Anxiety
It creeps up on you like a thief in the night, menopausal anxiety resembles something from your awkward adolescence. The loss of confidence and changes to your sense of identity can catch you completely off guard. From a vague sense of unease, to an inability to carry on life as normal, anxiety is no joke. 
Insomnia
Difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep and having restful sleep is one of the cornerstones of the menopausal journey. Sleep deprivation is a form of torture, and can contribute to all the other various symptoms that accompany menopause. 
Hot Sweats
There is nothing that can prepare you for the hot sweats that are one of the most widely talked about, and dreaded symptoms of menopause. No holiday in the sun or sauna can compare to the feeling that you are cooking from the inside out, with a thermometer that has no timer. Inconvenience plus!
Brain Fog
One minute you are a queen, multitasking to your hearts content, juggling many tasks whilst maintaining friendships, family and work. Next minute you are lucky if you can hold a single conversation without losing your train of thought. Brain fog just seems like an intermittent bubble of overload - until its not.
Weight Gain
Slowly but surely you start to notice your clothes a feeling a little more snug, your dress size has increased along with your waist line. No matter how much you run, walk or change your eating habits you can't quite seem to fight the feeling that your changing metabolism is working against you. 
Mood Swings
Feel like your emotions are similar to swinging on a set of monkey bars from your childhood? Happy as a lamb, then irritable and ready to start a war? Your moods resembling an 80's song - She's like the wind through my trees - except that wind is a gentle breeze only to be followed by a howling storm. 
Fatigue
Did you have a great night's sleep, but overwhelming fatigue has you feeling as though you've been up all night howling at the moon? Doing everything you can ​to hydrate, rest, eat well, reduce stress, and nourish yourself spiritually but still feeling exhausted. This pesky problem is a by-product of internal change.
Depression
Did you wake up one day and notice that Joy left the room while you were busy attending to all the many responsibilities of life. Did Joy sneakily take with her - spontaneity, optimism, laughter, and creativity? This unforgiving trick that menopause plays is no less than a cruel joke. 
Low Libido
The fire that ignites our passion is so much more than the nurtured relationship we have with our beloved, it is a physiological mechanism that gets a complete hammering in menopause... and not the kind you may have enjoyed when you were young. 
Aches & Pains
The ability to feel light as a feather, free as a bird is completely taken for granted when we are young. Yesterday we were dancing at all night raves and today we are groaning at the slightest ache and struggling to get out of our chairs with a twinge and a moan.
The Things They Don't Tell You
And then there are the things they don't tell you. Skin changes don't just mean crepe neck and drooping eyes. Oestrogen was protecting you this whole time. You're fertile years weren't just a battle to get pregnant or avoid pregnancy. The change doesn't just change your periods, it changes your whole life!
Do Men Get To Pause Too?
Yes, changing hormones aren't exclusive to women. Ask any women (or man) about their 4 year old, teenage, or young adult son. Or about their middle aged husband, brother or lover. Why have they suddenly become an adventure seeking, brooding, libido ridden maniac, or why are they sinking into despair?