Carol Vorderman reveals she felt suicidal over menopause after spiralling into ‘a dark dark place’
CAROL Vorderman admitted that she felt suicidal over the menopause.
The former I’m A Celebrity campmate revealed that she spiralled into ‘a dark dark place’.
Carol, 62, has opened up about feeling suicidal as she battled severe depression.
The TV personality spoke candidly on the Postcards from Midlife podcast, where she revealed her secret depression battle.
Even though she was more successful than ever, the former Channel 4 admits she couldn’t understand her feelings as there were no problems.
She explained: “When I went through it I had severe depression for about six months. I think it was 2015.
“There was nothing wrong in my life, I had made a lot of money, my kids were fine, my mum was fine. There was no problem.
“And yet I would wake up in this huge bed in this huge house, I’ve got a swimming pool outside and all of that, and I just thought ”what’s the point?”
“I understand much more now clinical depression, where you go: ”I can’t go through this again, how can I make this stop’, and those thoughts of ‘well, there is obviously one way to make this stop’.
“Even when I was hosting Loose Women, which was ten years ago, it was only acceptable to say ‘ooh, I’m having a bit of a moment’ and make light of yourself when you’re going through this.
The star now believes that the world is changing and women should be more open about the symptoms that they face when it comes to the menopause.
She explained: “Now, thank God, women are going: ‘No, stuff that, this is what’s happening, I need help in the workplace, I need to be able to hear from people who are doing this’.
“Because it was a patriarchy — you know, ‘women, they just go crazy and they say crazy things,’ we’re driving a horse and through that old-fashioned society attitude to women going through the menopause.”
“I’ve been through the years where we were shamed into thinking we were crazy because we had menopausal symptoms.”
Carol also explained that she was initially confused because she didn’t feel some of the more common assumptions such as hot flushes.
“I started in my early 50’s, I didn’t have night sweats or flushes or anything. I started feeling anxious, I’ve never felt anxious in my life,” she remarked.
“I started feeling anxious about what trousers I was going to wear, whether I was going to have tea or coffee, you know, all sorts of things.
“That developed into a deep depression, I felt suicidal at times. What saved me was that I kept a note of when my period arrived through an electronic calendar and that helped.”
“I started on a bespoke HRT and within 48 hours I felt back to normal and I have never had a symptom since, it is wonderful.”