About Us
At Thinking Menopause? we are passionate about ensuring women feel supported, informed and listened to during the peri/menopause stages of their lives. We work in partnership with one of the world’s leading Menopause Social Enterprise, Menopause Experts Group, lovingly known as MEG. We are an Executive Member and have completed their extensive Licensed Champion Training to bring you the most accurate and up-to-the- minute research in women’s health.
Thank you for visiting my site, my name is Leeann McLaren.
Menopause Guru and Wellness Champion.
Thinking Menopause? was borne from my personal experience of my journey through menopause and beyond. For me, this transition was not kind to say the least! And, if I’m brutally honest, it was a real struggle and continues to throw up challenges everyday. It affected every part of my being, my physical, mental and social wellbeing. Interestingly enough, I had about every symptom menopause can throw at you, but never a ‘hot flush’.
From the age of 36 yrs, I started to develop some of the first signs: daily headaches, mood changes and anxiety. I thought that my PMT was going on forever. I developed strange pain, tingling and weakness in my arms, neck and shoulders that was making my workday increasingly challenging. I had returned to University to study for a Degree in Community Learning and Development just as my symptoms began to ramp up.
Having 3 young children, working in a Learning and Development job and studying became difficult. I had trained as a nurse in my younger years, however, in all my years nursing, and then years of management in Health and Social Care, sadly menopause did not factor into any learning or training.
Latterly, I had a somewhat stressful job managing in the Housing and Homeless sector, dealing with individuals who suffered from very complex needs.
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Suffering from strange, sometimes bizarre symptoms were causing me chaos but I fought on, unaware for many years that the reduction in estrogen, amongst other things were not only having an affect on me but, were having an affect on my family life, career and overall health. A myriad of symptoms, changing almost on a daily basis, unpleasant as they were, connected to my ever depleting hormones.
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HAD I ONLY KNOWN! I hadn't 'joined the dots' until so much later.
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In my quest to seek out answers for myself I read, researched and learned to improve my health and managed my symptoms a bit better.
Early in my menopause journey, very little was known and women tended to just 'put up' with the changes and accepted that this was their lot. I dread to think how difficult that must have been for some. Thankfully, this is no longer the case and we have come such a long way since then.
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In hindsight, the stress of the job and working on the front line during Covid probably exacerbated my symptoms greatly. I found myself trying to get help from my GP, but sadly, there was little knowledge. I was offered anti-depressants beta-blockers and had numerous tests for some awful and scary conditions adding to a very stressful period. Eventually, I decided to step away from the career I'd worked hard for, as it was becoming apparent that I was reaching 'burnout'.
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Women DON'T have to suffer in silence, we DON'T need to navigate this journey
on our own anymore.
We SHOULN'T feel like we’re going mad or feel the heartache of being dismissed
or not being taken seriously.
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I am determined to inform, share and shout from the rooftops in support of women and, whoever else needs to hear, be it, partners, families, line managers, employers etc.
I am determined to get information, learning and knowledge out there to increase understanding and make the transition clearer and a bit easier for women.
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Are you Thinking Menopause? then I’m here to help!