The Portsmouth menopause mentor who's changing perspectivesÂ

It can be daunting, bewildering, isolating, and take a huge physical and emotional toll. 

For those who don't know, the menopause is defined as occurring 12 months after a  woman's last menstrual period, and can no longer get pregnant naturally. 

For some, it's straightforward but for others the peri-menopause '“ the lead-up to menopause '“  can last 10 years, or even more.

And Louise Bowditch should know. She has been going through it for four years.

The 51-year-old, from Wickham, feels the menopause is still treated as a taboo subject, that women going through it are overlooked.

So she's taken matters into her own hands and become a menopause mentor. 

Her new business, The M Word, '˜helps women navigate through the mid-life muddle'. 

Here the mother-of-three explains what made her go for it.

Louise says: '˜I had suffered with anxiety before but it suddenly came back with a vengeance. 

'˜On one particular night I was awake all night with this awful anxious feeling.

'˜I had no idea where it came from or what I was anxious about.

'˜It was only really after I had done a lot of research that I realised it was the menopause.'

Louise says people don't talk about the mental health problems the rapid drop levels of oestrogen and progesterone can cause. 

'˜Once the anxiety arrived it never really left,' says Louise. 

'˜It came and just sat on my shoulder. I wondered if I was having some sort of mental health breakdown.

'˜There was no information out there to help me link it to the menopause, I had to find that out myself.'

It was that lack of information, and the widely-held view that you shouldn't talk or complain about going through the menopause, which led Louise to start her business. 

She says: '˜The problem is that the menopause is still a taboo, we talk about everything else but we don't talk about that. 

'˜That's why I called my business The M Word.

'˜You're not supposed to say it out loud. It has connotations of crotchety, sweaty old women who are angry, dried up, shrivelled up and have nothing to contribute to society anymore. 

'˜Unfortunately that view has been perpetuated by comedians like the late Les Dawson and Jim Davidson with their mother-in-law jokes.

'˜I'm not an ardent feminist, and I don't want to burn my bra, but along with the #Metoo campaign, we have to change the way we view the menopause.'

Over the years Louise has had a number of businesses, including a florist and a photography partnership with her husband Mark. 

And she says she felt a sense of failure when the businesses ended '“ although they were successful at the time '“ which was exacerbated when the peri-menopause began. 

But as she researched the menopause, she saw helping other women through it as a calling.

She says: '˜Because I couldn't find the help and support I needed, and because I was unhappy doing what I was doing, I decided to do something that would make a real difference. 

'˜It feels as if this is what I was always looking for.' 

Louise is not a trained therapist, but a coach.

She signposts women to places and people who can help them through the menopause '“ such as homeopaths. 

'˜Having gone through the process, stumbling and tripping up along the way', says Louise, '˜I researched as much information as I could until something stuck. 

'˜I gathered up everything I've learned and put it together in a 12-week programme so I can talk other women through the process and find the essences of their feelings of being lost. 

'˜My aim is to change their mindset, give them their confidence back. Rather than seeing it as a negative, it is a time of liberation.'

Louise continues: '˜This is the start of a movement, a sisterhood, to embrace our changing bodies, to stop us hiding and bust the myth that menopausal women are past our prime.

'˜It's time to rebel against society's negative view of the menopause, look at it through new eyes and make it work for us, not against us.

'˜Because who said the menopause should leave us in a hot mess?'

A fan for hot flushes to spark conversations 

They are brought on by changes in hormone levels which control temperature causing a surge in heat through the body and profuse sweating.

It's enormously embarrassing for sufferers but Louise has designed a fan which embraces it. 

The Fan Fatale is bright and bold to encourage conversations and made from 100 per cent eco-friendly cotton with the words HOT STUFF.

Louise is now crowd-funding to produce the fans. 

She says: '˜Hot flushes can be incredibly difficult to deal with and they leave you feeling embarrassed and vulnerable.

'˜I have experienced them while in meetings and in shops. You feel like you're burning from the inside out and it can engulf you.

'˜You can feel the beads of sweat forming and then running down your body.  

'˜I wanted to create a hand fan that not only keeps women cool but keeps them looking cool too and will hopefully provide some inspiration.'

To donate to the Fan Fatale production, go to igg.me/at/fanfatale. Visit Louise's website at louisebowditch.com.