How to cope with depression from menopause transition – also known as perimenopause – plus expert insight on other symptoms and the help available for women

Celebrities Michelle Obama, Naomi Watts and Drew Barrymore have all spoken of their menopause struggles, but it remains an uncomfortable subject for many women

Depression is a common symptom of perimenopause; Singapore resident Kate Moreau reveals how she is coping, such as talking about it with others in the same boat

Reading Time:5 minutes

Kate Moreau struggled with the transition to menopause, also known as perimenopause, but says that talking about it to others in the same boat was one of the things that helped. Photo: Kate Moreau

Published: 4:15am, 20 Apr 2023Updated: 2:35pm, 13 Jun 2023

Kate Moreau remembers when perimenopause began for her, at the age of 47. The Covid-19 pandemic had just been declared and she’d begun experiencing “brain fog” – the inability to think clearly – plus night sweats, fatigue, irritability, insomnia, weight gain and itchiness.

At the time, South Africa-born Moreau had no idea the symptoms were part of her natural transition to menopause, also known as perimenopause.

She thought they were related to the confusion and anxiety surrounding the pandemic, something she calls the “Corona-coaster”. Only 18 months later did she make the connection.

“I put my symptoms down to being incapable of dealing with Covid, lockdowns and restrictions,” she says.

The 50-year-old, who has lived in Singapore for 14 years and works at an international school, also suffers from long-term depression, which only worsened when perimenopause kicked in. On her 49th birthday she cried all day.

Moreau at first thought her symptoms were related to the stress of the Covid-19 pandemic. Photo: Kate Moreau

“I felt like a fraction of the person I’d been before. The symptoms were just too much to bear. I didn’t know it at the time but I was suffering from many of the 34 recognised symptoms of perimenopause.”