Menopausal misery!

Sorry, sorry rant alert! I have been "experiencing" (suffering!!) menopausal horrors for almost a year now and I am totally & utterly fed up.

I am fed up of turning into a human radiator, drenched in sweat every 3 hours or so.

I am fed up that cutting out all of the "triggers" (alcohol, caffeine, sugar) has made no discernible difference. Sometimes a glass of water can set me off.

I am fed up of sleeping no more than 2 hours at a stretch, waking up soaking wet and having to get up to get dried and changed, then get back into a damp bed & try & get back to sleep.

I am fed up of having all the windows open and a fan on full blast pointed at me at all times. (Actually FSHubby and the KC are also fed up about this)

I am fed up of women's magazine articles telling me to "embrace the change" and suggesting I eat more tofu (happy to do that), drink tomato juice (full of phyto-oestrogens apparently), take sage tablets, black cohosh and evening primrose oil - I did, for 6 months - THEY DON'T WORK!!

I am fed up of gaining 5lbs every time I even sniff a cake let alone eat it (and if I dare eat it I sweat too, it's got sugar in it).


I am fed up that I can't have HRT.

My family doesn't cope well with fake hormones - mum & sister both had oestrogen triggered breast cancers (thank god both survived)


So I am fed up (but not surprised) that genetic screening showed my risk was way too high. Computer said NO.

I am fed up that a very expensive course of (GP recommended) acupuncture didn't stop my sweats it just made me freezing cold when I wasn't boiling hot!

I am also fed up that the one medically proven remedy available to those who can't have HRT (Clonidine, it's typically given to migraine sufferers to modulate blood flow) will likely cause me to faint (and I'd probably fall on concrete and fracture my skull) if I take it as I also suffer from something stupid called vaso depressive syncope which means any medications that affect blood flow knock me for 6.

And I am finally fed up that my buggered Achilles is healing more slowly because of this dammed menopause

Before I reached this "special time of change" I was very sniffy about middle aged men who suddenly upped and left their middle aged wives, women they'd been with for 20 odd years. Now I am going through it I look at the sweaty, irritable, overweight, exhausted, humourless harridan staring back at me and think good God, I completely understand - I'd leave me!

Thank the Lord however that my amazing FSHubby is patience personified and not only puts up with all the rubbish, he reassures me constantly and tells me how much he loves me daily!! Awww....