MEET THE AUTHOR - RUTH DEVLIN: MEN - LET'S TALK MENOPAUSE

Ruth Devlin, is a trained nurse, who was astonished when she found herself facing a multitude of perimenopausal symptoms in her mid forties, there was so little information available and so many contradictions between the various health care professionals. Her response was to set up Let’s Talk Menopause.... then write Men ... Let's Talk Menopause.

Ruth Tell's us a little more

Where are you on your Pausal journey?

Very much post menopausal

At what age do you feel you began going through Perimenopause ?

During my early to mid forties. 

What have you found most challenging ?

I found the emotional symptoms/mood swings and extremely heavy periods the hardest symptoms to cope with - both draining but in different ways and both very distracting in every day life so once I had those sorted life was alot easier! 

What has helped you going through Menopause ?

Being informed and making sure I have all my lifestyle choices covered…diet, exercise, hydration keeping an eye on caffeine & alcohol levels & relaxation and then also being on a small amount of HRT but never forgetting that you still need to look after your lifestyle choices. 

What inspired you to write this book?

Whilst doing regular talks, a frequent comment from those attending the talks would be the lack of men attending and also comments such as …'I wish my partner, husband, manager could hear this information'. So I thought a small pocket sized book packed with information might help - as well as being relevant for women too. 

Tell us a little about your book …. 

Before I wrote my book I decided a little research would be good so sent out a questionnaire to various male friends, colleagues and family to gain an insight into their thoughts and if they thought they would find it beneficial - it was a resounding yes please! It was also interesting the speed with which those comments came back. 

My aim was to keep the book small and easy to read but packed with useful information - I have been told that you can speed read it in just over an hour but you can also easily dip in and out of topics that you’re more interested in. There’s a useful check list at the back and resources as well. 

Has your perspective changed as a result of writing the book?

Not really - everyone needs to understand this topic not just women, which is important with any health condition, but I think especially with the menopause as, not to state the obvious, every woman will go through the menopause. Obviously with very differing experiences, but some people might need a little more support than others, whether that’s at home or within the workplace and if those supporting have a little more insight into why symptoms are occurring and the potential ways to help those symptoms then it’s a no brainer really to become more informed regardless of your age or gender.

That includes the younger generations as well…the more prepared you are for any stage in life the better. I do many male only talks within organisations as well as talks for women/mixed genders…they are always well attended and interactive! 

How have other women or other readers responded to the way you cover menopause ?

Extremely positively! We regularly receive such lovely positive feedback which is incredibly rewarding. Examples can be found on the website www.letstalkmenopause.co.uk 

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