Sharing my story with other women I feel is the only reason I am not in the koo-koo house right now. FOR REAL THOUGH! Expressing my thoughts and feelings with some of my friends around the same age as me and older,  proved to be very beneficial to me. Low and behold! I discovered I wasn’t alone on that boat gliding off of the deep end! Many others had some of the same deep emotional and unexplained out of nowhere kind of feelings that I did. Now if the sentence I just wrote makes absolutely no sense to you, then you’ve just captured the thought I intended, because in the beginning that’s just how it is, a whole bunch of what in the heck is going on around here! That’s why it’s so important to seek out other women who can identify with what you are going through. If you isolate yourself, you will feel that you are alone in your situation when that is so far away from the truth!

Example of how sharing is caring. With just the little bit of knowledge I had gained over the first year or so that I had been going through pre menopause, I was able to help a friend of mine that was at lest 10 years older than me identify what was happening to her. like me, she had no clue! She said that she couldn’t understand why lately, when her husband got up to go to work very early in the morning she couldn’t go back to sleep, in fact, she would start having heart palpitations, and on two occasions ended up in the ER, fearing she was having a heart attack! Each time they found nothing out of the ordinary. In hearing her story I recognized similarities with some of the things that I had experienced, I shared with her that I felt somehow, the things she was experiencing, was linked to the peri stages of menopause, and that many other women that I had spoken to had been through some of the same things. I shared with her what a couple of my older friends had gone through when they first noticed they were going through the change. One who had been involved in public speaking for over 40 years was assigned to prepare and perform a public lecture, but now, it was met with deep fear, she just felt she wasn’t going to be able to get through it. She did fulfill that particular assignment , but took a break from that type of public speaking for a while. Another found it difficult to fly on planes when traveling in this manner was something she had done with no problem. Some women suddenly find it hard to drive on the freeway and will only take local streets to get to where they need to go. Other women who have lived alone for years! Now found themselves in a panicked state when entering their homes or apartments, unable to sleep unless someone else is there, life altering indeed.  I am happy to say that in each of the cases I’ve mentioned, the women involved were in time able to go back to their regular routines, some in months, others took over a year.

I said all of that to say this, had she not said anything to me, how could I have shared stories of myself and others with her? the poor women would have thought she was losing her mind like many of us do in the beginning, but when we talk to each other, we learn and take something away from it, something that we can share with our sisters, daughters, nieces, aunts, the sister girl next door and at work, and even our mothers who may already be done with the change of life thing, but can know understand with more clarity what they have been through. I don’t know about you, but there’s just something about knowing whats going on with myself, that gives me a little piece of mind ;0) The more we share and listen, the more educated we become, we can help forewarn other    women of the battle ahead. Our starting points my be different and our symptoms anywhere from zero to crazy! Lol! But ladies, are you starting to see that you are not alone? something is going on inside of us that we just can’t explain at the time, many of us are not educated or knowledgeable enough on this subject, it’s linked to things that many of us may know very little about. Do as much research as you possibly can and share what you’ve learned with others, the information and stories that you share are so VALUABLE! In my opinion even life saving.

If you would like to share your story with us, please e-mail it to: talk2theledge@gmail.com  Please also state that we have your permission to post it here on our blog. We thank you in advance for sharing.

Not all women are created equal…

That’s right! When it comes to Menopause not all women experience the same things,  our experiences are just as varied as we are as women, with our different shapes, sizes, colors,  backgrounds and attitudes, one experience does not fit ALL!  From what I understand with talking with other women,  not ALL of us experience the emotional effects of menopause, some women just gradually stop having their monthly cycle and they’re done!  And to you women, I’d just like to say CONGRATULATIONS on winning the coin toss on this one! If ever there were a party you didn’t want to be invited to, trust me, this would be the one!  I remember speaking to an older women that told me that she nor her mother went through the emotional part,  just the physical, Wow! How I wish I could claim that!  But noooooo, I’m left to cope with yet another thing, to add to my already overflowing plate of womanly things.   For women like me, we can just fondly remember what life use to be like before this whole change of life thing got started.

For you women who have PMS (premenstrual syndrome) I understand that the emotional part of Menopause is very similar, the moodiness, the crying for no reason and the just PLEASE! Leave me alone attitude. I never suffered from PMS as a teenager, so this emotional thing is all new for me, I’ve always been the la-la-la let’s make lemonade out of lemons kind of a person, but now I have moments of, “get me a bat! And let’s get to swinging type of person”, but for PMS folks , you may already have a jump start on this emotional thing, menopause will just add on to your portion. “ISN’T THAT JUST GREAT!”
Postpartum depression too, they all deal with hormonal imbalances. As you can see, our situations will very as well as our fears and fixations on things,  So for those of us that may have many symptoms, let us not hate on our girls that may only have one or a few. Let us view every experience in life whether bad or good, as those we can learn something from.

