Let's Hear a Yea for Menopause!

I made a promise to myself last fall and that is that January and February were going to be wonderful months for me.  Why?  The last 3 Januarys and Februarys have been horrible for me.  They were filled with depression and anxiety and I found myself spiraling downward each year.  This year was going to be different and it has.

I continue with the drug therapy that I have been on since last April.  Lexapro has been a wonderful drug therapy for me.  It works and best of all it works for me in small doses.  I do experience some anxiety but it is what I call "normal" anxiety.  Normal anxiety to me is the anxiety you feel when you are going to be late for an appointment.  Abnormal anxiety for me was having anxiety caused by a small thing such as our dog barking a little and then it would go from 1 to 10 in seconds leading me to full blown panic attacks.  

Along with the drug therapy I am careful as to what I eat and I get sleep and exercise.  AND I am now into full blown menopause.  Now that I have gone through 1 year without a menses I can now say I made it through to the other side and being in menopause is not so bad.  In fact, it is a blessing!  I don't have to buy tampons or pads anymore or experience cramps and that monthly yuck feeling.

I used to think of menopause as being something an old lady gets.  I don't consider myself as being old at 54.   However, I must say that 54 was old to me when I was in my 20's.  What it all comes down to is am I happy or not?  If I am happy it shows in the way I take care of myself and this reflects in my general health and well being.

I am not the same 50 year old woman that my mom was some 30 years ago.  I work out, I watch what I eat and I am getting involved in volunteer activities in my church and community.  I don't dress like my mom either and I don't dress like a teenager too.  Yep being 50 is not like being your mom's 50.  It is what you make of it and I love it.

If I have a hot flash every now and then, I can deal with it.  In fact, it has been kind of nice to have a hot flash with all of the cold weather we have been having, but I am sure come summer it might not be so nice.

I started my period at the age of 11 and ended it at the age of 53.  That is 42 years of dealing with PMS, cramps and buying tampons.  I'm glad it's over and I'm ready to move on.  

Menopause - Welcome to my World

I have gotten out of the habit of blogging.  This came about when I was feeling depressed and suffering from anxiety as I didn’t feel like doing much of anything.  Over the past month I have been feeling better.  In fact, I feel the best I have felt in about 3 years. 

About 2 weeks ago I made the decision to totally go off the Valium part of my drug therapy.  It wasn’t hard to do as I was only taking it in the morning instead of 3 times a day.  So I tried it and I have had no problems.  I have a prescription in case I would ever need some, but so far I have been just fine.  I am taking the Lexapro at night and my normal thyroid medication in the morning.  What is the result? 

Well, I feel so much better.  I have blogged how much better I was feeling but the few weeks have been wonderful.  I honestly feel the best I have felt in a couple of years.  So I have taken advantage of the energy I now have and have cleaned the first floor of our house which is our main living area.  I haven’t been doing a very good job cleaning over the past few months.  When you feel lousy mentally, it is hard to do some basic things like housework.  Keeping on top of it on a daily basis was hard and eventually I had dug myself in a hole of a messy, dirty and cluttered house.

Since cleaning the main floor last week, I have been able to keep this area fairly neat and decluttered.  It feels good to come home to everything in a good order. 

I have been doing some reading about menopause and I have the classic symptoms leading into that next phase of my life.  No menstrual cycle for several months, the depression, the anxiety, hot flashes, memory problems and moodiness.  I now realize that what I have been experiencing is something that is normal for some women as they enter this phase of their lives.  I’m just glad that I have obtained help by taking Lexapro that controls the depression, anxiety and the moodiness.  As for the hot flashes, well, I’m glad we have air conditioning. 

Something else that helps me is exercising.  I have lost 20 lbs. since the beginning of January and getting out and exercising has helped me so much.  The center of my exercise program is walking.  When I have my grandson and the weather is beautiful, I take him in his stroller and go walking.  He falls asleep and I listen to music on my cell phone and off we go.  I can average around 5 miles a day sometimes. 

So what does all of this mean?  I feel great because I have lost the weight that had been bothering me for a couple of years, got medical help for dealing with the symptoms of Menopause and finally have the energy to do the projects I want to do, and most importantly have the energy to be grandma to my little grandson, Ryan.