My name is Joan and I'm 62, and a retired special needs classroom assistant.

In 2019 I suffered severe menopause symptoms and instead of treating me with HRT, I was given prescriptions for sleeping pills and diazepam. As I became so and more unwell I was put on sertraline. I lost over 4 stones in less than 5 months.

Suicide had never entered my mind till exactly a week after I started Sertraline. I took an overdose of that along with Zopiclone, diazepam, Temazepam and paracetamol.

I was placed in a psychiatric hospital for 4 months and while there put on an antipsychotic called Quetiapine as it was the only drug that made me sleep. Also on Venlafaxine, Diazepam and a couple more I can't remember.

5 years later I'm still taking g 375mg Venlafaxine per day. Under a psychiatrist I tried to reduce but I can't and they ended up putting me back on it.

This I imagine will be my life now although much better after I finally got HRT. Before all I took was a paracetamol.