'Menopause made me feel like I was dying of a heart attack - but one simple thing saved me'

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

When Stephanie Oram entered her late 40s, she was suddenly hit by an overwhelming sense of anxiety. The mum-of-three felt so worried she couldn’t eat or sleep and was even rushed to hospital with chest pains.

Stephanie, who lives in Blackpool, was convinced she was having a heart attack. But the mum wasn’t dying – she was actually experiencing symptoms of the perimenopause. Try MEN Premium for FREE by clicking here for no ads, fun puzzles and brilliant new features. “My perimenopausal anxiety caused me to struggle to sleep,” the 52-year-old, who previously lived in Middleton, said. “I would be so tired but as soon as I got into bed my brain started firing on all cylinders thinking about the most random of things. “I would wake up at 5am on the dot every morning, anxious about the day would bring.

During the day, I would have butterflies in my stomach; I would over breathe which made me feel lightheaded. “I would get anxious about silly things like putting the rubbish into the wrong recycling bin and when I went out, I would always worry that I’d left a door unlocked, which obviously meant that the dogs were going to get out or the house would be burgled.

I was seemingly coping on the outside but an absolute shambles on the inside. Laughter, in many ways, saved me.” Perimenopause means "around menopause" and refers to the time during which a woman’s body makes the natural transition to menopause, marking the end of the reproductive years.