Jenny Clarke looks much younger than her 33 years but feels she is trapped in a body of a woman much older.

Earlier this year, Mrs Clarke learned she was going through an early menopause - something that affects one in 100 women aged 30 to 40.

Mrs Clarke lives with her husband, Steven, and their three-year-old son, Jamie, in a cottage in Curbridge, near Witney.

Jenny Clarke with son Jamie

"When I first found out I was gobsmacked and cried all the way home from the doctor's surgery. I was devastated," said Mrs Clarke.

She found help and support through the Daisy Network, a charity set up six years ago by another sufferer from the early menopause, Susan Thomas, and specialist Dr Gerard Conway, who is based at London's Middlesex Hospital.

The network will be holding an open day at the NEC in Birmingham in November.

Mrs Clarke said: "They sent me loads of information and I went to an open day in London and met other women suffering from an early menopause.

"I thought I was the only one going through this but there are lots of others.

"The Daisy Network encourages you to get on with your life," she said.

With hindsight, Mrs Clarke realises her early menopause must have started when she was 26 or 27 when her periods became irregular.

She had often felt very hot at night, although she did not get the terrible sweats that many women suffer from.

She was also often tired, had violent mood swings and became forgetful.

Her periods still had not returned 18 months after the birth of Jamie and the couple were keen to have another child.

But tests revealed that Mrs Clarke had gone through the menopause.

She is now receiving hormone replacement therapy - after several attempts to find one to suit her.

She is also taking vitamin pills and watching her diet to try to prevent brittle bone disease.

She is unable to have any more children except through IVF and there is a five-year wait in Oxfordshire for egg donors, an option the couple have decided not to pursue. Now she is hoping, through the Daisy Network, to help more women come to terms with the condition.

"There must be lots of women in Oxfordshire who could help each other by sharing their personal experiences," she said.

More information can be obtained by sending a stamp addressed envelope to the Daisy Network. PO Box 392, High Wycombe, HP 15 7SH with a large stamped addressed envelope.