Emma Bunton has revealed that she initially mistook the onset of perimenopause for pandemic-related anxiety.
Speaking to YOU magazine over the weekend, the former Spice Girl, who's 45, explained that she has entered the transition stage before menopause – and 'cried her eyes out' when she found out that it may be too late to have a third child.
The mum-of-two described how she started to feel 'unbalanced and anxious' before seeking help to find out what was going on.
'At first I put it down to the pandemic,' she said. 'But then the anxiety became more regular, until it was daily.'
She continued: 'I was also lethargic. Something wasn't right. I looked up the symptoms and saw I had quite a few. So I spoke to someone on Zoom who came to the same conclusion. I was perimenopausal.'
Perimenopause occurs several years before menopause and is when the ovaries start to produce less of the female sex hormone oestrogen. Some of the symptoms women experience include hot flushes, brain fog, lower sex drive, fatigue, irregular periods and vaginal dryness or discomfort during sex.
Emma said: 'It's been a very weird time. I'm a very mumsy person – when I see my friends' babies, I always become broody. But now I thought, "OK, this is it?"'
She also explained that she is now on a low dose of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to help manage the symptoms.
But Emma isn't the only celeb to have mistaken her perimenopause symptoms for something else. Gabby Logan has previously spoken about the shock she felt after discovering her lack of energy and dry skin were symptoms of the perimenopause.
Speaking on the Going for Goal podcast back in February, the 47-year-old TV presenter said she found out her hormone levels had dropped dramatically after a doctor requested she take a blood test last year.
Logan said she hadn't been 'feeling like the best version' of herself for a few months prior to the test – often finding herself falling asleep at 3pm.
'It's such a steady kind of feeling, that you don't notice almost that your energy might have dropped off,' she said, adding: 'I went and had my bloods done for the first time, in terms of hormone checking, and basically, I’m probably never going to have a period again, so I’m almost through that part of my life, because I’d had IVF, she [the doctor] explained the menopause can come earlier, and I also didn’t know that.'
For information on perimenopause and menopause visit the NHS website or visit your GP if you're struggling any of the issues mentioned in this feature.
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