Delayed empty nest syndrome

dearest wish!

I agree with 4allweknow. I think that the empty nest feeling isn’t to do with menopause. I miss my son and grandchildren dreadfully and they live half way across the world. I wish my daughter had a similar fulfilling life but, since the age of 12 (she is now in her 30s) she has been almost bed ridden with ME. My dreariest wish is that some day she will be well enough to leave home and have her independence.
I know this might sound unfeeling but if your children are healthy and are enjoying life be grateful !

You are only feeling what most parents feel when their offspring have flown the nest, nothing to do with the menopause. I had 3 children in my 20s. My DD left for Uni and two years later my twin sons left. Talk about empty nest. Such a change to my life. I kept in touch by phone and the occasional meet up. At end of term time no-one came home apart from a quick visit at Christmas, they all holiday jobs. After Uni they all scattered even further afield so my children basically left hone at 18. GC are many miles away. You will survive, finding new interests, perhaps travel a bit and of course you will still have contact with your family no matter how far away they may be. It's not the menopause - it's life!

Menopause - hot flushes, mood swings, very tearful days, etc etc - all this when we are waving goodbye to our children (for the first time maybe) who are leaving for university or getting married or just flying the nest. It is hardly surprising you feel the way you do, I'm sure many of us have felt or feel the same. you are not alone nor are you going mad. Try to find things that are just for you, take up a new hobby or something that will occupy your mind. We are all with you on this.

It's so hard when you get these feelings. I think that while the whole menopause issue is widely debated, the empty nest is swept under the carpet. All one can do is battle on - I never thought I'd suffer from empty nest but have had had two episodes of it - the first when my daughter moved out and was about two and a half hours away. She then moved home a few years later for about six months. I then had another bout of it after she married and contact was much diminished. We lived about an hour and a half away from her at this point. We were like you, we lived in a beautiful area of the country and had a lovely home and garden. But I was so unhappy. I even considered going back to work (I was retired by this point), had lovely longstanding friends, but nothing helped. My daughter was an only child, (I had her in my thirties) and it was so hard to see the in-laws take over (they lived much nearer) - even to the stage of going on holidays abroad with them. It wasn't ever a money thing - we have been very generous towards them.

Then one day I drove to meet her for coffee - and she said how much she missed us and would we consider moving? I had misread the situation and hadn't realised how she had been feeling about not seeing us often. The upshot was that last year we moved nearer - we're about half an hour away now. It's great - and we now see our grandson who was born around the time we moved.

There's no easy answer for these issues, but as others have said, be kind to yourself. Try and find some nice distractions.

Menopause can make you feel all sorts of things - use all sorts of alternative therapies and see what helps. I sympathise with the late empty nest. I wasn’t particularly maternal as a young mum but now I’m sixty and the empty nest feeling has kicked in big time! Thank heavens for FaceTime - I know it’s not quite the same as visiting but it keeps you feeling close.

There is a wonderful menopause Dr online she gives great advise and has just set up a platform for you to seek help/ advise etc. It’s called Balance by Louise Newson. Definitely worth a look.

Foxglove menopause is a strange landscape.
Be kind to yourself. ?

Yes Foxglove wait when you have grandchildren and you go through all those stages again!

That should be I had my children in my early 20's.