Happy Friday Sweet Souls!
Menopause is not the end of the world. It is a time of great change and self discovery.
When I was in Nurse Practitioner training at UCSF there was a guest lecturer who was a female gynecologist from Seattle and a researcher. This was how she presented menopause. Menopause occurs around the ages of 40 – 50ish. This is the time when estrogen and progesterone which are female hormones and also steroids decrease. It is also the time when breast cancer rates rise. The statistics are: 1 out of 65 women in the 40 year old category and 1 out of 42 for the fifty year old group. The bottom line: Menopause is a protective mechanism against breast cancer. It should be celebrated.
Back in the day no one knew about Estrogen and Progesterone receptor positive breast tissue. Hormone replacement therapy was the norm 30 years ago activating breast cancer in women. It is still used today. Bio identicals carry the same risk.
When I reached 50 it was a time for me to take really good care of myself. I actually started it in my 40’s. I knew what was coming, vaginal dryness, hot flashes, irritability, palpitations. It was my brain and body’s response to the decrease in estrogen and progesterone that had been present for a good 25 years.
I remembered that lecture at UCSF. I had a great gynecologist. I charted my own course for menopause that included:
- Sugar reduction because every time I ate sugar I had a hot flash
- Decreasing alcohol for the same reason
- Increasing exercise so that the muscle around my bones would be strong enough to withstand the decrease in calcium as a osteoporosis preventative measure
- I hydrated myself
If I was irritable I didn’t project this onto anyone I just kept quiet until it passed and breathed - I reduced white flour, rice, pasta and bread and dairy because my gut couldn’t handle it. My belly got larger.
- My diet was and still is greens, lean protein, nuts, avocados, fish.
- I made myself a priority
- I stuck to it.
No one ever died from Menopause and imagine all the women who have come before us that had hard lives and had more important things to do than complain about a stage of life that can be our greatest teacher.
Take good care of yourselves.
Greatest of love to you all.
Deb
