One of my favorite things about Fall has been the donning of some old comfy sweater or getting a new one! I love turtlenecks, cowl necks, soft, hugable feeling sweaters.Something has stressed me out this Fall . . . it’s the fact that I can hardly even think about opening that drawer, for fear that I won’t get that sweater off quick enough. It seems to have to do with something called Menopause.
What is this all about? What is this heat going through my body like I’m steaming in a sauna? These days I'm keeping one foot out from under the cover. I’m blow drying my hair before I get dressed. Camisole type tops and lightweight sweaters that button down are my friends. And in the evening, I snuggle up to my hubby, watching TV, one minute and hurl off the fleece throw the next . . . but keep it where I can see it. He says, “Are you hot? I know you are.”
I’m looking at this word . . . menopause . . . is the main part the “pause”? If so . . . how long is this pause? I asked my mother and she does not know what I’m talking about. She’s of the generation where her doctor prescribed some magic pills when she was in her forties and she swallowed them for twenty five years. She asks . . . why don’t you take something? I wonder . . . if I take something . . . how will I know when the pause is over?
I thought I could just breeze through this timely event, especially since women tend to belabor these kinds of issues. But, with every heat wave, my resolve is weakening. Is there life after the Pause? Or is that the time we throw shawls over our shoulders and blankets over our knees as we get wheeled down the corridor to the dining hall?
25 comments:
I love your candor about this topic! Hope you can stay cool throughout it all!
P.S. My word verification is "eupsa"....can you guess what word that is when you move the letters around??
Oh Anneliese. .I'm chuckling as I read this. ..so often I've thought I might actually discuss this issue that we find ourselves in .. and you went for it. I have pondered those magic pills so many times myself. It was a good time our mothers lived in that they did not have to wonder if cancer would come because of their magic pills. My mom died of a heart attack.
on off on off on off . .that is what my sweater says.
Menno Jeweler. .now we are playing shower games. .where we have to untwist words? Very fun. I'm looking at mind but I can't come up with one.
Oh girlfriend...I'm chuckling along with Lovella although this is quite serious stuff :0)
I pictured myself in that wheelchair with the shawl and then I threw that shawl off and jumped out of that wheelchair. I'm one of those that succumbed early to the little white pill and haven't looked back! My dose is low enough that I still hang my leg outside the blanket.
Where I work, all the dear people with shawls in a w/c are way past the pause. They don't throw any shawls off, but ask for more! LOL! Have you looked into some of the natural supplements? I wasn't a good candidate for HRT. What a blessing when I didn't even get one of those heat waves,---- BUT had almost 8 years of an emotional rollercoaster ride that has finally leveled out. Everyone's body responds so differently! Wishing you well!!
Don't even get me started! Seriously! I've been on pause for over five years now & have run the gamut of natural suppliments and HRT. I was on HRT for about a year (lowest dose possible) and it got me through the initial depression/anxiety when I thought I was actually losing my mind!
Now all that remains is the "on off on off on off" as Lovella calls it. I can fully relate to the foot out of the covers, except that I fully lie on top of the covers for a few minutes, then I get cold enough to crawl back under. Needless to say, my sweater drawer doesn't get opened very often these years!
Good luck - you're not alone!!!
Vange
My friend calls a hot flash a "private summer". lol. Well that's what it feels like! Some natural remedies I have heard of are: drink a cup of soy milk every day (it comes in different flavours); or drink a glass of water with a Tablespoon of ground flaxseed every day. I haven't tried either of these, but the women who told me about them said they are sure to work. If my private summers get too frequent I may consider....
What can I say? My doctor helped me decide that a low dose HRT...for a few years would be a good thing. And a very good thing it is!
And here I was thinking the end of "Auntie Flow from the Red River Valley" (aka the period) would be a welcome thing? :)
My office manger calls the flashes "mini vacations in the tropics"! I'll have to say I am already so hot natured that I haven't really noticed any change. I am grateful! You did make me laugh though!
I'm chuckling although I know it's not funny when these 'power surges' occur.
I love your writing! I just found your blog today. I too sleep with one foot out, and then in and then out...........still wondering when this is all going to end.
I had no problem. None. I don't know to what I could attribute this to add to the discussion, except maybe, I was doing triathlon-type workouts everyday for two years. I was eating meat only rarely at that time, because you need so much carbohydrate to fuel your workouts. Now, many years past menopause, I find I'm having some minor heat sessions, and then I freeze. I find if I look at it, those heat sessions were on nights when I had meat at supper. It makes sense, because your body must really heat up to digest meat.
You have me howling...and flinging off my extra layers! I have never been so hot in my life....my own personal summers.....while I'm in the desert! I love walking down town and finding those cool mist sprayers....I may just meet up with you under the mist...or in a store with fans or AC. Hope to see you somewhere cool!
I'm totally with your mother..Anneliese...get over it and you will be a happy person...don't think about all the scary things...that we were once told.
Take a low dosage and enjoy life...it keeps your bones strong and it's just the best.
Oh Anneliese, I've been there, done this (HRT) AND that (creams, natural remedies - you name it) They all worked for a short while and then the hot flashes were back with a vengence. I gave up and went cold turkey! (pardon the temperature pun) It's hot one minute and freezing the next - I'm going on 15 years now and still no end although the "pauses" are a bit longer now and the "power surges" a bit less intense. I still can't wear a turtleneck though!
Taking estrogen does not help with your bones. Only our own estrogen does that. It is natural that you should not have pre-menopause levels of estrogen, and taking it to "top up" is very risky.
