Starting with my mother I documented her when she came home from work. This time of day can either go two ways for her, she will come home irritable and cross with everyone, or come home and pass out on the sofa. I took some images of her waiting around in the kitchen waiting for her cup of tea and she showed me exactly how many tablets she had to take everyday. Its ridiculous. When my mum started going through the change she started taking vitamin supplements as she didn’t want to go on HRT like so many women don’t. However she did not take them religiously enough (I suppose she wasn’t used to having to take medicine twice a day) and it didn’t help at all. After several trips to the doctors as nothing seemed to be working she was prescribed with anti depressants, she came home and broke down in tears, as far as my mum was concerned being put on anti depressants was not something she wanted to do as she had heard so many stories about people that get hooked and feeling ‘numb’. Although the dose she was being given it would be very rare for someone to get hooked on the drug. It also seemed strange to be prescribed this drug when all the side affects for the medicine were the symptoms she was getting from the menopause. However, after more hot flushes, night sweats, no sleep and irritability my mum decided to start taking the anti depressants. These helped with the night sweats but made her feel groggy and unwell even after sticking it out for over a month so she stopped taking them. She is now back on the supplements but every possible one she can take, some are strange ingredients and nothing completely gets rid of the symptoms. I think the medication side of the menopause must be huge as I found out from my boyfriends mother that when she started the menopause her doctor prescribed her heart rate medicine, and her dose was also very low and could only be taken in the morning (if taken at night her heart could slow right down and stop!). She has also tried various treatments including HRT which made her down and tired and not her usual happy self… she now swears by a cream which you rub on certain areas of your body which apparently helps with hot flushes. There are so many options out there that some women are clueless to.
The first image of my mum, although slightly strange with her eyes half shut, was the one she said looked like she felt some days, completely drained and exhausted, had enough of everything for that moment.
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