My symptoms were more emotional than physical. I am embarrassed to think of the crazy person I was around the age of 50. Heh, Husband not only moved in and built a house with me around that time, he married me when I was 52. Now that's love!

I've apologized to my kids for the instability back then, and, even then, worked hard to regain some sort of calm. I am grateful, looking back, to know that one CAN choose to modify one's responses to stresses, if one works hard and consistently enough at it.

It helped in the first year or so after my concussion, too, when, as I told doctors, "It feels like menopause, all over," in talking about my overblown responses to things. I remember, one morning, being REALLY REALLY upset with Husband about something or another, and a thought popping into my head: "Why are you so angry? This isn't that important."

It allowed me to stop, apologize, and get on with the day.

Menopause can suck in all sorts of ways. But if we use them as learning tools, it helps.