Don't Tell Me I Can't Have A Happy Menopause

Most women dread it, but for Alison Gibb the menopause was a welcome change

- Mishaal Khan

Sitting around the table with my friends, I took a sip of wine as we chatted away. It was June 2019, and six of us were on a weekend break in Spain, enjoying time together in the sunshine. After a day spent on the tennis courts, you’d think I’d be exhausted by the evening, but actually, I was the opposite and ready to carry on enjoying myself. Just a few years earlier I’d never have imagined having so much energy, but since going through the menopause at 50, I’ve honestly never felt better.

Throughout my 20s, I had manageable period pain. I enjoyed drinks with my friends and travelled to New Zealand, where I worked as an au pair, Hawaii and California. I met my husband, Douglas, at the Glasgow School of Art, and we married in 1996. He worked as a photographer and I was an art teacher.

It wasn’t until I entered my 30s that I began noticing changes. I suffered debilitating migraines throughout the month. My GP suggested stress could have been a contributing factor, having lost my parents to cancer at 21.