Taking HRT raises cancer risk, in any amount and for any length of time, and in fact the pharmaceutical companies that sold HRTs are now in court over it. http://tinyurl.com/2dpty4f
And another class of drugs many women are prescribed for prevention but which cause disease:
Osteoporosis drugs linked to bone fractures
http://tinyurl.com/2728zrp
I know it's kind of a downer to post this here, but this is where this kind of information belongs; where women are discussing their later year's health issues.
This info is from the Canada Heart and Strtoke Foundation.
A study called the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) was carried out to answer this question.
The WHI trial of HRT (combined estrogen-progestin) involved approximately 16,000 women between the ages of 50 and 79 years who had not had a hysterectomy. Although the trial was scheduled to be completed in 2005, the trial was stopped early after 5 years of follow-up. The trial was stopped due to a small increased risk of invasive breast cancer . For women in the study at the time it was stopped, there was an increased risk of heart attack and death due to heart disease (especially seen in the first year of treatment). There was also a small but important increased risk of stroke and as is seen with other estrogen studies, an increase in blood clots. There was a suggestion of benefit for prevention of hip fractures and colorectal cancer but overall, women using HRT were more likely to have harm than benefit. Based on this study, it was calculated that one hundred in 10,000 women using HRT treatment will experience an adverse event. The excess risk is small but important given that this therapy has been suggested for disease prevention. The part of the study that looked at estrogen alone in women with prior hysterectomy was also stopped early because no overall benefit was seen. Although there was no increased risk of heart disease, there was an increased risk of stroke and blood clots.
Side effects other than heart disease or stroke-related outcomes must be considered when deciding whether to use HRT in the short term (for a few years or less). The WHI trial has shown an increased risk of breast cancer with long-term use (more than five years) of continuous-combined estrogen-progestin HRT, although this was not found in the estrogen-alone arm of WHI.
Guess I'm on off on off on off...
Carol
http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/about-cancer/cancer-questions/hrt-and-cancer-risk#womb
This maybe easier to grasp. Also consider, risks combine. Your risk from taking estrogen/HRT will add to your risk from other carcinogenic risks, such as farm chemicals, industrial pollution. Etc.
A few years ago I collected a rainbow of tissue weight cashmere pashima wraps. I found that I could have them over my shoulder for warmth against chills, but also could easily drop them down when I flashed hot, and if needed, I could even fold them up in a zip lock bag and tuck them in my purse until I was cool again.
The latest fashion dictates that pashimas are "out" and cardigans are "in"...again. Struggling to gracefully slip out of a cardigan is difficult, and only serves to make me even hotter. I'll be a fashion drop out on this topic unless I'm out and about and the temperature is flirting with freezing!
Now all I need is a solution to the dripping sweat after exercising and warm showers. Will it never end?
I appreciate all your commenter's tips!
Anneliese.. I had to smile the smile one smiles when someone shares something that I thought was true only for me!
I too LOVE sweaters and always looked forward to winter when I could wear them again ... UNTIL... the very thought of a sweater was enough to send me into a private summer. Sadly I wondered if ever sweaters would be my garment of choice again!
But yes.. I can once again happily reach for a sweater and enjoy its cozy warmth.
Be patient.. Anneliese...it does pass. And no.. I didn't take anything to help me over it.
I can so much identify with you! I have now been in this heat season for almost 2 years and I've been on a roller coaster, let me tell you! I thought I could go cold turkey but my emotions finally got the best of me after many, many sleepless nights as well. It's simply what this season of hormonal upset does to some. My family has heart disease and breast cancer so I'm not a candidate for HRT; I was so desperate for a little more quality of life that I finally asked my doctor and she flatly refused. I almost cried. But....she put me on Novo clonidine (you can take up to 3 tablets a day, and I have to). It only works on 70% of the women who take it. It took 2 weeks to become effective and finally it took away the huge intensity of each flush. Now, after 7 weeks, though, the intensity has upped a bit again, and I have to be careful not to get antsy or over anxious. I am truly afraid that it will rise back to its original intensity, but I keep telling the Lord that I'm trusting Him to keep it at bay. I'm confident though that He will see me through it no matter what, but certainly it is a very difficult time for those who have it to this degree. There are those, of course, who breeze through it; my sister who is 10 years older says she has had about a handful of hot flushes! Go figure! I am yearning and pining to get back into a cozy warm sweater and turtlenecks! But, until then...well, I'll try to conserve the energy and help others out. Oh, no, that doesn't work either! I can't stand to have someone touch me when the flush comes along. And so it goes...
Breast Cancer Seen as Riskier with Hormones. NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/20/health/20hormone.html?src=me&ref=general
Many doctors assume that women can safely take hormones for four or five years for menopause symptoms like hot flashes and night sweats, said Dr. Rowan T. Chlebowski, the first author of an article published this week in The Journal of the American Medical Association and an oncologist who treats breast cancer patients at the Harbor-U.C.L.A. Medical Center in Torrance, Calif.
“I don’t think you can say that now,” he said. “I know some people have to take it because they can’t function, but the message now is that you really should try to stop after a year or two.”
Dr. Chlebowski said it was not known whether there is any length of time for which these hormones can be taken without increasing breast cancer risk."
I want to express my appreciation to .each of you for the comments ... for laughing with me and understanding and also to those who took the time to share information on the mediacal research that has been done. Thank you.
my word verification is monsti --- may it only be a small monster
Loved this post very much and the comments already left. I have been in the "pause" for a while and today I have a long-sleeved shirt and a short-sleeved shirt to go over my shell so I can be comfortable in all my vacationing places! You all make me laugh! Never would I have considered these places to stay for even a minute.
I say my internal thermostat is challenged and some day maybe it will settle down. I try not to think of how long that will be - just glad that the thermostat IS internal, not like those stubborn hairs that are growing ON MY FACE!
Thanks for this post!
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