Belinda Carlisle: I had up to 40 hot flushes A DAY

Belinda Carlisle reveals she had up to 40 hot flushes a day

AS ANY menopausal woman can tell you, hot flushes and mood swings can strike without warning and with the most inappropriate timing. But for singer Belinda Carlisle, going through "the change" meant suffering unpleasant symptoms on stage, in front of packed audiences.

"For a long time I was in denial about the menopause because my mother had horrendous symptoms and I never wanted to go through anything like that," says US-born Belinda, 57, who found worldwide fame with Eighties girl band the Go-Go's and later had solo hits with Circle In The Sand and Heaven Is A Place On Earth.

"But when I was 51 the most terrible hot flushes hit me. I'd have up to 40 a day. I went from looking fine one minute to being completely soaked with sweat the next.

It looked horrible and it was incredibly embarrassing.

"So I carried tissues and a change of clothes everywhere with me, either in my car or my bag and so if I was suddenly drenched in sweat I could get changed quickly.

For a long time I was in denial about the menopause because my mother had horrendous symptoms and I never wanted to go through anything like that

Belinda Carlisle, singer

"But I remember being on stage in Australia and during the very first song I had the most appalling hot flush. All of a sudden I was drenched in sweat and everything was soaked and I just had to carry on. I couldn't rush off stage after one song."

Belinda also suffered from disturbed sleep and night sweats. "I'd wake up in the night and the bed would be wet," she says. "Having broken sleep meant I'd never feel rested which was no fun, although I could cope. But the hot flushes in public were horrible.

"I'd feel moody, too, as though someone was revving my motor. I'm not naturally a moody person so that was horrible. I just felt wound up all the time."

Most women start to experience symptoms in their 40s although the menopause occurs at an average age of 51 in the UK, when the ovaries start to produce less of the hormone oestrogen. At the same time levels of progesterone and testosterone drop too.

 



Belinda, bottom left, with her band the Go-Go's in 2001



Oestrogen affects the hypothalamus, the part of the brain that controls body temperature. A lack of oestrogen can also lead to vaginal dryness, brittle bones (osteoporosis) and cardiovascular disease.

About 80 per cent of women have symptoms, which can last for four years, although 10 per cent have them for up to 12 years. As levels of oestrogen fall many women are offered hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to boost this and other hormones.

Yet Belinda had dreaded the menopause because she knew her mother Joanne had suffered so badly. "She had low moods and depression because of the menopause which meant that she was always bedridden," says Belinda.

"At one point she was so bad that they wanted to put her in a psychiatric hospital although, fortunately, that didn't happen. I know now that a lot of women suffer that way.

"I'd dreaded my own menopause because I knew there was a chance I would have a bad one. But I felt that just because my mother had a bad experience it didn't mean that I would go through the same."

 

About 80 per cent of women have symptoms which can last for four years

Blood tests showed Belinda's oestrogen levels were very low but she was reluctant to try HRT as she had read that it could increase the risk of certain cancers. Instead she put up with the hot flushes.

HRT was widely used in the 1960s but two studies published in 2002 and 2003 raised safety concerns about an increased risk of breast cancer and heart disease.

Some 66 per cent of women stopped taking HRT immediately although some of the findings were later retracted. In 2012, a Danish study showed that for healthy women taking combined HRT for 10 years immediately after the menopause, the risk of heart disease was actually lower.

"While HRT is associated with a slightly increased risk of ovarian and breast cancer, current understanding is that HRT may promote growth of slow-growing cancer cells which were already there, rather than causing cancer," says Dr Heather Currie, a gynaecologist and chair of the British Menopause Society.

"We need to balance risks and benefits. For many women HRT can bring an improved quality of life, relief from menopausal symptoms and better bone health and probably better heart health."

 

"HRT is effective at reducing symptoms of menopause," says Sarah Williams, health information manager at Cancer Research UK. "But research has shown that it can increase the risk of developing breast, womb and ovarian cancers."

Dr Currie adds: "Symptoms following the menopause vary hugely from one woman to the next, so there is no blanket approach. It is important that women choose what is right for them and for many HRT is a useful option: we need to balance risks against benefits.

"However we now believe that HRT started before the age of 60 is more likely to be beneficial than harmful. And for women who go through the menopause at a younger than average age we know that the decline of oestrogen has a bigger effect and so HRT can help to protect heart and bones."

BELINDA saw a Harley Street specialist Dr Nyjon Eccles who recommended LadyCare, a tiny device held together by magnets.

"You slip it into your underwear between your pelvic bones," says Belinda. The manufacturer claims the device works for 71 per cent of women, and rebalances the autonomic nervous system which controls bodily functions including sweating, body temperature and heart rate.

 

Some experts such as Dr Currie are more sceptical. "I know of no scientific reason why LadyCare should work," she cautions. "But if someone feels it works for them, then that's fine."

However Belinda says she noticed the effects almost at once. "Within two days I went from 40 flushes a day to none at all. It was incredible. The hot flushes disappeared and so did the tiredness and moodiness.

"And since the effect has been cumulative, I can go a couple of months without using it now. Then I feel the pressure in my head building, as though I'm about to have another hot flush, so I start using it again and the feeling goes."

"I'm really happy to have found something which stops my horrendous hot flushes without an increased risk of cancer. It gave me my life back."

• LadyCare (ladycare-uk.com) costs £28.95 and is available from Boots nationwide