Polly

Polly, 50. I keep going round in circles on this and I genuinely don't know where to land. I've been exhausted and foggy for the best part of two years and my brain just... isn't the same. Words disappear mid-sentence. I'll be in a meeting and lose the thread of what I was saying while I'm actually saying it. Last week I called our head of comms by the wrong name. I've worked with her for four years. But here's the thing. I also work full time, I've got two teenagers who between them have the emotional regulation of a pair of wasps, my mum had a health scare last spring, and I haven't had a proper night's sleep since roughly 2019. So is this perimenopause or is my brain just... full? Burnt through? I've started going to bed at the same time every night regardless, even weekends, because someone on here mentioned sleep routine ages ago and I thought fine, I'll try it, I've tried everything else. It's only been a few weeks. Hard to say yet. What I do know is that I want to go to my GP with something more concrete than "I feel a bit dim". So I've been writing things down. Actual examples. Forgot the word for "invoice" in a client call. Sent the same email twice. Couldn't follow the thread of a document I wrote myself six months ago. That kind of thing. I want to ask whether any of this is hormonal or whether I'm just a knackered middle-aged woman who needs a holiday. Both could be true I suppose. That's what's so maddening about all of this. x

Fifty next month and I genuinely cannot tell if I am falling apart or just... tired. Like properly, structurally tired in a way sleep doesn't fix. I've been a project manager for fifteen years. I used to hold six workstreams in my head simultaneously and now I stood in front of my team last Tuesday and completely lost the word for "dependencies". Just gone. I said "the things that rely on other things" and moved on and hoped nobody clocked it but they definitely clocked it. The question I keep going round on is whether this is perimenopause or whether I've just hit a wall after years of doing too much. Or both. Can it be both? I suspect it's both and that's somehow worse because I don't know which bit to address first. I've started bringing a proper lunch to work, actual protein, eggs or chicken or whatever, because someone here mentioned the afternoon crash and I thought yes, that's me, 3pm and my brain just quietly leaves the building. It's helped a bit with the energy but the fog is still there in the mornings, especially before I've had a chance to settle. I've also been trying to get off my phone by ten and in bed by eleven but I'm not consistent with it yet. Some nights I manage it. Some nights I'm doom-scrolling at midnight wondering why I feel dreadful. I've got a GP appointment coming up and I want to go in with something concrete rather than just "I feel woolly and less like myself". So I've been writing things down. Specific things. Forgot the word in the Tuesday meeting. Sent an email to the wrong Sarah. Read a paragraph four times and retained nothing. Lost my thread halfway through presenting to the director. That kind of thing. Work stuff, because I feel like that might land differently than saying "I'm a bit forgetful". Has anyone else had to do this? Build a case for yourself? It feels strange, like I'm preparing evidence against my own brain. x

50 and I've been going back and forth on this for about a year. Burnout or peri. Peri or burnout. My therapist says burnout. My friend who's two years ahead of me in this whole thing says definitely peri. My GP said 'could be both' which is technically true and also completely unhelpful. The thing that's made me think it might not be purely stress is that the foggy days don't track with how busy I am. I've had completely manageable weeks where I still couldn't find words, still felt like I was wading through something. And then I've had absolutely manic weeks at work where I was sharp as anything. That inconsistency is what I want to take to the GP because it feels like a clue. I've got a work lunch thing most days which used to be sandwiches and crisps and I've shifted it to something with actual protein in it over the last few weeks. Whether that's doing anything or whether it's the slightly better sleep I've been managing I honestly don't know. I'm not going to pretend I've cracked it. But I'm paying attention in a way I wasn't before, which feels like something. Would be really glad to hear from anyone who eventually got some clarity on the peri vs burnout question - how did you know? x

