'Menopause contributed to my wife's suicide but doctors just said it was anxiety'

A devastated husband says menopause contributed to is wife's suicide but doctors said it was anxiety.

David Salmon, said his wife, Linda's death was the moment his own life was "gone", as the couple had been together for 41 years.

Speaking to the BBC, David said the 56-year-old had been struggling with anxiety when the coronavirus pandemic hit and she was concerned she would catch the virus, Yorkshire Live reports.

Supermarket worker Linda shared concerns about her heightened risk of falling ill with Covid and was signed off work by her doctor.

But days later, she tragically took her own life and David believes the menopause was a contributing factor in her death.

David and wife Linda Salmon, who was going through the menopause when she took her own life (BBC)

He said: "She was a key worker at a local supermarket and with the Covid approaching she felt she couldn't go to work. [She] rung 111 up, rung the doctor up and the doctor explained, went through all the symptoms with her, and she says 'she's got anxiety'."

Although he accepted the doctor's diagnosis, just three days later Linda took her own life,

At the that moment, David his life was "gone".

He said: "Lucky I am where I am today, so I can talk about it. It were a bad day, to say the least."

After his wife's death, Mr Salmon saw a programme from BBC's Look North about the symptoms associated with the menopause - which can include depression and anxiety - and said that this "opened his eyes".

He said: "It made me really aware, it opened my eyes to the menopause - I didn't know there were all these other symptoms, I honestly thought with the menopause you got a bit warm and a few moods.

"She'd gone through quite a lot of anxiety, anger in the last, lets say four years, and that really brought it home to me."

Mr Salmon, who described his relationship with Linda as a "fairytale marriage", is now calling on people to support their female relatives who are going through menopause.

He said: "We need to talk about it, we need to make people aware.

"Look to your partner, look to support her, get her help if she needs it and just hold her hand and get her through it really, just get her through it."

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