I recently became certified as a ‘Menopause Specialist’ as part of continuing to keep my PT credential. I can tell you that I learned a lot through this certification, but I am not sure I would say I am a ‘specialist’ in the area, lol.
However, I DO like to help people and because Menopause has seemed like a ‘dirty word’ or taboo to talk about (until recently), I thought I would share my journey as a path to opening up the conversation and being ‘real’ about this important, unavoidable, sometimes difficult time of transition in most women’s lives–
If you are not interested in my journey, skip the first couple of ‘Episodes’, and get right to the heart of it: the symptoms and some possible solutions=Episodes 3 and on.
My Journey –’Episode’ 1:
I would say my journey started with anger.
Granted, this is not one of the top ‘symptoms’ one might find on the lists for peri- or post-menopause, but it is what I remember as the first indicator that big changes were coming. I mention it only because it might resonate with someone else’s experience. Like most things in life, the ‘anger’ had an upside, it got me running for a bit. But I am getting a bit ahead of myself….
So, I have always been a fairly stable person. Not a lot of drama, not ‘high maintenance’, emotions pretty well maintained (except when on the pill, which was discovered and corrected quickly by my ‘stable and low-maintenance wife’ – loving husband, wink-wink). This may or may not have been relevant, but, because I was not even remotely aware of ‘peri-menopause’ and what it might look like, I cannot really point to any specific things I experienced, beyond the weight gain (gradual, throughout my 30s), worsening knee pain (I thought was age and weight related) and lower abdominal pain that started when I was about 35, was at its worst from 35-40ish and still pops up occasionally, but is not nearly as bad or consistent. This pain was never diagnosed although I had CAT scans, MRI, xrays, etc. It was not related to ‘female organ issues’.
I believe the main symptom I had in peri-menopause was weight gain and increasingly difficult and heavy periods. This was addressed with a partial hysterectomy-they left my ovaries since they looked healthy. I was told before my hysterectomy that the pain would not likely be relieved, because it was unrelated to the reasons for the procedure (which were fibroids and the heavy bleeding).
Then came the cancer…..long (boring) story, short-I had thyroid cancer, discovered, diagnosed and treated pretty easily and quickly. (Not to dismiss cancer, but it isn’t the focus here, another day maybe)….. I thought, after googling it, that ALL of my ‘problems’ would be corrected by getting rid of my cancerous thyroid. Yep, that wasn’t the case. Although the thyroid cancer journey was as manageable as one could imagine, it was not the answer to my weight, weariness, unhappiness (mostly with my body image), etc.
Upon my approach to celebrating my 40th birthday, I was determined to ‘get healthy’. In short, I found a meal plan that seemed reasonable and got busy with it. Fast forward 3 months and 35 lbs lighter, feeling much better!! Another six months and my wellness journey included daily exercise and I was feeling great! I was a healthy weight, knees were no longer hurting, abdominal pain was much less, IBS was all but resolved. My 40s were great as far as I was concerned……but then, the anger.
Next up , Episode 2
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