(Caution: Language pertaining to the woman's anatomy and
functions will be described in the following article. This is important and
should be shared with anybody you feel has not been upgraded on their education
of what to expect in Peri-menopausal and Menopausal)
I'm not an
expert on health by any means but what I've been experiencing for the past few
years (stopped counting after 5 or so), is no less than an incessant
inconvenience of all sorts. I've had body pains, night-sweats (just pure
pleasure that is, not!), and some other debilitating symptoms. I had inquired
with several doctors within my town regarding these ailments and was told,
"No, you are
not menopausal. Get more exercise." And that was the extent of it.
January, 2016 comes around and everything is
pretty much going the same, minus all the symptoms listed previously. Then
February, and no period. Then March, and no period. As I etched into the end of
April, I was getting ready to pop the champagne and begin life without the
baggage of feminine hygiene products, ever. I also wasn't feeling the best,
physically, either. There was sharp pain in the upper back by the spine that
was causing some much grief. Not enough to send me to the doctor as I was
managing and the discomfort seemed to be easing, as 4- 5 days went by.
On April 30, as I
prepared for evening sky-watching through YouTube, a sudden urge to urinate
sent me to the bathroom where I discovered that Mother Nature was not finished
with me yet. This first frustrated me. Quite a lot more than just a bit. I grumbled
as I went to bed and was still grumbling when the alarm went off. Almost talked
myself into thinking it was the wrong day and would have gone back to bed. I
blame my period for that, because I just spent two months of pure bliss. No
cramps, no bloating, no back-pains from hell and especially, NO PADS.
But no,
overnight, my jeans are sausage-tight, no joke. And my skin feels like it's
going to breakout any minute. I'm too old for this shit!!! And I don't want to,
nah! I spent almost every other hour of the following day (today) hoping that
it was just a 'blip' in the schedule and would be done by the end of the day.
That didn't happen, either.
I know that my BFF just went pure hell as she seemed to have
all the symptoms x 10 and even referred
to feeling like a pig being bled-out, for days on end. I wanted to ask her about my current
circumstance, but considering how awful her experience was, I couldn't. So I did
the next best thing: Googled it! (And it worked. Imagine that.)
First off, I'm
not nuts and you ladies out there, are not going nuts either. We are stuck in the 'Perimenopausal Stage' (Premenopause). And this can last for what seems like a second lifetime. And it is common for 'Aunt Flow' to come in and out of her cycle until full Menopause takes over. And yes, it might get more painful, complete unpredictable and seem like the bleeding is heavier than in previous cycles. This not what I had in mind when I said I wanted to feel like a teenager again.
Second, big, huge
Thank You to the people at Canadian Women's Health Network, who put together
one heck of a website that is going to help me figure all this crap out. Third,
doctors need to start giving women more information on what's going on with
their own bodies. We don't all have a gynecologist available, a big sister
who's been through it or a mother who's comfortable enough to share her
experience. Even if the doctor is male and is uncomfortable himself discussing
female events, the least he could do is guide us towards the right source for
our own information quest, as I've done here.
There is lots of information out there from professional individuals and women's clinics and other fantastic sites. I would hope that
this site and the information on both phases of Menopause are helpful to
somebody who, like me, has to find out somethings on their own.
©Dominique Clark 2016
#Menopause #WomensHealth #Perimenopause #Health
#Postmenopause #CanadianWomensHealth
