Dianekkdi

MENOPAUSE

yEP. It is what it looks like.

Oki doke....

I remember the first time I noticed things weren’t what I was used to….I was in the shower. Suddenly I looked down and saw what I thought was a big huge water bug that must have crawled up through the drain. I crashed myself into the tiled wall of the shower and started trying to figure out how I was going to get out of there. I was of course soaking wet and would have to exit in in a controlled panic so not to kill myself on a wet floor. I remembered my last skid across a bathroom floor into a door jam and the resulting two broken toes—not a good sequence of events. I squished myself tighter to the wall considering my predicament.

Then I noticed a tendril coming from its wide squat body and flowing down the drain. I got brave and toed it with my left big toe. Suddenly it had give and a purple tint. I recalled the bathroom scene that takes place at the flea market in “Serial Mom” where Kathleen Turner’s neighbor steps in the gore on the bathroom floor. I thought, ‘so, this is what gore looks like… hmmm....it looked a bit like liver too, perhaps…if there were some fava beans and Chianti?’


I thought the simple thing to do when I noticed the malfunctioning was to go back on birth control. I had the misfortune to find a lazy bland idiotic incompetent doctor who did just that and only that for me. He didn't even bother to tell me I was anemic when he got my blood tests back. I was already a 10.

The pills didn't work.

I started bleeding like crazy for longer and longer periods. One month I got 5 days off from bleeding, the next month--3.


I kept calling the idiots office and never getting a call back. There's a kind of weak tiredness that tells you something is really wrong.

I started looking for another doctor.

I found out from my new Gyn that I had slid to a 7.5 on the anemia scale: 6’s get blood transfusions.

I couldn't wait to go to bed. Then I'd sweat so I couldn't sleep. I still do that. Then the last thing I'd want to do is get up... eeks. Getting better there though. Indeed, rather than resting in grocery store aisles and wondering about blood transfusions, and such...I'm back up to an 11 something on the anemia scale. Woohoo!


I must thank my friends and other women for talking to me. Thank you so much for the book suggestions and the push to find a new and competent doctor.

Don't do menopause silently. It's too exhausting.

I have thus far read:


The Sexy Years: Discover the Hormone Connection--The Secret to Fabulous Sex, Great Health, and Vitality, for Women and Men (Hardcover)
by Suzanne Somers (Author) "The last words I ever thought I'd hear about myself were "You have breast cancer..." (more)
Key Phrases: natural bio identical hormones, bio identical hormone replacement therapy, minor hormones, Uzzi Reiss, Women's Health Initiative, Diana Schwarzbein (more...)

The Pause: Positive Approaches to Premenopause and Menopause by Lonnie Barbach (Paperback - Jan 1, 2000)

and

Our Bodies, Ourselves: Menopause by Boston Women's Health Book Collective and Vivian Pinn (Paperback - Oct 3, 2006)

I still have to read:

Could It Be...Perimenopause?: How Women 35-50 Can Overcome Forgetfulness, Mood Swings, Insomnia, Weight Gain, Sexual Dysfunction and Other Telltale Signs of Hormonal Imbalance by Steven R. Goldstein and Laurie Ashner (Paperback - Jan 14, 2000)

I am very impressed by Suzanne Sommers. Thanks for the recommendation.

The Pause is very objective and useful. It talks about bio identical hormones as being new.

The Boston's Women's Health book disappointed me. They were very negative. They also give RLS or newly known as Restless Leg Syndrome credence.

We have a bio-chemist friend who believes beyond a doubt that RLS was first a drug looking for a disease. We've been laughing at the commercials for some time now.

Please people--if your legs are restless when you go to bed--maybe--just maybe--you might want to exercise them some point in the day.
Spend some time on a treadmill...your legs will shut up.

We had a friend get diagnosed with it. He is of course 67 years old and totally inactive. He too had his doubts about this new found malady.

I said--hey! How about a nice recumbent exercise bike? Use it first fifteen minutes then 30 minutes a day. Your legs will be still at night.

I hate drugs. Really I do.

You all know the cure for indigestion don’t you?

-----Don’t eat the stuff that gives it to you. Ta da!

I'm looking forward to being on Bio identical hormones rather than this other stuff. He said he’ll put me on those as soon as we get me out of immediate trouble. (tomorrow---I'm supposed to test for and start on bio-identical tomorrow.)

I think this man is good for his word. If he's not I'm going to steal a bedpan from somewhere and...

I'll be patient for now....gots to hope I don't blow up like a balloon. I'm scared already. You have to know my family's genetics! I have aunts with 70" hips. They look like walking pears that were subject to radiation. I can't go there. I will not get fat. I will not get fat.

So.... anyway....

WELCOME TO MENOPAUSE,

ain't it grand?

Yeah Baby.

__________________

----------------------
Reinvestigate 9/11
Impeach......Prosecute......Imprison

"...The force of public opinion cannot be resisted when permitted freely to be expressed...."
--Thomas Jefferson

Teri B.

Good information! I'm not there yet, but it's looming large since I had one of my ovaries removed several years ago. They put me on hormones to "jump start" the other ovary, and I was whacked out of my mind. One minute, I was livid for no reason, the next crying, the next euphoric. I only had to take them for about a month, but that was one scary ass month! My mother and sister didn't go through "the change" till they were in their 50s, so I've got some time, but I'll never forget how crazy I got during that time, nor what A BITCH my sister was for about 2 yrs when she did.

They'll probably be a national security advisory when my time comes, so that everyone will know to flee the region to avoid dismemberment and senseless bloodshed. (I'm only partly kidding - when I'm really angry, the razor sharp tongue kicks in and anyone in the vacinity finds themselves sniveling and tembling in the corner - I know, hard to believe huh? ). Look out world!

CosmicRocker

I'm a guy.
It terrifies me.

Women go batshit - i understand it's hormonal,
but that doesn't make it any easier to deal with

__________________

"Hey now Baby, get into my big black car.
I wanna just show you, what my politics are"

"I'm a political man and I practice what I preach
So don't deny me baby, not while you're in my reach."

Politician - Cream

Teri B.

Be afraid . . . be very afraid.

lollipop

Thanks for giving me a detailed description of what I have to look forward to

I still have plenty of time but when I think about this sort of stuff it depresses me - not really getting older but losing my youth and facing all sorts of health problems I hear others talk about.

I hope I didn't offend anyone, if I did I truly apologize I'm just feel kinda blue right now.

ciaobox2007

i thought it was called men-on-pause.
shows how much i know.
sounds like a fucking blast though.

__________________
what's the ratio of schrute bucks to stanley nickels?

disfigured

Told the wife if she went off the deep end I'd dump her.

I could could give a shit what the "natural" order of things are , or are not, for a woman.

I am not living with an irrational, mood swinging maniac for any extended period of time.

Life's too short.

She's been warned.

__________________

lollipop

You sound like a very supportive, loving, mature and understanding husband.

disfigured

I'll tolerate a lot, but I've heard horror stories and I won't stand for that.

__________________

Free Parking

Let's pretend we are all around a campfire, and disfigured is holding a flashlight under his chin to cast scary shadows on his face. OK, the scene is set. Disfigured, let's hear those horror stories.