Jun 21 · Liked post

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I have been tracking my flushes for six weeks. Six weeks. I have the times, the duration, how many times I was up at night, the impact on work the next day. I brought it all to my GP appointment and she looked at it for about four seconds and said "it's probably just stress, lots of women your age feel this way." I am 52. I have had maybe four hours of broken sleep most nights this month. I am not stressed, I am exhausted, and those are different things. Not asking anyone to fix it. Just needed to say it somewhere people would actually understand what I mean. x

Jun 21 · Liked post

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41 and genuinely asking because I cannot figure this out: how do you actually know if something is working? I started magnesium about six weeks ago. Sleep is... maybe slightly better? Or maybe I'm just less stressed at work right now. Or maybe I finally stopped drinking coffee after 7pm. I have no idea which thing did what and it's driving me a bit mad. I've got a notes app where I've been scribbling stuff down each night but it's just a mess of "felt tired", "woke at 4", "anxious for no reason" with no real pattern I can see. I don't know what I was expecting, some kind of graph that would tell me THE ANSWER I suppose 😂 Also the cost thing. Magnesium, vitamin D, the protein powder I bought because someone on Instagram was very convincing, the fancy probiotic... I actually added it up last month and nearly choked. And I'm not even sure any of it is doing anything. I've got a GP appointment coming up and I want to ask about interactions because I'm not totally sure what I should or shouldn't mention. Do you just read out your whole supplement list? Does your GP actually engage with that or do they look at you like you've lost the plot? Honestly I think I'd be better off just focusing on eating enough protein and not skipping meals, which I know sounds obvious but apparently I need reminding. Less glamorous than a seventeen-step supplement routine but probably cheaper. Any of you found a way to actually track this stuff that isn't just vibes? x

Jun 20 · Liked post

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45 and I genuinely don't know where I belong online anymore. The period tracking apps feel like they're built for someone trying to get pregnant in their twenties. The menopause forums feel like they're for women who've already arrived somewhere I haven't. I'm just... in between? My cycles have gone a bit strange in the last year, not dramatically, just different to how they used to be. Shorter sometimes. Heavier once or twice. The odd month where I feel absolutely wired for two weeks then completely flat. I started writing it down because I kept thinking "was that normal last year?" and I genuinely couldn't remember. I'm not sure I'm perimenopausal. I'm not sure I'm not. My GP hasn't been unhelpful exactly, just sort of... noncommittal. I've got an appointment in a few weeks and I want to actually say something useful rather than just "I feel a bit off". So I've been keeping a note of when my cycle starts, how long, how heavy, anything that feels different. Nothing fancy. Just a note in my phone so I have something concrete to show her. Weekday dinners are a disaster at the moment by the way. Two kids, both at that age where they have opinions about everything. I've basically given up trying to cook properly Tuesday through Thursday and I'm just doing whatever keeps us all upright. Pasta. Eggs. That sort of thing. No shame. Anyone else feel like they're in a kind of no-woman's-land with all this? x

Jun 20 · Liked post

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51 and something happened in my appraisal last week that I still haven't fully gotten over. My manager asked me to summarise the project outcomes and I just... sat there. I knew what I wanted to say. It was all there somewhere. But the words came out in the wrong order and then stopped altogether and I ended up saying "you know, the thing, the data thing" like an absolute liability. I've worked in this field for nearly twenty years. I don't know if this is perimenopause or burnout or both happening at the same time and honestly I'm not sure it matters because the effect is the same. I sit in meetings now and I write everything down in advance because I genuinely cannot trust what will come out of my mouth if I wing it. Pre-meeting notes, mid-meeting notes, post-meeting notes. I am essentially a one-woman paper trail just to function at the level I managed effortlessly five years ago. The other thing I've started noticing is the 3pm wall. Not tired exactly, more like someone turned the brightness down on my brain. I've been keeping a bag of mixed nuts and a couple of oatcakes at my desk because I read something about blood sugar and cognition and I'll try anything at this point. Genuinely no idea if it's helping but it gives me something to do that isn't panicking. Sleep is the other piece. I've started going to bed at the same time every night like a child, no screens after half ten, which my teenagers find hilarious. But the nights I actually sleep properly I am measurably better the next day. That much I'm certain of. Going to the GP next month and I want to explain how this is affecting my work specifically, not just "I'm a bit fuzzy". Has anyone done that? Brought actual examples? I keep wondering if they'll take it more seriously if I come in with a list of concrete incidents rather than just describing a vague feeling x

