FORMER child star Dani Harmer has revealed she has been diagnosed with perimenopause — a condition many don’t expect at her age.
The 36-year-old, best known for playing Tracy Beaker in the early 2000s, spoke candidly about how the condition has affected her both mentally and taken a toll on her iconic curly hair.
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“It’s thinning so badly, you can see bald patches coming in,” Dani said in a TikTok video shared with fans today (May 26).
“The texture is changing, it’s bad right now,” she added.
The perimenopause is the stage in a woman’s life when they experience symptoms of menopause but your periods have not yet stopped.
It usually starts several years before a woman reaches her menopause, which officially begins when you haven’t had a period for 12 months.
Read more on perimenopause
It is during perimenopause, when oestrogen and progesterone levels begin to fluctuate.
This is when it’s common to experience difficult symptoms like mood changes, irregular periods and hot flushes.
It can also lead to hair thinning and loss as hormone levels affect the hair growth cycle.
The condition usually affects women in their 40s but can sometimes begin in the 30s – as in Dani’s case. It’s less common but not unusual.
Mentally, Dani has also suffered. “My whole personality had pretty much changed,” she revealed, adding that her husband Simon was the first to notice.
She has experienced brain fog, night sweats, sleep interruptions, depression, and anxiety.
After visiting a female GP and having blood tests, she was “diagnosed pretty swiftly.”
“I felt like I was being possessed by someone else,” she said.
Studies suggest women are 40 per cent more likely to experience depression during the perimenopause, something which the TV star experienced acutely.
“It was horrible,” she said.
“I was just getting deeper and deeper into a dark depression.”
Dani was prescribed hormone replacement therapy (HRT). “My doctor was more than happy to put me on HRT.”
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It’s usually prescribed to women to help balance hormone levels and relieve common symptoms.
Dani has been on HRT for around 18 months and said she “feels like myself again.”
When does perimenopause start?
The perimenopause is a natural stage of life.
In most people it will happen naturally between the ages of 45 and 55 and last for a few months to several years. It can even last a decade or more.
During the perimenopause, your hormone levels change and your ovaries start to produce fewer eggs.
Once you haven’t had a period for 12 months or more, you’ve officially reached the menopause.
Some people start experiencing the perimenopause before they are 40.
This can be as a result of medical treatments, such as surgery to remove the ovaries, but sometimes there’s no cause.
If you think you’re experiencing the perimenopause before you’re 40 then you must speak to your doctor.
Source: Bupa
