‘I wake up crying’: Pip Edwards’ opens up about perimenopause battle
P.E Nation co-founder Pip Edwards has opened up about an “exhausting” private battle in a candid new chat.
Lifestyle
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Pip Edwards has opened up about her “exhausting” struggle with perimenopause.
In a candid chat with Phoebe Burgess on her podcast, Under The Gloss, the P.E Nation co-founder shed light on the health battle, which she first revealed in March, saying she’s “right in the thick of it”.
“You can’t hide behind some of this stuff. I’m currently having a hot flush right now,” Edwards told Burgess.
“It comes on in about 30 seconds, and it’s debilitating, and it makes me want to cry.
“I have about six a night – they really ramp up at night. I’m literally in a state of [feeling] so hot and wet, clothes come off, bedsheets wet, and then I get really freezing so my clothes come back on, and it’s like that all night.
“And now it’s started to happen in the mornings, in the day. So, I’m not sleeping. I wake up crying.”
Edwards, now 42, first began experiencing symptoms three years ago, aged 39.
After appointments with her doctors and tests of her egg supply, the mum-of-one – whose shares son, Justice, with ex-partner Dan Single – was told she was in the transition phase into menopause that usually happens in a woman’s mid-40s, but that up to 12 per cent of Australian women experience prematurely.
Common symptoms include hot flushes, decreased fertility, irregular menstrual cycles, and trouble sleeping.
“Mum went through menopause in her early 40s, after having me straight away … And probably didn’t think to tell me. It’s hereditary,” she explained.
“I run a very lean diet, lots of travel, there’s a lot of emotional trauma that’s been carried so that my body’s always in fight or flight – it’s never been safe. I’ve learnt that through my therapy sessions.
“And all of that just leads to a precursor for being in early menopause. I was always going to have it, and I just never got told … It’s not even a topic of conversation.”
Edwards initially intended to freeze her eggs – so as “not to be robbed of an option” to have another baby.
“It was more of a selfless [choice], because it wasn’t about my option – it would be the option of my [future] partner. Because I have a beautiful child and I love him, and I always would’ve potentially wanted more, but it’s not anything because I love him and I’ve got him,” she said.
“But if the love of my life is around the corner and the deal breaker for him is [having] a kid, then I’d want to give that to him.
“It’s [about having] the choice. It’s more just, like, I think, my whole life, and especially for Justice, is about creating choice. Having a life of options, that’s how I see the world.”
When Covid hit, however, and the procedure was deemed an elective surgery, it was no longer possible.
“My eggs, they’re gone,” she said. “I’ve not even gone back to check. I just know. I’m not getting my period. Can’t even get the eggs. We’re [hot] flushing like it’s the 80s.”
The “challenge” now, she said, is “to literally try and stop” and allow her body to “recalibrate”.
“I run at turbo speed. I don’t give myself – I’ve never given my body the rest [it needs],” Edwards added.
“I recently took a little bit of leave and went to Bali … and that was one of the hardest experiences ever because I’ve never just laid still with no stimulation, no music, no nothing.
“It was a mega pause. It was a proper pause. It was a pause from the business, from my son, from my home – because I’m just physically, emotionally, mentally depleted … I needed to just stop.”
Ultimately, Edwards said, she’d “been giving oxygen to everyone else but me”.
“I’m in the thick of it. And … I’m sure we're speaking to women who are enduring [perimenopause] in silence. And do you know what? I’m starting to endure it in front of people,” she said.
“It’s a normal part of life. It needs to be normalised, so that I don’t feel like I’m f**king crazy. It is making me crazy. I know why people say women in their menopause get crazy – of course they f**king get crazy.
“They’re not sleeping, they’re sweating, they’re at their wits end. No sh*t! No sh*t.”
Originally published as ‘I wake up crying’: Pip Edwards’ opens up about perimenopause battle
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