Maria Mulgrew was training for a marathon when she began to experience dizziness and regular falls.
"I felt anxious in crowds, exhausted and my blood pressure was slightly raised but there was something else," she told BBC News NI.
She said she was speaking out to warn women not to assume their symptoms were all down to a change in hormones, advising them that when things do not feel right they should push for answers and see their GP. "There were no particular red flags as I was running regularly, I wasn't carrying any extra weight," she said.Maria said they discussed menopause and starting hormone replacement therapy but that treatment was delayed until other tests, including for vertigo, could be carried out.
Consultant gynaecologist Dr Charlie Beattie, who has a specialist knowledge in menopause, said such cases were rare and there were ways of ruling out more sinister conditions such as dementia and brain injury.
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