A menopause support group is helping women in Renfrewshire by offering advice after their own struggles with symptoms and treatment.

Jacqui Dillion and Caroline Spalding worked together at Glasgow Clyde College in Cardonald and have been friends for more than 20 years.

After both going through rough times when their menopause began, they relied on each other for help and eventually wanted to share their knowledge with others.

Now they run Menopause Warriors Scotland where they help others going through similar experiences and even caught the eye of Davina McCall.

They featured in Channel 4’s Davina McCall: Sex, Mind and the Menopause in 2022 where they were able to share their own stories.

Their support sessions are at the end of every month, the next being at Braehead Shopping Centre on May 30.

Jacqui said: “Our objective is to be in deprived areas and to provide free menopause awareness. We want to take the age out of menopause.

“It’s not menopause that is the issue, it's women not being told or made aware of what their symptoms are. It’s vital to understand what is going on because it can affect you badly mentally and physically.”

Caroline ignored her menopause symptoms for two years before they became too much.

She assumed much of what was going on was premenstrual syndrome (PMS). Her symptoms included bouts of rage, heart palpitations, itchy skin and depressive episodes.

She said: “I ignored it for a couple of years and just thought it was PMS but my rage got to the point that it scared me because I really thought I could hurt someone. I don’t see myself as that kind of person, so it was very unpleasant.

“One night I came home, I was in the car and I just got a horrible feeling of all the happiness draining from me and I had all this grief and sadness and I really wanted to write the car off.

“I phoned a friend, and I was so upset that I had wanted to do that, I couldn’t understand why I wanted to.”

Following this, Caroline reached out to her GP to get some help. She was told that at the age of 45, it would only get worse.

She was also told hormone replacement therapy, which is used to treat menopausal symptoms by replacing the oestrogen and progesterone which fall to low levels during menopause, was not available to her.

Now, Caroline wishes she was able to have HRT saying her “horrendous suffering” could have been avoided if GPs had the right information.

Menopause Warriors aims to share with people the benefits of HRT.

The treatment has previously been linked to breast cancer and those who have a history of it are advised against taking it.

However, a new study in March by the British Menopause Society suggests these links are no higher than without taking HRT.

Caroline and Jacqui say people shouldn’t be put off as it has changed their lives.

Jacqui first entered menopause at the age of 35 and wished she had been offered HRT following a hysterectomy.

After suffering from severe bleeding, she underwent several biopsies before she was told that they couldn’t find an answer and underwent surgery.

She said: “I ended up with a hysterectomy. When I now know I was perimenopausal and I should have at least been tried on HRT.

“Then after I still wasn’t offered HRT, I was just left.”

Jacqui says she has suffered from anxiety, brain fog, heart palpitations and hair loss.

After two years, Jacqui went onto HRT and now says “life is great.”

Now, Jacqui and Caroline run Menopause Warriors Scotland across Scotland.

The sessions are held every month across Renfrewshire and Glasgow.

Information on support sessions in Braehead, Govan, Corkerhill, and Woodside Library can be found HERE.