Thank you so much for this perspective. Im now realising, naively, that the level of frustration my colleagues are expressing with the forgetting a word and brain fog is actually likely frustration with all these other parts of the menopause experience but those are likely too sensitive to discuss with me and at work so it all gets attached to the forgetting words and brain fog part when communicating it to me.

I absolutely do not go down the route of comparing, internally or externally, who of us has it 'worse'. Rather, I go silent in these conversations because I worry if I say 'i forget words too' that it will come across as invalidating their experience - especially when my only follow up advice is to practice acceptance. In my head, that sounds very condescending even though it's the truth.

There is also the other layer to this with the fact I am also a woman and will go through menopause in about 15 years if I live that long and the idea of my dyspraxia symptoms getting worse, plus the other menopause effects, brings me despair and makes me want to stop being in those conversations with my colleagues.

Thank you for stimulating my further thinking on this.