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Showing posts from December, 2013

Patti Labelle said it best: "I've Got A New Attitude"

I was a teenager in the 1980's so the majority of my personal and pop culture references fall out of this decade. Patti Labelle was the queen of pop in the 80's and her song " I've Got A New Attitude" has become my menopause anthem. I'll put the lyrics up at the end. It's almost a new year. 2014. I've been doing this blog since my menopause hit full steam in January 2013, so it's almost a full year of hot flashes, mood swings, weight gain, and blogging. I've learned a great deal of medical facts, some tried and true methods of dealing with symptoms, and a great deal about myself as a person and as a woman. I've shared, hopefully educated, and probably amused you all at one point with my anecdotes about this time in my life. But I have learned one very important thing that I'd like to share now, since the beginning of a new year is upon us in a few hours: No matter what life throws our way, no matter how horrible, stressful, or angst

Menopause = Dry WHAT???

I read an article that I've enclosed the link to at the bottom of this talk, about dry eyes and menopause. Now, for my real job, I see patients every day whom I educate about eyes and contact lens use.  I have hundreds of women in the menopause time line as patients and I am always telling them to increase their daily water intake, never to rub their eyes, especially when contact lenses are in place, and if need be, use lubricating drops throughout the day and periodically to sooth dryness, especially if long hours are spent looking at a computer screen. Hair dressers, women who do woodworking, or who have jobs that require them to travel and drive long distances also get my lectures about caring for potential dryness. But the statistics gleamed from the following article were, well, eye opening. According to  the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public health "most of the people suffering from dry, itchy eyes" are menopausal women. The article

You know that old adage Measure twice, Cut once...

...well, I've applied that thought to the weight gain during menopause, especially the gain in belly fat. Normal weight is basically a math equation: Number of calories ingested + number of calories burned = your weight. Because math is such a perfect science, it makes sense that in order to maintain your weight, the more you take in,  the more you will need to burn off. If you ingest more than you burn, you will gain weight. The converse is also true: if you take in less and increase your exercise, you will lose weight. Belly fat, though, is in a class all by it's lonesome. Muscle mass normally decreases as a person ages, be they male or female.  Losing muscle proportionately decreases the rate your body burns calories, so you could be eating the same amount of food you always have, when suddenly the scale shoots up five pounds...or in my case 15. Belly fat tends to accumulate most, if not all, of this weight surge. Researchers postulate this occurs because of the drop

Mood swing, or Holiday overload?

I'm very good at keeping those times when my hormones rage and turn my emotions into a roller coaster hidden from others. If I feel a mood shift coming on, or find myself suddenly overcome with the need to cry, I usually find a quiet spot and wait it out. If I'm at work when one hits, I go into my office, shut the door, and let the tidal wave peak and ebb. Many times, for some strange diurnal reason, the shift occurs when I wake up in the morning. I'm make tea with tears cascading down my cheeks, and listening to the morning news reports will send me into shakes and quakes of sorrow - even if there is a happy story being related! My point is that most of the times the shifts occur,  no one else is witness to them. Yesterday that streak ended. While visiting with relatives for the holidays, I was suddenly overcome with a sense of melancholy that did not fit in with the festive occasion. I was unable to isolate myself until it passed and had to endure it while others arou

Which would you rather be: a hot mama or a cool chick?

Hmmmm. Let me think about that for a moment while this flash abates. I never thought I would need to choose between the two. But now that I've been going through this flash phase ( say that three time fast!) for almost a year, I would give anything to revert back to my cool state. While trolling the internet research on menopause the other day, I found an article about a new "cooling device" that's being used for hot flashes and in treating migraine headaches. I'll put the link to the article at the end, but what the article describes is an electronic ice cube that doesn't melt. Huh? It's called AMBI and is marketed as "the first ever portable, personal cooling device that works likes an ice cube to instantly deliver mess-free cool, soothing relief." Apparently it can used for everything from flashes, to migraines, insect bites and bruises. The touch of a button activates the device to deliver coolness to any area it is placed on. It'

Baby,it's cold outside...

That old song makes the point of telling you to come indoors during a cold, harsh winter night where it's all warm and cozy by the fire and in the arms of a lover. Cut to reality : it's seven degrees outside today, there's a nor'easter on the way,  and I left the house this morning in a spring jacket, sans gloves, hat and scarf because I WAS TOTALLY COMFORTABLE IN THE FRIGID COLD!! Last year, PPM ( Pre-Peggy-Menopause), I slept on flannel sheets, with fleece socks on my feet, and fleece lined pj's, under an electric blanket cranked to 10 most nights between november and april. I never left the house without fur-lined gloves, a hat that covered my head and ears, and a scarf that could wrap around my neck at least three times. Not to mention a big, bulky, lined wool coat. I would set the seat warmers in my Subaru up to "high" and turn on the dashboard heat full blast for the three minute drive to work. During the winter months I always wore a long sleev

Do I look fat in this?

Do you really want to know the answer to this question? Okay, here's the truth: YES! You do look fat in that. But it's not you're fault. Weight gain and bloating were probably things you had to deal with when you had a NORMAL period. Now that you're menstrual cycle is going the way of the dinosaur, you probably thought all those lousy premenstrual fat days were behind you. Sorry, not so. In fact, I gained ten pounds in less then a month and I didn't change my food intake. Every ounce of the weight gain was in my midsection with a little leftover creeping up my back. Yikes! I talked to two doctors who told me this is really more normal than you would hope, but you can combat it. If you were a good and faithful exerciser before menopause, and you continue to be during and after, you can keep the weight gain on the lower side of the scale. Ditto if you ate well and didn't overindulge in junk food, fatty foods or too much alcohol. Basically, if you took really goo

A final word about the Moody Blues... and I don't mean the rock group!

I typed in the word Moody to my computer thesaurus and the following is an abbreviated listing of words pertaining to it that were listed: morose, sulky, sullen, glum,  grumpy, short-tempered, petulant, cross, brooding, grouchy, prickly, touchy, testy. Say them quickly and they sound like they could be the names of characters in a menopause version of Snow White ( Grumpy, Moody, Grouchy, Prickly....you get the idea.) So, we've discussed the mood swings and how to deal with them from the outside. But did you know that your body has chemicals swirling around inside of it that can help make you happy and get through this moody period? I wish I had known this during puberty! I'm talking about ENDORPHINS. You've probably heard them mentioned somewhere in your lifetime, but do you know what they really are?  Endorphins are what are classified as neurotransmitters. These are chemicals that pass signals from one neuron to another in your body and o

Life WILL be better. Promise.

While I was staring at my computer screen yesterday at work, typing in a prescription, my eyes suddenly started to well up and within seconds I had tears waterfalling down my cheeks. "What happened?" you ask. "Absolutely nothing," I respond. "It's just a weepy mood swing." I can't stop them. They sneak up on me at the most inopportune moments and any attempts on my part to squelch them are impossible. I am not sad. I have not had an emotional encounter. I am just as I was seconds before. But my damn hormones don't know that. I'll be honest: puberty sucked. I wasn't able to go a day without raging, crying, or thinking the world would be better off without me. I can truly say that it was without doubt the worst time of my life. When my pubescent hormones finally regulated though, life was better. Cut to childbirth. I had one day of postpartum depression, but it was a doozy. I talked myself down from the ledge ( metaphorically!)