What doesn't get explained enough is how one woman's menopause symptoms can be manageable, whilst another's can be downright frightening.

Unfortunately, Jules found herself on the far side of the symptoms spectrum. Much like her mother and her sister before her, Jules' perimenopause symptoms started with hot flushes and feeling generally poorly and low.

She assumed that this was going to be it for her too and didn’t give it too much more thought. Then things started to deteriorate. "An inexplicable feeling of anxiety and sense of doom had moved in, and I generally thought I was going mad. It was really scary as I felt my sense of reality was starting to slip away from me and I had no idea why."

Navigating the challenges of insomnia and emotional turmoil during menopause

Jules struggled through the first year, hoping that things would improve but then the most chronic insomnia started. "I can honestly say, after being a pretty good sleeper all my life, that I could count on one hand each full night’s sleep I got in 12 months. The sleep deprivation led to endless frustration with just about every aspect of my life: my marriage, my family, my work, my animals and just a feeling of being totally overwhelmed with normal day to day chores that had never phased me before. The feeling of losing my sanity was really starting to worry me now. What on earth was happening to the happy-go-lucky, full of life woman I once was? Where had she gone?"

"Everything felt like it was getting on top of me, and I could no longer cope with just getting through the day. I even felt mildly psychotic at one point with my moods spinning on a penny. One minute I would be absolutely fine and then - with no rhyme nor reason - everything changed and I was positively murderous. My poor husband just used to retreat into his shed and keep out of my way, also not understanding where his once measured and fun wife had disappeared to."

"Speaking to my doctors and having suffered from depression in the past, I was worried about going back on to antidepressants. The withdrawal had proven almost harder than the depression, so that was not an option for me. People spoke of HRT, but as a vegan HRT was morally and ethically not something I would consider. Over the years, I had come to realise that big pharma drugs were never a long-term solution to emotional problems. There had to be another way."

Jules was offered the opportunity of trying a Supplement with a difference called LYMA. She instantly took up the offer but, with her mood as low as it was, she was understandably sceptical and somewhat unenthusiastic. "How wrong I was. Within a matter of a week or so I started to actually dream again. I was waking up in the night, but the quality of the sleep that I was getting was the kind that you get in your 20’s. I was suddenly getting the full range of sleep, which meant I woke up feeling refreshed regardless of how many hours I got."

"People underestimate the power of great sleep. When you lay awake at night, it is one of the loneliest things on earth. Everything is magnified, and all your anxieties, worries, problems spill over into the following day. I was no longer waking up with a sense of dread for the day ahead. In fact, I was actually looking forward to it. My anxiety was slipping away, and with it the depression was lifting."

"Before taking LYMA, I was also convinced I was becoming mildly agoraphobic. Now, I was so much more confident about heading out and meeting up with friends and even doing the everyday chores like going to the supermarket."

"My hot flushes had gone from every other night to twice a month, which was amazing, and as I entered into my second and third month of taking LYMA I noticed an incredible improvement in the quality of my nails and hair. My nails had gone from being dull and brittle to glossy and stronger, and my hair had stopped being flat and breaking off and was shiny and finally growing again! This all led me to feel so much better about myself as a woman."