'I went to a dark place': Meg Mathews, 54, says she felt 'lonely' and didn't leave her house for THREE MONTHS when going through the menopause

Meg Mathews has revealed she didn't leave her house for three months as she went to a 'dark place' while struggling with the menopause.

The media personality, 54, appeared on Lorraine to discuss how it made her feel 'lonely', as she dealt with the physical and mental side effects of the menopause.

Meg said she was 'surprised' by how it impacted her, as she expected her periods to stop and to suffer the odd hot flush, however she was shocked by the experience. 

After 'sailing through' child birth, Meg said: 'Nothing was a problem, didn't want to eat chocolate or stab my boyfriend. But around age 49, I was just not feeling like me. No one had pointed this out.'

Explaining how it affected her, she said: 'I thought menopause was hot flush and you don't have your period anymore. I started putting weight on, I had achy joints, a foggy brain. My mouth didn't connect with my tongue. I went to a dark place, very lonely. For three months, I didn't leave my house.

'There's a tiny percentage [of women] who are getting what they need to be given like HRT. I was at an AA meeting and I was saying, life is blah blah blah. 

'As I left, this lovely lady came over to me and said, please take me number and lets talk about this after. I took her number, I called her when I got home and we were on the phone for 2 hours. She was telling me all about body identicals that were available on the NHS.'

Explaining what a body identical HRT is, she said: 'Body identical is a form of HRT. You have patches, you have a synthetic. It's a gel you rub on your inner thigh.'

She also discussed the risks, and added: 'With body identicals, we know if you have 1000 women in the room, seven of these women will get breast cancer. 

'A percentage will be obese, a percentage will be drinking a glass of wine every night and another percentage would get breast cancer anyway. Body identicals goes straight into the blood stream and it goes on the thigh.'

As well as taking body identicals, Meg explained the easiest way to get through her menopause was by sharing her experiences with others. 

She said: 'I found the easiest way to get through the menopause was sharing. It's going to affect everyone in the family, what you will be going through.'

'If you can be open and say, I actually want to lie on the sofa this evening and have a takeaway. Once you can explain this is how you're feeling. How long is a piece of string? I don't know how long I'll feel like this.' 

Meg has written a book, The New Hot: Taking on the Menopause with Attitude and Style. 

She has also become a vocal advocate of women with menopause being given flexible working hours after she started going through her menopause at age 49.

Meg began to experience night sweats and crippling anxiety that at one stage made her reluctant to leave her house for three months.

And she admitted she was upset when the menopause caused her period to stop, although she always knew that she only wanted one child.

Meg shares her daughter Anaïs, 20, with Oasis rocker Liam Gallagher.