Bitter or Flavorful- could go either way… And some people despise wine.

Sometimes it seems like my circle gets smaller as I age.
More opinionated on how things should be due to watching prior experiences and what worked well.
Whether its at work or not… And the things I was good at in my earlier years, I can’t keep up with anymore. New hobbies. But if there’s anything that screams loud in my head is the need for female relationships AND Jesus…

Trying to understand why I’m not like others.

And I want to vent and complain to others, but don’t trust they want to listen to a whine fest.

But they are all women in my age group are saying and asking the same thing about themselves.

The age of menopause tends to bring a whole newness on. Little explanation on what to expect. Lack of understanding from our fore-mothers. Nor in any prior education. So we are all educating ourselves as we go. And nowadays trying to be loud about it.

Interesting as your circle of friends are all going through it. But so many different ways out there there to battle…
and every one is trying something different and managing it differently due to past life experiences and physician suggestions.
Few physicians know how to help. And due to each individual’s medical history, it is attacked in a different way and it looks different on each person. Give us ladies in the peri and post menopausal timelines grace!

It would make sense if many of us were going through this change in our lives as our kids are gone, out of our house, and it is just our spouse and us at this point and our kids have moved on. However; as they years have gone on, many people are waiting until much older in age to have children, meaning that they still have kids in their home while going through this change.
Also, one would like to think that perhaps women are sitting at home with the concerns only of taking care of their homes and their spouse. Or at a place in their life where they only have to work part time due to their spouses who are NOT going through this change can work and make enough money for these things to be possible.

No, this is not how it is. At least anymore. If it was ever? I feel like we are raised feeling like this is what history looked like. And maybe it did. But over the last 50 years its not true. There are a lot of variations of ages of parents. No longer can most families in the US afford for only 1 adult in the family to work.

So we have a woman who starts perimenopause in her 40s with the normal age to hit menopause being 45-55 (which is the year of no menstrual period) followed by post-menopause which is where you are when you complete that year. The funny thing is so many women want to get to that year because what a wonderful year of no period. But before and after is NOT wonderful.

I watched a reel the other day of a woman’s hormones before and after Peri-Menopause.
The story starts with a strict regime of marching soldiers. All following orders and walking in concert with each other. Or like a marching band marching in a parade. Arms and feet moving in exact motion with each other. The reel moves to the peri-stage with the idea of a whole bunch of rats from an animation jumping in and out of the screen in chaos. Also consider it the comparison from that marching soldiers keeping order to the chaos of a protesting area being taken out by those soldiers. It’s no longer in order, side by side, and people are screaming and going everywhere, dying, standing up to the military… welcome to my imagination.

The estrogen and progesterone levels go up and down in significant shifts and drifts… like snowdrifts (another imagination idea). There is an option of HRT that all women that CAN should take advantage of. However some of us cannot.
And also, the HRT does not control everything that is spazzing out or the weight gain.

Did you know how many things that estrogen controls?
Joint Pain, Frozen shoulder and hips- this is a thing
Weight Gain-our bodies start storing more fat
Bones- become more osteoporotic
Brains- ADHD increases
Emotions are harder to control- depression and anxiety are increased
Temperature isn’t regulated. Those hormones control our feels of cold and heat- hence why we get hot flashes and sweat in the night and in 9 degree temperature.
Skin- loses collagen
Muscles- begin to atrophy
Hair THINS!
Energy levels- definitely not consistent
These are by far not the full list

And now we are dealing with all of this physical and mental disorganization…
While as a friend says to me, that the height of women in management in the workplace is in their low 40s.
Our children are in various ranges of school due to our ages when we had our children.
Oh- and our parents are starting to have medical issues. So we have to start worrying about how to take care of them when things go downhill.

Then… the world gets more and more expensive to live in. Groceries, gas, mortgages, and now COLLEGE! So now in your home, its likely that your family is not just working 1-2 jobs, but like ours, we are working 5-6 jobs.
Personally, I have my primary job with Pardee that I’ve had for 19 years, my secondary job with SVCM NeighborCare to help with the free medical clinic that I helped start in the community, my 3rd job with IDaph to do something completely unrelated that I love so much, and my 4th job as a PRN ATC to make extra money to afford the extras. My husband has his primary job with NPS, secondary job with IDaph, and 3rd job selling coffee on the side.

Then what are we told to fix these problems? We try everything because there is now a MARKET towards us ladies to make money. They figure we are all rich old ladies looking to pay whatever for solutions.
Well my social media pages are completely full of ideas.
Lift heavy.
Limit cardio. Cardio is fine.
Eat more. Eat less.
Lift 7 minutes.
Asian Pilates,
Keto,
GLP-1, glow getter, Collagen supplements,
HRT, but you can’t take it if you had hormone pos BC
Ashwaganda yes. But Ashwaganda is bad. But its ok if its liquid. But its a scam site.
Pay me and I’ll give you a personal plan.
MD says no there’s no such thing as ADHD with menopause. Menopause trained MDs and every woman in menopause says differently.
Same with Frozen joints.
Oh and the hair products to help your thinning hair. Whether its because you are in post-menopause or are taking a GLP-1 to solve your weight problem that came with this hormonal drop.
One MD says just deal with it. You’re all in the same boat. Blows you off.
Another one actually listens to you.

So the men are not going through this. Just like women hitting puberty earlier than men by a few years, women hit this decades before men. So they just think we’re getting whiney. The only thing they are experiencing is joint pain due to the natural aging processes unless they have other medical issues going on.

So now, we are expected by all the younger people we work with as well as our significant others to be able to keep the same level of physical activity, mental activity, and sanity without showing emotional drainage…

Did this post seem scatterbrained? Well… look at who just wrote it. A woman in post-menopause.

I swear if I didn’t have Jesus in my life, I might be in a straight-jacket right now…