Jun 19 · Liked post

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46 and I've started keeping my phone face-down at 3am because if I look at the time one more night I think I'll cry. It's been weeks of this. Wide awake, heart going a bit, brain immediately spinning about nothing and everything at once. By 5 I'm dozing again and then the alarm goes and I feel like I've been hit by something. The thing is I genuinely don't know if it's peri or just... life? Work is stressful, the kids are stressful, everything is a lot. So how do I walk into a GP appointment and say "I keep waking up at 3am" without sounding like I just need a holiday? I feel like they'll look at me and say exactly that. I've been trying to get out for a walk after dinner most evenings, even just twenty minutes round the block. Not sure if it's doing anything for the sleep yet but it stops me sitting on the sofa catastrophising which I suppose is something. Before I go to the GP I want to write things down because every time I've tried to explain this kind of thing in an appointment my mind goes completely blank and I come out having said nothing useful. Does anyone have advice on how to describe symptoms that feel vague and a bit all over the place without sounding like you're being dramatic? x

Jun 19 · Liked post

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52, perimenopause confirmed last year, been in a demanding job for twenty years and I genuinely cannot work out if what's happening to my brain is hormonal or if I've just finally hit a wall. The thing is, the fog started around the same time the sleep went properly wrong. Not insomnia exactly, more like I wake at 3am completely wired and then drag myself through the day on fumes. By 2pm I'm almost useless. I've started keeping biscuits in my desk which is not ideal but I was getting so desperate I'd have eaten the stapler. I've got a GP appointment next week and I want to actually come prepared for once rather than sitting there going blank (ironic). I want to ask specifically about whether oestrogen affects cognitive function because I've read things but I don't know what's credible and what isn't. And I want to describe what this actually looks like day to day, not just "I feel tired and foggy" which sounds like nothing. So I've been writing it down. Lost a word mid-sentence in a meeting on Monday. Sent an email to the wrong person on Wednesday. Sat in a Teams call and genuinely could not hold the thread of what was being discussed for more than about ninety seconds. That's what I want to hand over. Has anyone managed to have a useful conversation with their GP about this specifically? Not just being told to rest more. An actual conversation about whether hormones could be driving the cognitive stuff? x

Jun 19 · Liked post

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Trying magnesium this month. Just that. Writing down whether my sleep changes. Not buying anything else until I know. x

Jun 18 · Liked post

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Right. Sixty one, postmenopause, and the three o'clock wall is absolutely flooring me at the moment. Not tired exactly, more like someone's pulled a plug somewhere. I used to just push through it but lately I genuinely cannot think straight by half two. I mentioned it to my GP last month and she nodded and moved on, which was helpful. I'm going back in a few weeks and I want to actually be useful this time, so I've been scribbling down when it hits and what I've eaten beforehand. The pattern I'm seeing is that on days I've had a proper lunch I'm slightly less wrecked. Slightly. It's not a miracle but it's something. Food-wise I'm on a tight budget so I can't do the whole buy seventeen different seeds situation. What I've started doing is cooking a proper dinner three nights a week, something with actual protein in it, eggs, lentils, tinned fish, that sort of thing, and making enough to have leftovers for the next day's lunch. It's saved me from eating toast at one pm and then wondering why I'm face down on the desk by three. Has anyone else tracked the crash and actually found something that shifted it? I don't want to go to the GP with nothing. I want to be able to say here's what I've noticed, here's what I've tried, what should we look at. x

