Hollyoaks star Stephanie Waring has revealed that she 'screamed' and 'begged' for help amid her perimenopausal diagnosis.

The soap actor, 45, has admitted that she was struggling so much as her body made the transition into menopause that she "couldn't cope".

Waring is best known for playing Cindy Cunningham on Hollyoaks on and off since 1998.

She shares daughter Mia, 17, and 12-year-old Lexi with former partner Dan Hooper but is now engaged to Tom Brookes.

Hollyoaks star 'was crying all the time' amid perimenopausal diagnosis

Speaking to The Sun, Stephanie shared: "I was crying all the time. I came home one day and my partner was out and my kids, Mia, who’s 17, and Lexi, who is 12, were with their dad.

"And I just remember being on the bathroom floor screaming and begging someone to help me.

"The doctors were saying they couldn’t do anything at that point and I couldn’t cope any more.

"I didn’t want to harm myself but I just remember thinking maybe not being here would be the only way to make it stop."

The 45-year-old went on to explain that her symptoms started around the time she had started a new relationship.

She noted that it should have been a "really happy time" for her but instead, she ended up losing sleep over her health for almost a year before seeking medical help.

The actor added: "Nearly every night for a whole year I’d be awake until around 3 am. Nothing I did helped. I was suffering from brain fog and I was just exhausted all of the time.

"My vision also started to go and that’s when I thought, ‘Something’s not right here’."

Waring was reportedly given a number of options including HRT but eventually opted for a Mirena coil, which releases progesterone, and an oestrogen gel, which is applied to the skin.

She shared that she found that her anxiety went "through the roof" and wondered how her new partner put up with her.

"I was explosive. I’d never been like it before but I would see the red mist over the smallest things. I honestly don’t know how Tom put up with me," the actor said.

"Now he calls the coil the devil! My anxiety was through the roof, sleep never came and I started to experience this itching sensation all over my skin.

"It would jump from place to place and it felt like I had bugs crawling all over me. It’s called pruritus and it was the most debilitating thing. I went to see another specialist and once again, I was told to up my oestrogen."

Following a breakdown on the set of the Channel 4 soap, bosses referred Stephanie to a specialist who discovered exactly what the problem was.

Stephanie shared: “I told her it was my hormones and explained what had been ­happening.

"The first assistant director, Jo, took me into a room and asked me what was going on. She then told me about a specialist she knew called Dr Michael Barnish, and together they may have saved my life.

"After a second consultation I was finally diagnosed with oestrogen dominance.

"I basically had this soup of oestrogen running around my body that had set off my mast histamine cells.

"So I was giving myself more oestrogen and my progesterone wasn’t having a chance to clear it all — that’s what it does, it clears all your mast cells.

"So me being constantly told to up my dosage was causing the problems. I should’ve been given a very low dose of oestrogen and monitored closely.

"The dosage should only have been increased if I began to experience other menopause symptoms along with the lack of sleep. The higher dosage caused me to have symptoms I would never have experienced otherwise.”

Perimenopausal and Menopausal symptoms to watch out for

Menopause and Perimenopause can feel different for everyone, according to the NHS.

You may have a number of symptoms or none and they can often start months or years before your period stops.

For a full range of symptoms, advice and further guidance, visit the NHS website.

The health service website explains that the first sign of perimenopause is usually, but not always, a change in the normal pattern of your periods.

For instance, your period can become irregular.

Additionally, you could suffer from various mental health symptoms including low mood, anxiety, mood swings and low self-esteem.

Symptoms can manifest physically too through a reduced sex drive, hot flushes, headaches and palpitations among other signs.