In The Beginning…

There was this seemingly normal happy go La! La! Young women in her late thirties, she had no idea that her world was about to be turned upside down! From a world she once knew, to one of mystery and uncharted waters…. (dramatic pause)  Lol! Isn’t that how all the great stories begin?

Anywho!

This is how my Menopausal adventure begin some 21 years ago. I started having signs around the age of 37, at first I had no idea what was going on! I started noticing subtle changes in the way I thought, and emotionally how things affected me, I just couldn’t explain it! In a nutshell, I thought I was losing it! I can remember having night sweats and waking up every morning around the same time, 6am! My heart would be racing with anxiety like it was about to pop out of my chest!  I started experiencing these anxiety attacks on the regular while doing things that I had been doing with ease for years,  going out to eat,  being in public places,  going to work,  traveling and starting up conversations, these everyday things now became objects of fear to me.  What in the French toast is going on! Trust me,  at 37,  menopause being the problem wasn’t even on my radar, whatever this was, I was determined not to let it get the best of me, how could I allow this thing to isolate me and keep me away from the very things I enjoyed? It wasn’t until I went for one of my yearly check ups that one of the female doctors told me what was going on after I shared with her what was happening to me,  she was like, “Oh! you’re in the peri stages of menopause”  THE WHAT?  She then explained to me that Peri-menopause is a stage that a women goes through before they actually go into the full all out Menopause! This can last anywhere from a few months to 10 years, it’s like the pre test that the teachers use to give us in school before the REAL thing, they would give us bits and pieces of the test, before they gave us the whole shebang!  That’s kinda what Peri-menopause is. (the doctor will have to do a blood test to check your hormone levels to determine if you are indeed menopausal, but if you are in peri, must likley your hormone test will not tell you much even though you may be experiencing some menopausal symptoms).

Some of the symptoms could be: problems going to sleep, hot flashes , night sweats,  low sex drive,  irregular menstrual periods,  mood swings and more. REALLY!!  Are you kidding me!  Who do I complain to about getting my money back on this model? In my opinion,  this whole pre and menopausal thing is when a women starts to lose her mind! Or starts to lose sight of the person that she’s always known herself to be. Let me back up for a moment,  just a side point,  and please don’t take this the wrong way my male doctors,  I truly love and value your expertise,  you have spent many years and loads of money on school to do what you do, but just in these instances of womanly things,  I don’t care how many degrees or certificates you may have in female studies,  if I ask you what it feels like to have a period or menstrual cramps,  you can only give me a text book answer,  when THIS! Stuff is going down! I want to hear a “girl……I know what you’re saying, I’ve felt that way too.”  So for a situation like this,  I’m glad I saw a women doctor,  she was so in tune to this new situation I found myself in, don’t think I would have had the same ahh ha! Moment with a male doctor,  I think it would be like trying to explain to a person who’s been rich all of their lives what it’s like not to have enough money to keep the lights on at the house,  I mean,  they can feel sorry for you and perhaps come over and sit in the dark with you for a while,  but back at the ranch (their home),  their lights are still on, it’s an experience they could never really know unless they too have been there. Stay tuned to my next post.

Welcome to my first post!

What is menopause? My name is Natalie and It is my hope that this blog will help women learn a little about menopause. I have always admired how Oprah and others have kept a Journal of their life course. What a bright idea! Keeping a journal of my experience of going through menopause has proven to be very therapeutic for me, it’s given me a voice to share with other women, women, who may have thought they were suffering alone! With no-one to really understand what they were going through, and how this change of life THING! Has made them feel inside. This blog will contain my own personal experiences and feelings of dealing with menopause. 

“Menopause”~ Most would define this term as the change of life or a time when a women’s monthly cycle starts to come to an end, and when some women are hormonally WACKY!  This happens usually when a women is in her mid 40’s or 50’s, although like me! Many women can start a whole lot earlier than that! For many women, menopause is a whole lot more than a period coming to an end! I’d like to give you all my own personal definition.

“Menopause”~ A constant talking yourself down from the ledge. (Nj’s definition :0) As I share my posts, you will begin to understand why I have chosen this as my own personal definition.

PLEASE NOTE! I am not a doctor or a medical care Professional, so PLEASE! Understand that anything said here is based on my own personal opinion. If you feel that you need to seek professional help, Please don’t hesitate to do so. Hopefully, this will be a place for you to be able to identify with what you are going through, what menopause is, and to share some of your own stories with others as we go through this journey together. I truly believe there is strength in numbers!

I look forward to sharing my journal entries with you.

Nj  :0)