'I feel so lonely' Nadia Sawalha opens up about the menopause symptom no one talks about

The Loose Women panellist talks honestly about menopause

Regular Loose Women panellist Nadia Sawalha has revealed how 'frustrated' she is every night in bed with husband Mark Adderley because of the menopause.

The 52-year old admitted that because of insomnia, related to the changes her body is going through, she's just not happy.

'I have no sleep. My life that you see is all fake,' she exclaimed.

'I was in make up for hours this morning, looking like this, doing this, when in fact I'm absolutely exhausted.'

Nadia added that she wasn't on HRT, which is known to sometimes help with insomnia, but fellow panellist Andrea Mclean then said that she was on HRT but still suffers insomnia too.

Nadia continued: 'I'm just so tired, I keep waking up, I feel nausea. I'm an eight hours a night person, always have been.'

The mum-of-two described how she always wakes up throughout the night and no matter what she does she just can't asleep.

'I can't move in case I wake anyone up at night. And I'm doing mindfulness and concentration and my breathing but I just - and I know loads of women will feel the same - I feel like a ghost walking through life.

'I feel isolated and lonely,' she admitted, to a round of applause from the Loose Women audience.

'Sometimes I find myself looking at people thinking; "oh you look like you've had a good nights sleep" and I'm actually jealous.'

Guest panellist Penny Lancaster was quick to empathise with Nadia's plight.

The model pointed out that there are so many books for new mums, warning them about the lack of sleep they're about to endure, but there's nothing like that for women who are due to go through the menopause.

'Sleep deprivation is a form of torture!' she agreed.

What do you think? Have you suffered with insomnia during menopause? Let us know in the comments box below.

GoodtoKnow

Trusted, informative, and empathetic – GoodToKnow is the ultimate online destination for mums. Established in 2007, our 15-year-strong archive of content includes more than 18,000 articles, 1,500 how-to videos, and 7,000 recipes.