Tracy Beaker star Dani Harmer reveals she's been diagnosed with perimenopause: ‘I felt like I was being possessed'
The 36-year-old actor, who rose to fame for her starring role in the CBBC TV adaptation of Jacqueline Wilson's novel The Story of Tracy Beaker, explained in a new TikTok video that she went to the doctors after experiencing brain fog, night sweats and difficulties with her mental health.
In the video, Harmer pulled back some of her hair to reveal that her curly hair, which had become known as Tracy Beaker's signature locks, was thinning out as a result of the condition.
'I am losing it – it is thinning so badly you can see, like, the bald patches coming in, but just, like, the texture. It's thinning – it's bad, right?' she said.
She added that the hair loss was 'getting me down' and that she was considering going to a salon to have curly hair extensions installed.
Speaking about obtaining her diagnosis, Harmer revealed that it was her husband, Simon Brough, who encouraged her to get a diagnosis after her 'whole personality had pretty much changed'.
'There was just too much to ignore,' she said. 'I felt like I was being possessed by someone else; it was horrible – I was just getting deeper and deeper into a dark depression.'
The actor is now managing her symptoms with the menopause treatment Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), which was prescribed after her doctor had run tests for different conditions, including cancer and coeliac disease.
She said that the treatment has made her feel like herself again and that she had lost the weight that she had gained during lockdown, but her periods were 'all over the place'.
Perimenopause is when a person has the symptoms of menopause but the periods have not stopped. The condition becomes menopause when a person fails to have a period for 12 months.
Menopause is when periods stop due to lower hormone levels, which typically affects women between the ages of 45 and 55, but it can happen earlier.
Menopause and perimenopause can cause symptoms like anxiety, mood swings, brain fog, hot flushes and irregular periods. These symptoms can start years before your periods stop and carry on afterwards.
Harmer encouraged her fans who have had similar symptoms to seek medical advice and 'do not suffer', adding: 'Some of the symptoms are horrendous and you can spiral so quickly. I was really glad I went and got help.'
The actor and her partner welcomed their first child, Avarie-Belle, in 2016. They had a second baby, Rowan, in 2022.
Harmer appeared in The Story of Tracy Beaker from 2002 to 2005, before appearing in spin-offsTracy Beaker Returns (2009) and TheDumping Ground (2013).
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