My mum went missing out of the blue and was found dead like Nicola Bulley – women like my mother are being written off
A GRIEVING daughter whose mum was found dead after suffering with a hormone disorder has spoken of the “frightening” similarities to Nicola Bulley – and says women are being “written off”.
Joanne Walker, 54, was discovered in a quarry after her family reported her missing, when she was last seen going for a late night walk.
Her daughter Kelly Walker, 38, said her mum battled brain fog and unexplained sadness for years before her death.
Kelly herself has since been diagnosed with premenstrual dysphoric disorder – a hereditary condition similar to very extreme PMS, which she thinks her mum was battling for 11 years.
She said her mum’s symptoms were dismissed or not taken seriously.
“I just keep wondering how many women are going through this and have no one to turn to. It’s scary,” she tells The Sun. “Women have been around for ever – how is this still happening?”
Tragic side effects
Nicola Bulley, 45, was found dead after going missing during a walk by the River Wyre in Lancashire in January.
Her disappearance sparked a massive police search after her mobile phone was found on a nearby bench.
Her family said she suffered a “crisis” after she stopped taking medication to help her through the perimenopause
They said Nicola suffered with significant side effects such as brain fog and restless sleep, and was taking HRT to help but stopped taking the drug because it gave her intense headaches.
Nicola’s body was found after 23 days and Kelly said the search – and the similarities to her mum – made “all my grief and sadness came flooding back”.
Kelly, a nail technician from Kelty, Fife, Scotland, said: “I just feel that so many women are written off as bat-s*** crazy.
“We’re being misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder or fibromyalgia or whatever, and the hormonal side is not taken seriously enough fast enough.
“I mean half of us are women, and we know our own bodies and minds, but we’re just not heard.
“We need a specialist system to help women with what is normal for them to go through; women need it and so do doctors.
Menopause matters
Last year, The Sun called for free HRT on the NHS for everyone as part of our Fabulous Menopause Matters campaign.
Following our campaign, it was announced that from April a single prescription charge of £18.70 per year for a 12-month supply of HRT will be made available.
The one-off charge to replace repeat prescriptions should save women up to £205 per year.
HRT is a treatment which uses oestrogen and progesterone to relieve menopausal symptoms.
The menopause can be a tough time for women, with symptoms generally starting from the mid-40s and lasting years on end.
The experience can range from person to person – while some lucky few will have no problems with the “transition”, others will experience symptoms so debilitating that it changes their life.
Those who are struggling may benefit from HRT (hormone replacement therapy), which is used to relieve the symptoms such as hot flushes, mood swings, vaginal dryness and night sweats.
In fact, many women say that it changed their life.
But, due to misinformation spanning decades, many women may fear using HRT, and doctors can be reluctant to prescribe it.
It means millions could be missing out on HRT, regarded as the most effective way to medically treat menopause symptoms.
“When I heard about Nicola Bulley it just reinforced all of my feelings about this.
“The similarities are frightening; a mum was doing something routine, who just disappeared.
“I truly believe [mum] would be here today, still doting on her grandson, if she’d got the treatment she needed.
“All my grief and sadness came flooding back when I heard that Nicola Bulley was struggling with perimenopause.”
Heart-breaking discovery
Joanne, a shop manager, was last seen around 10pm on July 10, 2020, after she finished work, leaving her home in Tillicoultry, Clackmannanshire.
She was found two days later at Tillicoultry Quarry.
An inquest later returned a death-by-misadventure conclusion, saying she fell and died, according to Kelly.
Kelly believes her mum would never have walked somewhere dangerous in the dark and on her own if she’d been receiving hormone treatment.
Kelly herself was wrongly diagnosed with post-natal depression, fibromyalgia, PTSD, and grief, before medics hit on her final diagnosis of pre-menstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) in August 2021.
Premenstrual dysphoric disorder is a very severe form of premenstrual syndrome (PMS).
It causes a range of emotional and physical symptoms every month and is a heritable mood disorder. Changes in hormone levels can trigger symptoms.
HRT is working for Kelly, but it wasn’t given to her mum.
Kelly, single mum to Joey, six, said: “I remember mum just begging doctors to listen to her.
“She knew she wasn’t depressed but antidepressants is all they offered her.
“She was such a vibrant person, then would suddenly become so sad, and her death is a tragedy that was absolutely avoidable.
“Someone’s hormonal cycle can really change any time, and especially after pregnancy, I just don’t think we’re willing to think or talk about it enough in this country, so we’re letting people down.”
Kelly added: “If she’d had the help she needed she’d never have gone out there alone in the dark and the accident would never have happened.”
Menopause, when hormone levels drop, usually begins between age 45 and 55, but symptoms can start much earlier.
It can cause brain fog, anxiety, hot flashes, difficulty sleeping, headaches and migraines which may impact on relationships and work.
The British Menopause society report that 80 to 90 per cent of women say they have symptoms and 25 per cent of those say they are severe.