Gina Broadhurst, 47, co-owns a shutter company with her husband Simon, 52. They live in Surrey with their 11-year-old daughter Genevieve and 10-year-old son Sterling. She struggled with perimenopause symptoms like anxiety, fatigue and memory loss for five years. She starts hrt and decides to prepare a new challenge for herself.
As I walked to my bed after a tiring day at work, I buried my face in the pillow and sobbed. I had no idea why I felt the need to cry, but as the tears flowed, I felt a sense of relief.
I was very sad. I’m tired of being tired, I’m tired of feeling angry all the time, I’m tired of feeling like a second rate version of myself. I couldn’t figure out why I was crying, but it had been going on for months. What was my problem?
I was in good health with no real illnesses until my early forties. I had a busy job in advertising sales, but I had a supportive husband and two adorable children. Life was pretty good.
But around the age of 41, I started experiencing intense, crushing headaches that were driving me crazy. The painkillers didn’t work and I was exhausted. I can sit in a chair and fall asleep within five minutes. I felt like an old woman in a nursing home.
Coping with memory loss
When I went to see my doctor I told him my symptoms and he wrote ‘TATT’ in my notes – ‘Tired All the Time’. She took a blood test to see if you were menopausal, but since these blood tests only detect whether you’re in menopause and not perimenopause, the results didn’t provide any real answers. My doctor said my symptoms were probably caused by work stress. I needed to slow down.
I started experiencing intense, crushing headaches that were driving me crazy.
I walked away feeling dejected because I didn’t get an answer. My symptoms got worse. I started to forget the words; Very simple things like ‘chair’ or ‘cup’. I knew what I wanted to say, but I couldn’t think of the words and was starting to worry that I had early dementia. My joints started to ache, my skin developed rosacea, and I even started to develop blemishes; This was something I never suffered from in my youth.
Of course, I know now that these are all classic symptoms of perimenopause, but at the time I had no idea. Even as little as seven years ago, the debate about menopause wasn’t what it is today. I just thought I was going crazy.
My symptoms got worse. I started to forget the words; Very simple things like ‘chair’ or ‘cup’.
It made things a little easier when I left my job in advertising sales and joined my wife’s business in 2018. However, the symptoms continued. The anger I experienced was disturbing. I get out of control at the smallest thing.
starting HRT
Things came to a head when I contacted my doctor at the end of last year and he said: “I can’t deal with this anymore, I think I’m losing my mind and I need to do something!”
I had previously been told that I could not take HRT due to a rare blood disease, which means there is a higher chance of blood clots. I discovered this when I was trying to get pregnant and was still under the gynecologist team at the hospital. But speaking to a new doctor on the team I discovered that I was actually allowed to take HRT, but certain types were not, so I was fitted with patches containing estrogen and progesterone.
I couldn’t believe it. Finally, you may be given something to relieve the symptoms. But for one reason or another (including them losing my referral from the hospital team) it took over five months for me to receive the prescription. So that day, full of anger, I contacted the GP and told the surgery I would literally do a ‘sit-in’ if they didn’t give me the prescription straight away.
I started HRT earlier this year and the change was almost immediate. My headaches improved, my mood improved, I no longer felt like I was walking around in cotton wool.
The GP agreed that something was wrong and would help me get HRT as soon as possible.
I started HRT earlier this year and the change was almost immediate. My headaches improved, my mood improved, I no longer felt like I was walking around in cotton wool. I started to find my words again. My skin was healing, my joints were aching. I started taking other supplements like collagen and menopause vitamins and my confidence returned. I felt more at peace with myself.
An empowering new project
A month later, I was chatting on Instagram with the regional manager who runs the Miss Surrey pageants. I jokingly said to her something like: ‘I’m about 20 years too old for you’ and she replied: ‘No, you’d be great for the Classical Division with older women.’
He planted the seed of an idea. I decided to ask three people – my mother, my husband, and my sister – if I would agree to this, and I expected them to say absolutely no. But they didn’t. My sister’s answer touched me especially. She lost her husband to brain cancer and she said to me, “Yes, take every opportunity to do the things life offers you” and I decided to enter Miss GB. I created a series of Instagram live videos called Live For Now to help women like me feel more empowered and confident.
The aim of Miss Great Britain is not to be the most beautiful woman, it is to be the best version of you and I have felt so terrible for years, that is the message I want to send. I spent my early to mid-forties feeling like my shadow, so I wanted to prove that it’s never too late for anyone to shine again.
I spent my early to mid-forties feeling like my shadow, so I wanted to prove that it’s never too late for anyone to shine again.
I decided to take some ‘me’ time. I had never even been on a runway before, so I hired a coach to help me introduce myself to the audience and judges. I have dedicated myself to fundraising for charity, even climbing down Scafell Pike and climbing down Scafell Pike to raise money.
I did a lot of work on my self-confidence, including visualizing myself winning. I would buy myself small items, such as necklaces with crowns on them, in the hopes of showing off that I had won.
Big day
But going on stage in a 600-seat auditorium in October was still terrifying. I remember standing backstage in a gold jumpsuit, watching the other women walk out, and wondering, ‘What did I come in for?’ I remember thinking.
The competition runs for two days and includes not only clothing and fashion but also interviews with the judging panel. The moment I was afraid of – the swimsuit tour – was actually one of my favorite moments. There were women of all ages and sizes there; A woman in her 80s with pink hair and a Muslim woman in a completely hijab dress. It was incredibly liberating. Just a year ago I was having anxiety attacks just about leaving the house. Now I was parading in a bikini in front of strangers.
Standing on stage in a 600-seat theater in October was still terrifying. I remember standing in the wings backstage and thinking: ‘What did I allow myself to do?’
On the last day, when my name was announced as the winner, I could barely speak because I was so surprised. But what excited me most was the look on my children’s faces. I could see them in the audience. They were so caught up in ‘Mom’s new hobby’ that they went crazy when I won. I was over the moon.
Spreading a positive message
As well as the crown and title, I won a £500 travel voucher, a £1,000 voucher to spend at an aesthetics clinic and a photo shoot. But for me it wasn’t about the awards. It was about doing something I never thought of doing, stepping out of my comfort zone, and having one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.
I did what I set out to do to show other women my age that life doesn’t end when you hit perimenopause.
I now hold the title until next October and appear at events such as the local Christmas light switch-on. It’s all in good fun and I don’t take myself seriously. The kids love it when I wear my crown and ‘Queen Mode’ is activated.
But I did what I set out to do, to show other women my age that life doesn’t end when you hit perimenopause. But it’s important for women to understand what’s going on in their bodies and to insist that doctors listen to them and get help. This stage of life can drain your confidence but it doesn’t have to be that way and I hope I’m proof of that.