lacking in sleep. “I thought it was stress at work or due to family commitments. All I was offered was antidepressants.
"I had spent a couple of years volunteering with Aware, the charity for depression. I know antidepressants have their place, but I wasn’t clinically diagnosed, so I never took them.”
Ann says it was difficult to juggle her symptoms, work and family responsibilities. She had two children who were young at the time, but with the support of her family was able to keep going. “I was lucky I had my mam and dad to help with afterschool pick-ups and childcare,” she continues.
In early 2019, she left work as her symptoms were so severe. “I felt like I was falling apart, I didn’t know what I wanted, I walked away from a well-paid job, in an industry I knew for 30 years.”
A year-and-half ago, Ann started taking HRT. “I wish I had known I could have been feeling better for all those years in my 40s. I am still not quite there, I am still tweaking my HRT a little bit, but I am feeling a billion times better.”
Ann’s mother, who is now 76, had a hysterectomy at 39. “She was never once offered HRT. Her quality of life since her 50s has been poor. She has every symptom of menopause you could imagine. She has osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, joint problems, ringing in her ears… to name a few. I think from her experience, we can’t allow this to happen to other Irish women.”
Her Scottish mother-in-law however, who turned 80 last month, had a much different experience when she had a hysterectomy in her 40s. “She is an incredibly fit woman, but she got HRT. She says it saved her life.”
Now aged 54, Ann has embarked on a brand new career as a wellbeing coach. She also recently qualified as a menopause wellness practitioner.
“I have turned everything that happened to me into something positive,” she says.
For more information about the menopause, visit theirishmenopause.com.
If you have been affected by the contents of this article, Samaritans are available 24/7 on 116 123.
To read our full menopause special, pick up a copy of the October issue of RSVP magazine, out now.
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