Lindsey Beveridge had always enjoyed a drink – especially wine – but saw her alcohol consumption spiral out of control once her menopause started.
She only managed to quit, she tells Metro, when she realised that she was on the brink of drinking herself to death.
‘I had always had a somewhat problematic relationship with drinking, but it increased dramatically once I hit the perimenopause,’ explains Lindsey, 55.
‘I was 47 and had recently lost my mum. I think the grief and hormonal changes had combined into a sort of mental chaos. I’d reach for the bottle when I woke up then rush home from work to get another.
‘I thought I was self medicating but, really, I was making everything worse. It really was a physical addiction, I’d get into bed and drink there just to numb the emotions I was feeling.
‘For nearly six months, I was drinking three bottles of white wine a day. I probably spent hundreds each week on alcohol.’
Lindsey worked at an event company when her alcohol addiction took hold. She eventually isolated herself as much as possible at home to avoid hiding her drinking habit from colleagues and friends. But her daughter could see what was happening to her mum – and was the sole reason she managed to eventually quit.
‘I was close to death,’ Lindsey admits. ‘My body was giving up on me. But then I heard an interview on Radio 5 Live, about a young girl who found her alcoholic mum dead. I feared the same thing would happen to my daughter. It was only then that I sought out recovery and began the healing process.’
Since then, Lindsey reckons she’s saved around £48,000 which could have otherwise gone on wine. She now works as a nutritional specialist, helping men and women make lifestyle changes to recover from trauma.
Looking back, she still feels pain that she suffered alone. Lindsey, now 55, says: ‘At the time, I didn’t even know what the perimenopause was. I didn’t know how to cope – or that I had a valid medical reason to go to the doctor for help.’
Thousands of women across the UK are drinking unhealthily to manage the symptoms of the menopause. It’s a habit one in three women say they’ve experienced since becoming perimenopausal or menopausal, according to a study conducted by Newson Health Group.
Their findings involved almost 1,200 midlife women and also revealed that one in eight regularly consume more alcohol than the recommended intake of 14 units a week to alleviate their menopause symptoms.
Sue Jones tells Metro that she started hiding her empties during the first lockdown.
The businesswoman would enjoy a glass of wine while making dinner, then two… then before she knew it a whole bottle had gone.
On the weekend, by 11:30am it would be ‘five o’clock somewhere’, she remembers.
Sue, 52, has an addictive personality, and ended up drinking moreto numb the new feelings of hormonal-induced anxiety, which were being exacerbated by the stress of lockdown.
‘I was a busy mum and I have been spinning plates all my life,’ she explains
‘Then all of a sudden about seven years ago, I woke up one morning and it was like somebody had switched me off and I fell flat. I couldn’t think clearly, I wasn’t sleeping. I was having hot sweats at night and I started to have really irrational thoughts.’
Sue says she became neurotic; worrying about her kids being out at night, too scared to get on a plane for a holiday and suddenly and inexplicably frightened of driving on the motorway.
Over the years she put on two and a half stone and having never been a heavy drinker before, started drinking up to a bottle of wine and a couple of gin and tonics each day.
‘I wanted to feel numb,’ she admits. ‘I felt like if I drank, maybe I would get a good night’s sleep and not have the terrible anxiety. I thought it would knock me out – but it didn’t. It made things ten times worse.’
Meanwhile Sue was desperately sad, insecure, anxious, and ‘drowning in brain fog’. She realised she needed drastic change when she started hiding empty bottles in the cupboard to conceal how much she was drinking from her husband.
In 2021, she gave up alcohol – but says she only discovered the true cause of her drinking after another sweaty night of anxiety, she googled her symptoms and put two and two together.
‘I realised I was fully menopausal,’ remembers Sue. ‘I rang my mum who confirmed she had been through the same thing at 38 – but she’s never mentioned a thing before.’
Since then, she’s managed to turn her life around after discovering a personalised hormone replacement therapy treatment called the Bodyline bespoke M Plan.
Although Sue no longer binges on carbs and alcohol, she’s able to drink again, but this time healthily, enjoying a glass of fizz or two on a special occasion.
‘Before, I was just surviving, and now I finally feel I’m thriving again,’ she says.
Why does menopause make us drink?
It is so normal to switch off each night (or earlier) with a glass of something,’ menopause coach Lauren Chiren tells Metro. ‘I coined it being a social alcoholic at one point when I clicked just how many women were doing this – caffeine to get going and alcohol to stop.
‘Except – it makes everything a lot worse. Our cortisol spikes, our insulin goes crazy and the rest of our hormones are impacted causing so many disruptions.’
During midlife, women often feel stressed and time poor and they are consumed by looking after everyone else, so it becomes very normal to reach for the bottle, Lauren adds.
‘I have spoken to clients who will think about whether they have a bottle of wine in the fridge on their way home from work, or if there is ice in the freezer for their G&T, rather than think about preparing a nutritious meal,’ she says. ‘It just becomes their normal. Sadly, it does little to help. Alcohol for some menopausal women can trigger hot flashes, may increase the risks of various cancers, and can cause harmful interactions with common medications – the consequences are far-reaching.
‘One of the most common concerns I see in clients is the toll on mental health. Menopausal women are vulnerable to low mood and depressive feelings which can be exacerbated by any level of alcohol intake. There is a spike in suicide ideation and death by suicide around the age of menopause. As we delve into the complexities surrounding alcohol, women, and menopause, a proactive approach to health becomes pivotal.’
Candice Mason made a point of putting down her glass of wine when she discovered the alcohol was making her feel worse, after she went through early menopause at the age of 39.
‘I decided to cut alcohol out when I started getting anxiety attacks in my sleep and terrible sleep issues. It was horrible,’ says the 41-year-old from Tring, Hertfordshire. ‘The first time it happened I thought I was having a heart attack; I just couldn’t get my breath. It was distressing and I would just lie there trying to calm down.’
After a visit to her GP, Candice was told she was in early menopause. But before trying medical intervention, Candice did her homework and found that eating better and giving up alcohol could help her manage the symptoms.
Candice, founder of Mother Cuppa, adds: ‘I wasn’t a huge drinker, but I did enjoy half a bottle to a bottle of wine a night. So giving up made a huge difference. Within a week I was sleeping better and feeling better. It allowed me to get a hold on the anxiety. If I had a glass of wine tonight, I can guarantee I would be up at three in the morning.
‘Yes – there are moment of feeling like you’re missing out or a craving after a busy day but I have to say, I feel so much better without alcohol that the swap has been pretty easy for me.’
Lindsey adds that more needs to be done to tackle the stigma surrounding the menopause and drinking.
‘There’s so much shame attached to both, even today,’ she says. ‘It’s easier to isolate yourself than get help – that needs to change.’
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