The Change – part 1 « A Midwife’s Muse

The Change – part 1

April 27, 2008 at 5:17 pm | In Menopause | 6 Comments
Tags: hot flushes, Menopause

Now to the end, literally, of fertility, “the menopause, a natural life change, represents the beginning of a new phase of a woman’s life in which, with a positive attitude, she may fulfil many life ambitions that she has previously not had the opportunity to pursue”. I want to hunt down the person who wrote this trite little piece of propaganda. It’s all well and good having a positive attitude, I’m trying to, really I am but how the hell it is going to enable me to do things I’ve not got round to before, and why it should be opening up more possibilities I cannot begin to guess at.

It’s all really cheery stuff really, and not just for me but, apparently for those unfortunate enough to cross my path. My main gripe at the moment is hot flushes and also the terminology used to describe them, flushes, flashes, tropical moments, power surges. I had always interpreted these phrases as descriptive of a change in body temperature lasting a few seconds, I was wrong, ‘tropical tsunami’ is a better representation. It’s there, building slowly but inexorably, pushing forwards until it makes itself obvious by making your entire skin surface feel, and look, as if it is suffering from sun-burn and make you feel as if you are in a sauna, fully clothed. You are covered in a sweaty sheen and exhausted for about 5 minutes and, if you are me, instantly short-tempered. Your whole body is out of control, these nasty ‘symptoms’ of the change follow their own rules, there may not be one for a couple of hours and then three will come along in quick succession, and at night it’s so debilitating. I already have sleep issues, I’ve had ‘restless legs‘ for years but now I can also look forward to waking, I always wake just before a tsunami happens, and having to get up, otherwise I would make the bed damp from the sweat, and then find somewhere cool to stand until it passes. Something else happens with the instant saunas, palpitations. These are not just little flutters, they pound through your chest, it feels as if the sound of them must be resounding through the room, that your body must be jolting with their ferocity and at first it was really scary, I thought my heart might explode!

I’m attempting to be positive about these demonstrations of the changes in my autonomic nervous system and hormone levels but it is difficult, after all they are your bodies constant reminder that you are getting older, that your whole body is undergoing change, and not for the better, just a look at the diagram below tells me that!

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Tell me , why do we get all the hard work bits? It seems to me a woman’s body is never really her own, going through as many hormone led changes as it does. How come the boys only get to deal with facial hair and none of teh crappy stuff we get?!!

Comment by Lucy — April 27, 2008 #

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Lucy – I like to think that we are the ‘deluxe’ edition of the human race. You know, we have all the ‘extra’s’ that you would have to pay more for! Seriously though, we do have all the hormone-led stuff and we are made to feel that it is all our fault and that we should keep quiet about it.

Comment by midwifemuse — April 27, 2008 #

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I’m on the verge of all this and am quite determined to take it in my stride – I’ll let you know how that goes. Not well, I suspect!

Comment by Sarah Stewart — April 27, 2008 #

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Sarah – Apparently it’s different for everyone but I have to say that talking to my fellow ‘women of a certain age’ we all seem to be having the same experience.

Comment by midwifemuse — April 27, 2008 #

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the best thing for the menopause is a cardigan, on off on off on off,
The kids in my class are getting used to me flinging the door open ad gasping for air, they have learnt not to complain about the class room being “cold” but to put on thier sweat shirts,
It really bad when you cant drink a cup of tea because it makes you flush, not wanting to shake hands with people because you have just had a flush. The thing that anoys me the most is emotional incontenance wher you burst into tears because some one has been nice to you, because somthing is lovley because the cornflakes are the wrong shape. It is worse than being pregnant some days……………………….hey ho lets just get on with it,
love
princessfairytoes

Comment by bruce the westie — April 30, 2008 #

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Princess – All so true. I have always been slightly ‘emotionally incontinent’ and it doesn’t seem to have got any worse….yet, Son’s wedding should be the trigger for that one. I have noticed that I’m even less tolerant now of other people, mainly Hubby’s.

Comment by midwifemuse — April 30, 2008 #

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