In the Mail Newspaper last Saturday (11 May 2019} the TV presenter Ulrika Johnson gave an honest view of how the onset of the menopause affected her and her family. She openly said she thought was had the early onset of dementia, she gave an example, she wanted her son to collect her cardigan from upstairs, she said she had the picture I her mind of what she wanted and could not get the words out. A simple thing like that made her doubt her own mind. She said she became anxious and felt protective towards her children. It was not until she mentioned this to her mum that she was able to start to feel in control again. Her mother said she had experienced similar feelings when she went through the menopause. I have read a lot on this website about women feeling as if they are well and truly loosing control of their life which in turns leads to anxiety. When I was going through the menopause I woke up each morning with an irrational fear about not getting through the day at work, even though my daily routine at work always went fairly smoothly. Yes it is about time women spoke about this stage of womanhood. It should not be the butt of jokes about sweating hot flushes and shove her on HRT she'll be OK. The problems of the menopause should be part of live events taught in schools alongside relationship issues. Boys and girls should be made aware of hormonal changes not just in teenage years and pregnancy, but also mid life changes. Although for young people this is a long way off they may have contact with family members of middle age, and some knowledge may help them understand this a little better, in the same was the more mature generations need to understand the problems young people face. Lets keep talking about this and maybe everyone will become more aware. Well done to the BBC and all who are promoting this issue.