Jun 18 · Liked post

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Sixty years old and I cannot lift a bag of compost without my knees making that noise. You know the one. I keep looking at the beginner strength videos online and then closing the tab. Everyone in them is already... fit? Like they've already done the intimidating bit and now they're just demonstrating. Nobody shows you the part where you're standing in your living room at 7pm wondering if a resistance band is going to finish you off. I did try something this week though. Twenty minutes of very slow stretching before bed, three nights in a row. Nothing dramatic. Just working through my hips and shoulders because they're both furious with me for some reason I cannot identify. And honestly? I slept better on those nights. Not fixed, not transformed, just... less like a plank of wood by morning. The fatigue is what I'm most worried about taking to the GP. I don't know how to explain that I want to move more but the tiredness is like a wall some days. I don't want her to say "well just go for walks" as if I haven't thought of that. I want to talk about what's actually safe to build up to given where I am. Whether there are limits I should know about. I feel like I need permission almost, which is a strange thing to admit. Also started having a bit of protein after I do anything physical, even just the stretching, because I read something about it and thought well, it can't hurt. Egg on toast mostly. Nothing fancy. Anyway. Still more tab-closing than actual exercise but the bedtime mobility thing is real and I'm keeping it. x

Jun 18 · Liked post

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Hi all. I've been reading threads here for a few weeks and finally feel ready to say hello. I'm Dawn, 57, postmenopause, based in London. I work full time and cook for a family who are largely indifferent to my efforts, which is its own kind of exhausting. Mostly I'm here because I've been trying to figure out dinners that actually do something useful for my energy without turning into a whole project. I've been walking most evenings and trying to plan three proper meals a week in advance rather than standing in front of the fridge at half six wondering what on earth to do. Small stuff, but it helps me feel less chaotic. Looking forward to reading more from everyone here x

Jun 18 · Liked post

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Wore the red dress on Saturday. Felt like myself for the first time in ages. Tiny thing but I'm writing it down. x

Jun 18 · Liked post

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Hi all. 58, post-menopause, finally feeling cautiously better after a rough few years. Here to listen more than talk but glad to be here x

Jun 17 · Liked post

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Trying actual breakfast before 9am this week and logging whether the 3pm fog is different. That's it. That's the whole plan 😂

Jun 17 · Liked post

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Sixty now. Periods stopped eight years ago and I still pop up in threads about sleep and joint pain and brain fog and I do sometimes wonder if people think I should have moved on by now. I haven't. And I don't think that's a failure. What I wanted to say to anyone earlier in this, the women who are exhausted and frightened and convinced it never ends, is that it does shift. Not in a straight line and not on anyone else's timetable, but it shifts. I remember being 52 and genuinely not recognising myself. Couldn't sleep past 3am for months. Couldn't string a sentence together at work. Cried in a Waitrose car park over nothing. I thought that was just going to be the rest of my life. It wasn't. What helped me, for what it's worth, was nothing dramatic. I started lifting weights at 56, just a class at the leisure centre, thought I'd hate it and actually loved it. I eat the same breakfast most mornings because decision fatigue is real and I need that one thing to be simple. And I finally went back to my GP last year with a proper list of what was still bothering me, because I'd been quietly assuming I should just get on with it. Still learning. Still tired some mornings. But I'm here and I'm glad this room exists for all of it, not just the early bit. x

Jun 17 · Liked post

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can I just say the supplement aisle in Boots is genuinely one of the most stressful places I've been recently and I work in a primary school so that's saying something 😂 everything has a claim on it. everything is "clinically shown" or "formulated for women over 40" or whatever. and then I open Instagram and it's ten different influencers telling me I need ten different things urgently or my bones will crumble and my brain will fall out I'm 39, I'm knackered, I can't afford to just chuck £30 at every bottle that looks convincing. I've been trying to keep a rough note of what I'm spending and honestly it adds up embarrassingly fast even when I've bought nothing what I actually want is just... someone saying "I tried this one thing, here's what happened, here's what didn't." not a brand deal. not a protocol. just a normal story from a normal woman I've been trying to sort protein and fibre out through actual food first before I go near any of it, because that at least costs roughly the same as what I'm already buying. eggs, lentils, that kind of thing. nothing dramatic if I do end up seeing my GP about any of this I want to go in with a proper list of whatever I've been taking so I'm not just going "erm, something from Holland and Barrett?" but right now the list is mostly wishful thinking and a half-eaten bag of mixed seeds anyway. solidarity to everyone else staring blankly at the same shelves x

