Did you know that urinary infections are very common and affect most women at least once in their lifetime, and that menopause is often a time when UTIs become even more frequent?  Up to one in five women will have repeated urinary infections, they can happen at any time but are most likely in women who are sexually active, pregnant or post menopausal.  UTIs are always uncomfortable and often debilitating with symptoms including:

A need to frequently pass urine, an inability to hold urine and needing to go urgently, burning, stinging or pain and sometimes cloudy, smelly urine possibly stained with blood.

So not only are frequent urinary infections uncomfortable, painful and annoying, they often need repeated treatment with antibiotics.  And we know that taking too many antibiotics isn't a good idea, especially for our gut health and general wellbeing.

On my blog, I am keen to open up more conversations about things that are considered 'embarrassing' my hope is that by talking more honestly and openly we can find solutions, support each other and make our lives easier and healthier!

My blog post about urinary infections is to give you some background on why they become more common in menopause, to share lifestyle tips that can help in preventing bladder infections as well as introduce you to a fabulous new herbal supplement called Uralix that is hugely successful at prevention of UTI's inthe first place!
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This is a sponsored blog post.

I've spoken about insomnia in menopause and my own difficult relationship with a good nights sleep on my blog before and one of the things I always recommend is limiting screen time (and blue light) at least an hour before bedtime.  But I find that listening to sleep meditations, music for sleep or a sleep story really help me drift off to sleep, and that means using my phone and Apple EarPods.  However, there is now an alternative in the form of this clever little non-digital, screen-free device from Morphée which contains 210 sessions of meditation and sophrology to promote falling asleep as well as encouraging a deep and restorative sleep.  

Morphée was created in France and has enjoyed huge popularity and success there and it has now arrived in the UK. 

Read on to see how I got on with Morphée...
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This is a gifted blog review.

Maybe it's just me but did anyone else notice they were less able to handle even a small amount of alcohol once peri-menopause started?  Maybe you are not aware that being less able to process alcohol is one of the many symptoms of peri-menopause?  Some of my hangovers since about age 45 have been horrific and 2 days get wiped out!  

But I love a glass of wine.  A glass of red with a steak on an evening out.  A glass or two of Prosecco with friends.  A crisp, cold white on a summer evening or a light and refreshing rosé or Kir Royale on holiday.   I rarely drink anything else, very occasionally a G&T but I have never liked beer or any other spirits.  In fact I didn't really drink much at all until I was in my 30's and even then never to excess - three glasses and that's my lot!!

And as you can see from my photos, there is often a glass of wine in my hand!  It's just so social!

This blog post forms part of a sponsored collaboration.
Updated, original post was published in April 2018.

Menopause and women's health generally is only just beginning to be discussed openly but it is long overdue, we need to understand more and champion for better health care to support us as we go through midlife.  I decided a couple of years ago to be more open about my own menopause journey on my blog in the hope that my experience could help others.  So often women just don't know where to start when they need help with a myriad of strange and new symptoms.  When they just don't feel like them any more.  And the obvious place to start is often their GP - but sadly this often results in even more confusion.  I am sure there are some really well trained GP's out there but unfortunately they are in the minority, the menopause training given to our GP's is woefully inadequate and the advice they can offer is limited or simply incorrect.  And so women give up, have to fight to get help or go privately.  It is a shocking situation. 

​But what if there was a way to educate yourself and know how to get the right help and make informed choices for you?!  I am a big believer in education and taking responsibility for our health.  So when I was approached by Bia Care, offering to educate women in an affordable way on menopause health and to connect them with the right specialists, I was really keen to find out more.

Fernanda from Bia Care gave me a call, we had a really interesting chat and we agreed I would join one of their first pilot menopause courses (kindly gifted to me).   The purpose of the pilot course was to assess whether women experiencing menopausal symptoms would find expert-led group sessions a helpful way to have their menopause questions answered, develop a better understanding of treatment options and to devise a personal menopause treatment plan.