When Natalie started having trouble remembering and finding words, she didn’t recognise it as a symptom of perimenopause.
Then within a year of having a hysterectomy at age 40 and feeling like “life is awful”, a health professional suggested to Natalie that she may perimenopausal.
Around this time, she was also experiencing fatigue, joint aches and pains, headaches and burning feet.
Working as a nurse in rural health, Natalie says trouble with her memory was most concerning.
“I was asking myself, ‘Is this what early onset dementia looks like?’. And you don’t want to hear from your nurse that they have brain fog, do you?”
She says she and some other female colleagues even discussed whether they would have to change careers or leave intensive care nursing because of these issues.
Natalie eventually went on Menopausal Hormone Therapy (MHT) for a few years and stopped once she felt she was on top of things.
However, after being diagnosed with an autoimmune condition at the beginning of 2026, she started experiencing joint pain, fatigue, brain fog and hot flushes again, along with mood swings and anxiety.
Natalie has started back on MHT and says she feels ‘human again’.
“I literally thought of resigning because I couldn’t cope with work – with anything. I was melting down and feeling so anxious, but within 2 weeks of starting MHT again, I was feeling like myself. I was back to being me.”
