Meg Mathews Reveals The Surprising Symptoms She Didn't Realise Were Signs Of Menopause | HuffPost Life

'It had never occurred to me.'

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Life Editor at HuffPost UK

Socialite Meg Mathews has revealed her surprise at being told she was going through the menopause, despite never having had a hot flush.

Mathews, now 51, wants to share her experience to end stigma around the menopause and raise awareness of symptoms.

“I visited my GP and told him about my anxiety and low mood. At first, he thought my symptoms were typical of depression. But, as we spoke further, I told him I’d been experiencing sore joints, headaches, tender breasts and feelings of nausea too. And there were a few mood swings. And I’d gained a little bit of weight,” she wrote in a column for Red Magazine.

“My GP suggested I could be entering the menopause. I was surprised; it had never occurred to me these symptoms were associated with the menopause.”

David M. Benett via Getty Images

Mathews, who shot to fame when she married now ex Noel Gallagher, is currently working on a range of products to help menopausal women.

After being told she was experiencing the menopause, she began to research symptoms herself as was surprised by how much they vary from woman to woman.

According to the NHS, common symptoms include:

:: Hot flushes – short, sudden feelings of heat, usually in the face, neck and chest, which can make your skin red and sweaty
:: Night sweats – hot flushes that occur at night
:: Difficulty sleeping – this may make you feel tired and irritable during the day
:: A reduced sex drive (libido)
:: Problems with memory and concentration
:: Vaginal dryness and pain, itching or discomfort during sex
:: Headaches
:: Mood changes, such as low mood or anxiety
:: Palpitations – heartbeats that suddenly become more noticeable
:: Joint stiffness, aches and pains
:: Reduced muscle mass
:: Recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs), such as cystitis

Mathews said there is still a culture of silence around the menopause and lot of stigma around talking about it openly.

But she encouraged women to discuss what they’re going through, particulalry with their loved ones.

She said: “All women will eventually go through the menopause. Some will have a bad time of it and some may not even notice that they are going through it. The important thing for each woman to know is that you do not have to face this alone.”

11 Famous Women Get Real About The Menopause

Zoe Ball, 49(01 of11)

"I am hot and hairy. It’s like my last hurrah. Is it going to get better? Do I do HRT or do I have the funny tea supplement?”

When an audience member suggested she should have more sex to combat the symptoms, she replied: “OK, that’s a good tip. HRT and more sex. I’ll take that." (credit:Barcroft Media via Getty Images)

Gillian Anderson, 48(02 of11)

"It was at the point that I felt like my life was falling apart around me that I started to ask what could be going on internally, and friends suggested it might be hormonal…I was used to being able to balance a lot of things, and all of a sudden I felt like I could handle nothing. I felt completely overwhelmed.

"Peri-menopause and menopause should be treated as the rites of passage that they are. If not celebrated, then at least accepted and acknowledged and honored." (credit:Matthew Eisman via Getty Images)

Angelina Jolie, 41(03 of11)

"I will not be able to have any more children, and I expect some physical changes. But I feel at ease with whatever will come, not because I am strong but because this is a part of life. It is nothing to be feared." (credit:Umit Bektas / Reuters)

Jennifer Saunders, 58(04 of11)

"It is fairly brutal and you go through all the accompanying side effects: hot flushes, weight gain, a sense of mourning for lost youth, sexiness and somehow the point in anything. I became depressed, which I ended up getting help with.” (credit:Mike Marsland via Getty Images)

Tracey Emin, 53(05 of11)

"It is a nightmare, an absolute nightmare. It's horrible. And I don't look like that kind of person, you don't put menopause on top of my head, it doesn't associate with me." (credit:ANTHONY WALLACE via Getty Images)

Julie Walters, 67(06 of11)

"I still get hot flushes. That’s fifteen bloody years. Still, it’s nothing like I did then. Ripping off your nightie and Grant [her husband] thinking it’s something else! No – don’t get any ideas!” (credit:Barcroft Media via Getty Images)

Kim Cattrall, 60(07 of11)

"Literally one moment you’re fine, and then another, you feel like you’re in a vat of boiling water, and you feel like the rug has been pulled out from underneath you.

What I would say, which I’ve said to myself and to girlfriends who’ve also experienced hot flashes, in particular, is that change is part of being human. We evolve and should not fear that change. You're not alone. I feel that part of living this long is experiencing this, so I’m trying to turn it into a very positive thing for myself, which it has been, in the sense of acceptance and tolerance and education about this time of life." (credit:Roberto Ricciuti via Getty Images)

Amanda Redman, 59(08 of11)

"How hideous for women of our mothers' generation, because - while me and my girlfriends will talk about everything under the sun, including the menopause - it was something they didn't discuss. They must have felt so lonely and embarrassed all the time.

"For me, it's tailing off now. But I can still suddenly go that awful colour when I'm talking to somebody and sweat beads will break out on my upper lip. You're acutely aware of it, even if they're not." (credit:David M. Benett via Getty Images)

Carol Vorderman, 56(09 of11)

On ITV’s ‘Lorraine’, Vorderman described how her life had been normal until the menopause started.

“Then this depression hit me - and I don’t use the word depression lightly. This was a blackness where I would wake up - nothing else in my life was going wrong, I’m a very lucky woman, no money worries or nothing like that - and I would wake up and think ‘I don’t see the point in carrying on. I just don’t see the point in life,” she said.

Ulrika Jonsson, 50(10 of11)

Ulrika Jonsson has revealed she suffered “unimaginable anxiety” and memory loss while going through the menopause, which left her fearing she had Alzheimer’s disease.

“I actually took a friend of mine aside and said to her, and she’s a few years older than me, and I said ‘I’m really worried that I might be getting early onset Alzheimer’s,’ and she said, ‘honestly, it’s just the menopause.’”

Lorraine Kelly, 57(11 of11)

Lorraine Kelly admitted that the menopause caused her to "no longer feel joy in life" when it started.

“I remember last year, Steve and I had gone away to Spain for the weekend, it was the most beautiful day, everything was fantastic. Rosie [Lorraine’s daughter] was sailing through her exams at university, life was really good, love my job, all of that… and there was no joy in my life,” she said.

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