Menopause - how did it affect your sleep??

Thinning hair can also be a sign of a thyroid problem, so might be worth getting that checked?

I think I might be perimenopausal. Nothing I can't deal with but I don't sleep so well. Not sure if that is hormonal or due to high levels of stress. I take some herbal remedies but still have problems with wakefulness earlier than ideal.

Sorry Wildstrawberry I don’t think thinning hair has anything to do with the menopause, more to do with age. I am basing that on having been on oestrogen for 31 years but in the last 3 years my hair has thinned considerably.

I am coping with the menopause ( not really) I have the hot flushes that originate somewhere in my core, bad sleep, fatigue, and worst of all my hair is very thin ( used to have lovely thick hair) and falling out, worrying about ending up bold.
I am going to try HRT and would like to know if it worked for you, especially if your hair problems improved?

Very pleased for the people who this doesn't seem to effect. I used HRT for about 6 years. I really couldn't have survived the lack of sleep, hot flushes etc, while still working. Weighing up the pros and cons I'd probably do the same again.

Since menopause I have not had the quality sleep I used to enjoy before. I get panic attacks just as I settle down to sleep so then I’m wide awake again. I can wake up in the night with panics and/or sweats. I have horrible thoughts running through my mind. I feel trepidation. I feel horrible.

Menopause does not really affect me, and I consider myself really lucky, both my mum and sister had very light symptoms, the very occasional hot flush, but that does not cause any difficulties for me. I take herbal remedies for the menopause and practice Yoga twice a day.

I must have been very lucky - it didn't affect my sleep at all (DH says nothing would!)

My menopause was kicked off with insomnia. I didn’t know it was that though, as it was a couple of years before changes to my periods. Now, on the other side, I’m fine. I’ve had symptoms come and go, which is why I didn’t want HRT. I would never have known if that was working, or whether the symptoms would have gone away on their own anyway. How can you tell if you’ve always been on it? Preferred not to take the risk.

I haven't slept properly since menopause - sometimes hot, throwing off the duvet - then cold and so it goes on through the night!

No change, still can’t sleep!

I haven't slept properly since the hot flushes started 14 years ago. Night sweats woke me frequently and I now just can't sleep for more than a couple of hours at a time. Sometimes I get straight back to sleep, sometimes not. 5 hours last night.

Sleep has worsened since the onset of the menopause, not requiring as much sleep, waking incredibly hot from the furness inside me, and having forgetfulness.

Restless legs, hot flushes and low level anxiety. HRT really helped, I've been on it now for 4 years and not considering stopping. Still get some symptoms, I think HRT lowers them, rather than removing them completely. I'm a really light sleeper who needs complete quiet and darkness. I find that I now get to sleep ok but wake up really early but much prefer that to not being able to get to sleep!

Menopause gave me two years of dreadful insomnia. It wasn’t pleasant but I was fortunate to avoid any other symptoms so think I got off lightly. Ten years on, I sleep like the proverbial log.?

I had no symptoms no hot flushes so I wasn't adversely affected by the change, I slept well. I was one of the lucky ones sailing through the menopause

Yes it did, hot sweats, waking up really early.

I wish that HRT was the magic solution for me, just as many of you have posted. I have been on HRT for almost 5 years and my doctor has tried various permutations, but it has made no difference to me at all. As a result of the menopause, I have been diagnosed with sleep apnoea (which apparently is commonly brought on by the menopause), and my sleep is broken / fitful / light like TerriBull. The medics can't offer me any treatment for the apnoea other than a machine and badly fitting masks that I've had to give up on as they made my sleep even worse. Every time that I moved an inch, the mask would leak and wake both myself and my DH. I tried mask liners without success. I became afraid to sleep, knowing that I would be woken up quickly and noisily. I still get hot flushes most nights, and have also been suffering with night frights during these years. Most weeks I have at least one awful nightmare / dream - and I have murdered my friends and family in so many gruesome ways that I can't count. I would love to sleep like a baby, but I feel that those days are but a distant memory as my Mom is almost 80 and still suffering with flushes that are worse than mine.
I took early retirement as I couldn't concentrate, and was having to book meeting rooms to have a nap during my lunch break, just to cope. At least during retirement I can stay in bed longer and try to get more sleep.

Definitely means I struggle to sleep well!

I'm lucky enough not to be there just yet!

The menopause seemed to send my anxiety levels rocketing out of nowhere so sleep could be very erratic to deeply troubled. Hot flushes were a problem but not as the strange sense of sudden anxiety which would come over me from nowhere.

The waking up, wide awake and in a mad sweating panic came as quite a shock!

The other thing was I found myself quite anxious and this affected my sleep as I wake up worrying about things and not be able to shake them off and get back to sleep.

I'm not on HRT but do get very hot in my bed due to my age. I don't like the bedroom too hot and am constantly pushing and pulling covers on and off all night.

I was very fortunate to have no problems at all going through the menopause.

I had terrible hot flushes that kept both myself and my husband awake. Thankfully they are not so bad now but I do still find I am often too hot at bedtime.

I had to have a full hysterectomy before I was 30 so it came as a bit of a shock to experience the symptoms of early menopause. In fact I think many of the problems I now have sleeping stem back to this time. I had horrendous hot flushes, dizziness, often everything would ache so much that I felt battered & bruised, like I'd been in a fight or something. My mood swings were extreme (my better half said I was a massive nightmare!), it took about 2 or 3 years of trying different HRT to get anything that sort of helped (tried different pills, patches, think I even had some injections) - finally found one that seemed to suit me. Most symptoms eased but sleep remained problematic. I have very little energy but have complex health problems so it's hard to point to any one thing that is to blame for sleep problems - I think it is the combination of life, stress, illness, medication etc. On another note, in the last few years I've had similar but not as extreme symptoms, and have discussed with my GP if it's possible I could be experiencing something like menopause again now I'm nearer the age it would normally happen - unclear and due to lockdown not been chased up, yet.