Fareham mum uses open water swimming to ease her 'frustrating' pre-menopause symptoms

When Sophie Cartledge started experiencing ‘extreme’ changes in her emotions in 2020 doctors recommended she either start anti-depressants or use a different contraceptive pill.

But Sophie, 42, knew something else was wrong. ‘I first started getting real feelings of rage about a week before my period,’ she said.

‘I’m usually quite a chilled out person. It then got worse and I would feel really low, and I’d be crying on the way to work or when taking the children to school.

‘I told my doctor I thought it was related to my hormones but they said it couldn’t be linked to the menopause as I wasn’t experiencing hot flushes.

‘It became really unbearable. It was affecting my relationships at home and at work.’

A year later Sophie was diagnosed by a private doctor as being perimenopausal. The perimenopause is the transition period before the menopause and often begins when women are in their 40s and symptoms can also include hot flushes, difficulty sleeping, bladder problems and decreasing fertility.

She was prescribed hormone replacement therapy (HRT).

She said: ‘I felt a huge relief when I was diagnosed because it was the proof I’d been waiting for.

‘I also felt quite angry because no one tells women this happens to them – we all think it won’t really affect us until we’re in our 50s.’

Around the same time Sophie was introduced to open water swimming in Southsea by a friend.

‘I’m always cold so was worried but I went for my first swim in April and for the rest of the day it was the best I’d felt for ages,’ she said.

‘On the days I didn’t swim I’d go back to how I was feeling before.

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‘From then on I tried to go around five days a week and with the combination of the HRT it made such a huge difference.’

To help others Sophie took on a 365-day open water swimming challenge starting on January 1, 2022, with all proceeds going to the Menopause Charity. To donate visit justgiving.com/fundraising/sophie-cartledge1.

She is also now a qualified workplace menopause consultant through her company Hormones on the Blink and runs a support group for menopausal women wanting to try open water swimming on Facebook – search: ‘Hormones on the Blink - open water swimming.’

To find out more about her workshops visit hormonesontheblink.com.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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