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[2cats]

Totally agree about being less tolerant of noise and crowded places - both things that would never have worried me before meno.. 

First noticed it in a crowded, hot restaurant in Paris for my anniversary - somewhere my husband booked especially - I sat down and within minutes was sweating and anxious and needed to leave urgently. The noise of people chattering felt like it was magnifying in my head!
Didn't know what the hell was wrong with me at the time - diagnosed with early meno a few months later after I'd just about had a complete meltdown!
Best thing is to take small steps to be able to visit busy, noisy places and to have a method you like to use to help calm yourself.  I carry cards with helpful statements about anxiety which remind me that it cannot hurt me etc.

[Dippie]

It's easier for me to leave the house without the kiddo (6 years old, born when I was 43) which kind of defeats the whole purpose because the kid needs to get out more than I do.

Thank (insert diety of your choice) for my sitters! I literally never left my now adult kids until they were old enough to stay home alone, but that's just not an option for this little guy, nor is the screen-free life.

I hope his peers think he's retro-cool instead of weird. I can handle The Brady Bunch and The Muppet Show, but Caillou or Dora would make me dangerous to myself and others.

[Kristy]

Totally agree about being less tolerant of noise and crowded places - both things that would never have worried me before meno.. 

First noticed it in a crowded, hot restaurant in Paris for my anniversary - somewhere my husband booked especially - I sat down and within minutes was sweating and anxious and needed to leave urgently. The noise of people chattering felt like it was magnifying in my head!
Didn't know what the hell was wrong with me at the time - diagnosed with early meno a few months later after I'd just about had a complete meltdown!
Best thing is to take small steps to be able to visit busy, noisy places and to have a method you like to use to help calm yourself.  I carry cards with helpful statements about anxiety which remind me that it cannot hurt me etc.

2cats, this is very much how I felt at the crowded restaurant last week. Another place that I find hard work these days is shopping malls, especially at weekends. I used to love the hustle and bustle of them at one time and now I can't understand how I felt that way!
So, I limit my visits to them to maybe once a month, get what I need, then get out before it gets too much. The rest I do online.
Thanks for your input everyone, it's nice to know I'm not alone.

[2cats]

You're definitely not alone Kristy!
I really would like to visit London again as have not been there since the meno symptoms became too much of a problem...but I saw images of it on tv last night and the manic rushing of traffic and people really put me off!!  I think I'd have to take a valium to be able to cope....
Shopping malls make my head feel really weird too but I don't have to go in them very often but when I do, I try to make sure I'm not tired (which always makes my anxiety worse). 
The difference now is that I may get a wave of anxiety come over me but generally I know how to deal with it whilst it passes (though not always!). 
Try to keep eating out etc as this will retrain your mind that there is nothing to be scared of....good luck x

[honeybun]

I hate shopping centres. Too closed in, too warm and too busy. I feel better if I can see an exit but that's not always possible.
Why is anxiety so unpredictable and why do you always feel better on the way home rather than on the way there.
Anxiety makes you so damned tired too.

Ok that's my moan over 


Honeyb
x

[CLKD]

Perhaps because home is 'safe' where we don't have to justify ourselves?  Although home isn't safe for me any more re anxiety   

After a bad attack I could sleep for England ……..

I can't watch the athletics on TV any more because of the constant noise, le Tour is getting me down too