Jun 17 · Liked post

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39 and I genuinely cannot keep up with what I'm supposed to be taking. Every time I open Instagram I'm apparently deficient in six things and there's a new founder in a white blazer telling me her £65 blend changed her life. I don't doubt she believes it. I just... can't afford to believe everything. What I actually want is someone saying "I tried magnesium glycinate for eight weeks and my sleep went from terrible to slightly less terrible" and that's it. No before and after. No referral code. Just a normal person's normal experience. I've been making a rough list of what I'm already taking (just vitamin D at the moment, from the GP's suggestion) because I want to be honest with my GP next appointment about what's in my system. She's not dismissive but I don't think she knows what I'm seeing online either. Feels important to just... have it written down. The protein thing I've actually found easier than supplements honestly. Eggs at breakfast, that kind of thing. Cheaper. Less confusing. Maybe that's where I'll stay for a while before I add anything else. x

Jun 17 · Liked post

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Has anyone tracked how many nights of broken sleep they listed before their GP took it seriously? Wondering what level of detail actually moved things forward.

Jun 16 · Liked post

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I have an appointment on Thursday and I have spent the last hour trying to write down what's actually been happening. Which sounds simple. It is not simple. Every time I try to describe it I end up writing something vague like "discomfort" and then crossing it out because I know that's not going to get me anywhere with a GP. So I've been sitting with a notebook trying to find the actual words. Dryness. Pain during sex. The way I now sort of dread it rather than want it. That last one took me about twenty minutes to write because even in my own handwriting it felt embarrassing. My husband doesn't know I'm going. Not because I'm hiding it exactly, more that I don't know how to start that conversation yet. He's kind. He hasn't said anything difficult. But I can feel us both sort of tiptoeing around something we used to just... have. Fifty eight years old and I feel like I'm failing at a thing I never expected to fail at. Anyway. The notebook exists. The appointment is Thursday. I've written "ask about local oestrogen" at the top of the page and underlined it twice so I don't bottle it and talk about something safer instead. Has anyone else had to basically coach themselves through saying the actual words to their GP? I don't want to come out with a leaflet and nothing else. x

Jun 16 · Liked post

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46 and the 3am thing is starting to really mess with my head. Not every night. Maybe four times a week. I wake up completely, heart going a bit, and then just... lie there until five-ish. No obvious reason. No bad dream. Nothing left on the hob. Just awake. I keep going back and forth on whether it's peri or whether I'm just a stressed person who has two teenagers and a job and a house that needs a new boiler. Like, maybe anyone would wake up at 3am with all that going on?? But it didn't used to happen. That's the bit I can't explain away. I've started going out for a walk after dinner. Twenty minutes, nothing dramatic. I don't know if it's doing anything but it gets me out of the house and away from my phone and I sleep a bit better on the nights I do it. Possibly coincidence. Possibly not. The GP thing is what I'm dreading. Because how do I explain this? "I wake up at 3am and feel a bit anxious" sounds so... thin. Like she's going to look at me and say yes well, life is stressful, have you tried mindfulness. I'm not saying she would. She might be brilliant. But I'm scared of being sent away with nothing because I didn't describe it right. Does anyone have advice on how to make vague symptoms sound real in that room? Because in my head it's all very clear and I know something has shifted, but I genuinely cannot predict what will come out of my mouth when I'm sitting across from her. x

