#post menopausal

My three reasons to smile for Sunday -

1. Knowing I have the energy and determination to live well, no matter what my body keeps throwing at me.

2. A beautiful morning, not as cold as yesterday. But hey, it's only October 😂.

3. An excellent pyramid workout. Although I committed the cardinal sin. I deadlifted with my ego, not my strength.

That's one golden rule I tell anyone I've ever trained with weights!

I'm clearly stronger on my squats. I'll behave myself next time.....I was just being lazy with not wanting too much time changing the plates. Silly old woman 😂.

Anyway, that was a great workout! I equally love and hate the fabulous women's fitness expert, Stacy Sims, for making me aware of the benefits of sprint intervals 🫣

A second little walk after lunch finished today's fitness.

I have eaten well, of course. That is just a non negotiable. No matter how restrictive my diet feels to be right now, I'm heavy on high quality nutrition.

28th September 2022

University is going well, I’m enjoying getting outside and learning new things. My classmates, well the ones I’ve talked to are all very nice. After being horribly stressed on the first day that’s now calmed down and I’m so focused on trying to understand my lessons and finding my way around the big campus that I haven’t had a chance to feel stressed out. I am really glad I took my counsellors advice and changed to a part time course. The full time schedule looks crazy, and I can tell that some people are already stressed about it. For example in full time you get three weeks to decide on your dissertation topic, we get a full year in the part time. Much more breathing room.

Annoyingly though I’ve had the same cold and cough three times now, in total I’ve been sick for a month, my daughter and son have been taking it in turns to infect us.

Last night I got sick again hacking my guts up and a sore throat and the little was ill with a temperature and coughing herself. It’s not been fun, she was up 4 times and before we settled her for the night we had to give her a bath because her temperature shot up to 40.1•C she felt better after the bath, but we’re both having a day off today to recuperate.

I’ve also been talking to the doctor as I kept getting hot flushes on my period, and I thought I might be peri menopausal, turns out my oestrogen is in the pooper and I’m already in post menopausal ranges. So that fun, my testosterone is also at 0.7 ( the cut off is 0.5for being too low, his notes said in range, but common just barely…) so now I have an appointment next Tuesday to talk to the doctor about that. I’m hoping that this might be the key to getting some energy back. But I have no idea what to expect or even to think about the results at the moment. I guess I’m just feeling pretty out of it and I’m already overwhelmed with staring a new course to then have to worry about this as well. It just feels like too much.

Apart from that I’m using today to catch up on some chores, I really need to order a food shop, catch up on the lesson I missed this morning and we have board game night later.

Honestly though all I’d like today is a nap and not to think about anything. 😅

Hi bunnies!

Let’s do an update!

I went to a program that specializes in bio identical hormone replacement for women post menopause. So many annoying side effects of not having enough estrogen and progesterone related to aging. Being a woman is hard, guys! Damn! We have to deal with boobs, monthly menses for like DECADES, growing a baby, pushing it out, and then we are rewarded with menopause. Not having a period is NOT a reward. It’s a shitty time when everything about your body suddenly seems foreign. Weight gain in the belly, dry skin, night sweats, hot flashes, low libido, brain fog, muscle loss, etc. etc. etc.

So I started hormone replacement therapy (HRT) . It’s been 6 weeks and Ive never felt better! Im no longer experiencing the 3 am hot flashes and night sweats. I see my doctor in 2 weeks for labs and possible adjustments, but so far so good!

Reminder: There are a lot of opinions on HRT and it’s not for everyone. But not everyone was given the option for bio identical HRT. There is a difference. It’s formulated for you based on symptoms and your labs. It’s not a visit to your PCP or GYN and they slap an estrogen patch on your backside. Make sure you read the latest data on the potential of cancers especially with family history. It’s less scary than it used to be. And get a PAP and mammogram before starting any HRT.

Sorry not to transcribe the whole thing, but it’s late and the point of the post is very simple:

Healthcare professionals are taught that vaginal bleeding in post-menopausal people is uterine cancer until proven otherwise.

If you have a uterus and have gone through menopause, having your period temporarily come back could be a sign of a much more serious issue, and you need to see a healthcare professional right away.

Thursday's three reasons to smile -

1. Despite my stubborn hormones trying to trip me up, I'm fighting back even more stubbornly!

2. Double frothy coffee day! Double peanuts too. Second lot tonight for an uncommon late snack.

3. Feeling that winter is finally beginning to lose it's power. Slowly (and most thankfully) edging towards spring.

I've had a pretty good day, and I'm so glad I pushed against my phantom PMS symptoms that have been trying to trip me up!

My final workout was this full body routine. Lots of combination moves, but nothing too complicated. It kept things interesting. I usually prefer more basic routines, but never a bad idea to change things up occasionally.

All my boxes ticked.

Tomorrow is my "free food" day. Then Sunday is my full rest day.

It most definitely affects my mood when there is no definable sunrise!

But nope. Life is what you make it. And I'm very lucky to have the ability and allowance to sit in the morning light, no matter what the quality, and enjoy my breakfast.

I didn't do much of a fast. Around 13.5hrs. Continuing my focus on....well.....relaxing the obsessive FOCUS, lol.

And I just scraped through the Menopause Reset tip of waiting two hours before having caffeine.

But scrape through I did!

That was after a pretty heavy upper body strength workout.

Wow, it feels good to get back into serious training!

Hello Monday, I'm ready for you!

Got the post menopausal phantom PMS moody, cravey grumbles going on.

I'm not letting them win.

I'm giving myself a carby nurture day tomorrow.

Using my brain and coinciding that with a 40+ mile bike ride.

So I'm not going to cave tonight.

Best fix for that is a decaff bulletproof.