This is Menopause (UK) was contributed to by 55 women in the form of participatory research; this included sharing their experiences, collaborating on portraits and attending workshops to determine if the creative process of making a quilt together would enable them to better articulate their experiences, advocate for themselves and others and suggest strategies for an improved experience of menopause care. The research outcomes were 19 portraits, a quilt made up of 78 individual squares and a 15 minute film that evidenced the research through captured conversations.
At 42, my surgeon left one ovary which he said would give me a trickle feed of hormones. Within a few months I was experiencing menopausal symptoms, feeling very low and slowly losing myself, I suffered in silence for months before finally confiding in a close friend at a party who advised me to seek medical help and advice and that’s when at 43, I was given HRT patches and within weeks I felt like a new woman with her life ahead of her once more.
I told my doctor I felt as tired when I woke up in the mornings as when I went to bed, she said that this was an indication that I was at that 'stage' in my life; my body adapting to the perimenopause. I endometriosis which can cause me discomfort; I approach it in a holistic way through diet and exercise; this condition makes taking HRT problematic so I use alternative therapies. My mum had surgical menopause, when she took HRT she said she didn't feel her normal self'
In 2023 the Office for National Statistics in the UK found that the highest rates of suicide in women were for those aged 40-50 years of age. This is the time when many women are perimenopausal. Perimenopause causes symptoms of depression. this image is for all the women who I was unable to photograph.
At 42, my surgeon left one ovary which he said would give me a trickle feed of hormones. Within a few months I was experiencing menopausal symptoms, feeling very low and slowly losing myself, I suffered in silence for months before finally confiding in a close friend at a party who advised me to seek medical help and advice and that’s when at 43, I was given HRT patches and within weeks I felt like a new woman with her life ahead of her once more.