Jun 16 · Liked post

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44 and had a full hysterectomy eight months ago and can I just say... nothing I read prepared me for this. All the menopause content out there is about the gradual thing, the years of irregular cycles, the slow creep. I went to sleep one person and woke up someone else. Hot flashes started in the hospital. In the actual hospital. I didn't even have time to google what was happening before it was already happening. I've been keeping notes on my phone because my follow-up is next month and I genuinely cannot hold it all in my head. Sleep is the big one right now. I'll fall asleep fine and then boom, 2am, soaked, wide awake, heart going. I started writing down the time it happens and roughly how bad and whether I'd eaten protein that day because someone in another group mentioned it and honestly I'll try anything at this point. No conclusions yet. Just data. The thing I keep bumping up against is that I don't fit the story. I'm not perimenopausal, I'm not 'going through the change' in the way people picture it. It was surgical. It was sudden. And when I try to explain that to people who mean well, their eyes kind of glaze over because the script they have doesn't match what I'm describing. Anyone else feel like they're living in a category that doesn't have a name yet? And if you've been through a surgical menopause follow-up, what did you actually ask your doctor? I have a list forming but I feel like I'm missing something obvious.

Jun 22 · Replied to Community post

You are so allowed to be here, please don't feel like you're gatecrashing. I started noticing things at 47 and spent months convincing myself it was just stress. The exhaustion that doesn't shift with sleep was what finally made me take it seriously. Your instinct to write things down is exactly right. I went in with a list and it completely changed the conversation with my GP. Good luck with it x

Jun 21 · Replied to Community post

I could have written this word for word, right down to forgetting everything the moment I sit down with the GP. I've started writing things in my phone notes on the way there so I can just read from the screen if my brain goes blank. Might be worth trying. Good luck. x

Jun 21 · Replied to Community post

I could have written this word for word, the freezing, the wanting to disappear. I ended up just showing my GP my notes on my phone because I couldn't say it. She was completely unfazed, which both helped and annoyed me slightly because I'd been dreading it for weeks 😂 You've done the hard thinking already. The appointment will be fine. x

Jun 21 · Replied to Community post

The 3am thing is so specific and so recognisable, I swear there's something about that exact hour. I found saying "I want to ask about HRT specifically" out loud before I lost my nerve was the thing that changed my appointment. Like actually saying the words before she could steer the conversation elsewhere. You've clearly already done the thinking, just get it on paper and trust yourself in that room 😊 x

Jun 20 · Replied to Community post

Oh love, "the numbers document" made me actually laugh out loud because I have BEEN THERE. I called our project lead "the tall one" in a meeting last month because his name just evaporated. The briefing yourself beforehand thing is not mad at all, I do something similar now, little prompt words in my notebook. Your GP prep sounds really smart. Specific examples are so much better than trying to explain the fog in the moment when you're, well, foggy. x

Jun 20 · Replied to Community post

Snap! I did exactly this last autumn. Just a note in my phone, time and what happened. Took it to my GP after about six weeks and she actually took me seriously because I had examples rather than just "I feel a bit foggy sometimes". Honestly the log was the thing that made the difference in that appointment. Good idea. x

Jun 20 · Replied to Community post

Right there with you on the sweaty Girl Guide image, I actually laughed out loud because same. I've started phrasing it as 'I'd like to understand what treatment options exist' rather than asking about specific things, and it does seem to take the defensiveness out of it a bit. Also the cucumber and yoghurt lunch thing, I'm stealing that immediately 😂 x

Jun 19 · Replied to Community post

Snap! The lost-word-mid-sentence thing in meetings, I've been there so many times this year. Mortifying. Your list of specific examples is honestly the best thing you can bring. When I finally stopped saying 'I'm a bit tired' and said 'I lost the thread of a conversation I was leading' my GP's whole manner shifted. She actually started asking follow-up questions. Whether it's hormonal or burnout or both, you deserve a proper answer not just 'have you tried going to bed earlier'. Rooting for you x

