'Menopause made me drink too much, since quitting I've saved £48,000'

Lindsey Beveridge had always enjoyed a drink – especially wine – but once saw her drinking spiral out of control menopause started.

She only managed to stop, she tells Metro, when she realized she was about to drink herself to death.

“I always had a somewhat problematic relationship with drinking, but that increased dramatically when I hit perimenopause,” Lindsey, 55, explains.

'I was 47 and had recently lost my mother. I think the sadness and hormonal changes had combined into some kind of mental chaos. I would grab the bottle when I woke up and then rush home from work to get a new one.

'I thought I was self-medicating, but actually I was making everything worse. It was really a physical addiction, I would go to bed and drink there just to numb the emotions I was feeling.

'I drank three bottles of white wine a day for almost six months. I probably spent hundreds of pounds on alcohol every week.”

Lindsey was working at an events company when her alcohol addiction took hold. Ultimately, she isolated herself at home as much as possible to avoid hiding her drinking from colleagues and friends. But her daughter could see what was happening to her mother – and this was the only reason why she finally managed to stop.

“I almost died,” Lindsey admits. 'My body gave up on me. But then I heard an interview on Radio 5 Live about a young girl who found her alcoholic mother dead. I was afraid the same thing would happen to my daughter. Only then did I seek recovery and the healing process began.”

Since then, Lindsey estimates she has saved around £48,000, which could otherwise have been spent on wine. She now works as nutrition specialistto help men and women make lifestyle changes to recover from trauma.

Looking back, she still feels the pain she suffered alone. Lindsey, now 55, says: 'At the time I didn't even know what perimenopause was. I didn't know how to deal with it – or if I had a valid medical reason to go to the doctor for help.'

Thousands of women in the UK drink unhealthily to control the symptoms of the disease menopause. It's a habit that one in three women say they have experienced since entering perimenopause or menopause, according to a survey conducted by Newson Health Group.

Their findings involved almost 1,200 middle-aged women and also found that one in eight regularly consume more alcohol than the recommended intake of 14 units per week to ease their menopausal symptoms.

Sue Jones tells Metro she started hiding her empties during the first closure.

The businesswoman enjoyed a glass of wine while eating, then two… and before she knew it, an entire bottle was gone.

On weekends, it was “five o'clock somewhere” around 11:30, she remembers.

Sue, 52, has an addictive personality and eventually started drinking more to numb the new hormone-induced feelings. tensionwhich were exacerbated by the stress of lockdown.

“I was a busy mom and I turned plates all my life,” she explains

“Then, about seven years ago, I woke up one morning and it was like someone had knocked me out and I fell flat. I couldn't think straight, I couldn't sleep. I started sweating at night and started having really irrational thoughts.'

Sue says she became neurotic; She worried about her children being away at night, was too afraid to get on a plane on vacation, and suddenly and inexplicably afraid to drive on the highway.

Over the years she has gained two and a half stone and having never been a heavy drinker before, she started drinking a bottle of wine and a few gin and tonics every day.

“I wanted to feel numb,” she admits. 'I felt like if I drank I might get a good night's sleep without the horrible 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 'drowned in brain fog'. She realized she needed drastic change when she started hiding empty bottles in the cupboard to hide how much she was drinking from her husband.

She gave up alcohol in 2021 – 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 realized I was fully in menopause,” Sue recalls. 'I called my mother and she confirmed that she had experienced the same thing at the age of 38, but she has never said anything about it.'

She has since managed to turn her life around after discovering a personalized hormone replacement therapy, the Bodyline Customized M Plan.

Although Sue is no longer addicted to carbohydrates and alcohol, she is able to drink again, but this time in a healthy way, enjoying a few drinks on a special occasion.

“I used to be just surviving, and now I finally feel like I'm thriving again,” she says.

Why does menopause make us drink?

It is so normal to end every evening (or earlier) with a drink,” menopause coach Lauren Chiren tells Metro. 'I figured he was a social alcoholic when I clicked at one point to see how many women did this: caffeine to get going and alcohol to stop.

“Except – it makes everything a lot worse. Our cortisol spikes, our insulin goes haywire, and the rest of our hormones are affected, causing so many disruptions.”

During middle age, women often feel stressed and short on time, and are consumed with taking care of everyone else, so reaching for the bottle becomes common, Lauren adds.

'I've spoken to customers who wonder if they have a bottle of wine in the fridge on the way home from work, or if there's ice in the freezer for their G&T, instead of thinking about preparing a nutritious meal,” she says. say. 'It just becomes their normal. Unfortunately it doesn't help much. Alcohol can cause hot flashes in some menopausal women, increase the risk of several cancers and cause harmful interactions with common medications – the consequences are far-reaching.

“One of the most common concerns I see from clients is the toll on mental health. Menopausal women are vulnerable to low mood and feelings of depression, which can be worsened by any level of alcohol consumption. There is a peak in suicidal thoughts and deaths around the age of menopause. As we delve into the complexities surrounding alcohol, women and menopause, a proactive approach to health becomes crucial.”

Candice Mason made a point of putting down her glass of wine when she discovered that alcohol made her feel worse after going through early menopause at the age of 39.

'I decided to give up alcohol when I started having anxiety attacks in my sleep and terrible sleep problems. It was horrible,” said the 41-year-old from Tring, Hertfordshire. 'The first time it happened I thought I was having a heart attack; I just couldn't breathe. It was disturbing and I just lay there and tried to calm down.”

After visiting her doctor, Candice was told she was in early menopause. But before trying medical intervention, Candice did her homework and discovered that eating better and quitting alcohol could help her manage symptoms.

Candice, founder of Mother Cuppa, adds: 'I wasn't a big 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 grip on the fear. If I had a glass of wine tonight, I can guarantee I would be up by 3am.

“Yes, there are times when you feel like you're missing something, or have a craving after a busy day, but I have to say that I feel so much better without alcohol that the trade-off has been quite easy for me.”

Lindsey adds that more needs to be done to tackle the stigma surrounding menopause And drinks.

“There's so much shame attached to both, even today,” she says. 'It's easier to isolate yourself than to seek help – that needs to change.'

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