Menopause: When Even Your Skin Has Mood Swings

Hot Flushes, Brain Fog & Laugh-Wee: My Menopause Story

From Laugh-Wee to Witch Trials – A Menopause Reality Check

Menopause – The Change No One Warned Us About!

Let’s be honest, menopause isn’t something most of us are prepared for. And while this blog will mainly be about women, I can’t help but mention that men don’t exactly get away scot-free either. For them, it’s called a “midlife crisis.” You know the drill — suddenly buying a Porsche, taking up the gym, or worse still, trading you in for a younger model. It’s their way of trying not to feel old.

For us women though? We don’t get shiny sports cars or new wardrobes. We just get on with it. And boy, do we go through changes!

For many women it starts gradually — you forget things, feel irritable, anxious, or even angry for no reason. For others (like me), it can come like a thunderbolt. I had surgery to remove my womb, ovaries, and cervix. Overnight, I was thrown into surgical menopause. One week I felt like myself, the next week I didn’t recognise who I was anymore.

I put on a stone and a half in weight almost instantly, no matter what I did I couldn’t shift it. Anxiety became my constant companion. I didn’t want to socialise, which is tricky when your job is all about people. Trying to explain to my husband was hard — he tried to understand, bless him, but how can someone truly “get it” when you don’t even understand it yourself? Hormones can completely change you, almost like someone swapped your personality without asking.

And here’s the thing — the physical menopause itself (when your periods stop) may be over in weeks, but the hormonal chaos it sets off can last years. I’m nine years on from my op, and only just starting to feel a little bit like my old self again.

The Science Bit – What’s Really Happening in Menopause

Menopause happens when your ovaries stop producing eggs and, with that, they dramatically reduce the production of two key hormones: oestrogen and progesterone. These hormones don’t just control your cycle — they influence your whole body.

• Oestrogen affects your brain, skin, bones, heart, bladder, and more. When levels drop, it can cause hot flushes, night sweats, vaginal dryness, thinning hair, memory problems, and mood swings.

• Progesterone is calming and balancing, so when that falls, it can leave you feeling anxious, irritable, and on edge.

• Some women also experience changes in testosterone (yes, women have it too), which can affect libido, energy, and muscle strength.

The brain is one of the biggest battlegrounds. Oestrogen influences how your brain processes serotonin and dopamine — the “happy” and “calm” chemicals. When oestrogen plummets, it’s like someone dimmed the lights in your brain. That’s why so many women report brain fog, forgetfulness, anxiety, and even depression.

Your metabolism also slows down. Oestrogen helps regulate how your body stores fat, so when it drops, fat is more likely to settle around your middle. Pair that with reduced muscle mass (another side effect of falling hormones), and suddenly weight gain feels almost unavoidable.

When Your Body Feels Like It’s Aged Overnight

It wasn’t just my brain that stopped working — my skin and hair completely changed too. I looked in the mirror and felt like I’d aged overnight. Why? Because oestrogen is a big player in how youthful our skin looks.

• Skin: Oestrogen boosts collagen and elastin production. Without it, skin becomes thinner, drier, and loses its bounce, so lines and wrinkles show up faster.

• Hair: Falling hormones can mean hair shedding, thinning, or becoming more brittle.

• Hydration: Lower oestrogen means the skin struggles to hold onto water, so that plump, fresh look disappears.

This is where Devine Skin can be such an asset. With the right treatments and skincare, we can help your skin feel alive again — boosting hydration, stimulating collagen, and restoring some of that glow that menopause seems determined to steal. Think of it as reclaiming “you” from the inside out.

And Then There’s The Bladder…

Now let’s get really honest. After my op, I had to start wearing “pee pee pants.” And not just because of the occasional giggle leak. Laughing wee I can live with — that’s just tears of laughter running down your legs! But when it happens for no reason at all? That’s not funny.

It makes you feel self-conscious, old, worried about smell, and just… not yourself. And yet, it’s such a common part of menopause that nobody really talks about. Oestrogen supports the bladder and pelvic floor too, so when it drops, continence can become a challenge.

The good news? You’re not alone, it can be managed, and there are treatments, exercises, and lifestyle changes that make a big difference. Talking about it is the first step.

HRT, History & A Little Rant

Now here’s something important: if you can take HRT, bloody take it. Not just for the hot flushes and mood swings, but for your bones, collagen, skin, and long-term health. It’s protective in ways most women don’t even realise.

If, like me, you can’t take it — I’m sorry, because it does mean we unfortunately age faster. Cruel but true.

And here’s the other thing: this is not some “new” trend. It’s about time people are finally talking about menopause openly. For years women were never taken seriously. Go back a hundred years (ok, maybe not quite a hundred), and if a woman started showing the symptoms of menopause, she risked being sent to an asylum. Before that? Men were declaring their wives “mad” or even accusing them of being witches — sometimes burning them alive. Not saying we’re not a little witchy at times, but really… history has a lot to answer for!

So Where Does That Leave Us?

The truth is, everyone’s menopause is different. Some women breeze through with barely a hot flush. Others (like me) feel like they’ve been hit by a truck. Whether it’s natural or surgical menopause, with or without HRT, it can be one of the most challenging times in a woman’s life.

But here’s the glimmer of hope: it does get better. Slowly, your body adapts to its new hormone levels, and you start to feel like yourself again — maybe not exactly the same, but stronger for having weathered the storm.

And if your skin, confidence, and sense of self need a little TLC along the way, Devine Skin is here to help you feel like you again.

Because let’s face it: if men can splash out on sports cars and call it a crisis, then surely we deserve collagen, confidence, and the right to laugh-wee without shame.