Jun 19 · Replied to Community post

Ha, the primary school comparison is very valid, I work in an office and I'd still say the Boots supplement aisle is more chaotic than most of my Tuesday afternoons. I've been trying to do the same thing, one thing, wait, see. It's slow and boring and not very Instagram but at least I know what I'm actually taking. Good luck with the GP when you get there, going in with a list genuinely does help x

Jun 18 · Replied to Community post

Snap on the notes-on-the-phone thing, that's exactly what I do before any appointment because my brain just empties the moment I sit down in front of a doctor. The surgical timeline thing sounds genuinely disorienting. A week is just... a lot to process. Hope the specialist actually has answers rather than just the standard leaflet. x

Jun 18 · Replied to Community post

Oh love, this is not a tiny thing at all. This is the whole thing. Write it down, keep writing it down. I've been trying to notice moments like this too and honestly it helps more than I expected. Red dress energy is real. x

Jun 18 · Replied to Community post

Oh I could have written this word for word, minus the deputy head bit (I'd have lost the whole school by now 😂). The mid-sentence word vanishing is so specific isn't it. It doesn't feel like tiredness, it feels like a gap where something used to be. I kept a notes app thing for a while too. Brought it to my GP and she actually read it, which I wasn't expecting. Really hope you get an appointment soon x

Jun 17 · Replied to Community post

I could have written this word for word, except I'm only 50 so I'm still in the thick of it. But reading that the panic specifically lifts, that particular flavour of dread, that's the bit I needed. I can cope with joint stiffness. It's the 4am conviction that everything is falling apart that I'd really like to leave behind. Thank you for this. x

Jun 17 · Replied to Community post

I could have written this word for word. The notebook thing, the pre-meeting bullet points, all of it. I've been doing exactly the same and feeling vaguely embarrassed about it, like I'm compensating for something. But you're right, it's not about jogging memory in the moment, it's about going in feeling like you've got a handhold. And the specific examples idea for the GP is brilliant. I've been putting off booking because I couldn't articulate it beyond "my brain feels like wet sand". Writing down the actual work incidents feels much more real. Good luck with the appointment, really hope she listens x

Jun 16 · Replied to Community post

I could have written this word for word, the lurking for weeks bit especially 😂 I'm not on anything yet but I've been tracking flushes too and the numbers are genuinely useful to have written down. Makes it feel less like you're just moaning and more like you're presenting evidence. Which, frankly, with some GPs you need to be. Rooting for you x

Jun 16 · Replied to Community post

Yes, absolutely bring it to your GP. "I forgot a word" isn't the complaint, the complaint is that your cognitive function at work has noticeably changed and it's affecting your confidence. That's a legitimate thing to say. I actually wrote mine down before my appointment because I knew I'd downplay it in the room otherwise. Which is very on-brand for this particular symptom, isn't it. 😂 x

Jun 16 · Replied to Community post

I could have written this word for word. Two years post-divorce for me as well and I'm still working out who I am in this version of my life. The red top thing is huge actually, we all have that item. Really glad you posted this. x

Jun 16 · Replied to Community post

Oh I felt this. The body making decisions without consulting you, yes, exactly that. I haven't quite cracked the conversation with my husband either, still sort of circling it. But writing it down first really does help, even just for yourself. Sending solidarity x

Jun 16 · Replied to Community post

I'm 50 and this was me eighteen months ago. Genuinely thought I was losing my mind at work. Couldn't hold a thought through a whole meeting. It can absolutely be both things at once but for me the fog had a particular quality, sort of patchy and unpredictable, that felt different to just being worn out. You're not alone in this. x

Jun 16 · Replied to Community post

Oh love, the fish mouth thing. I know it so well. I've done it in front of my manager twice this year and both times I wanted to dissolve into the floor. The writing it down idea is genuinely brilliant though, I wish I'd done that before my GP appointment because I went in and said something vague about feeling scattered and she basically shrugged. Real examples with dates sounds like exactly the right approach. Rooting for you with that appointment. x