My Menopause Blog

Thank you for joining me as I officially launch My Menopause Blog. If I could figure out how to do an audio post, you would hear a drum roll, followed by a chirpy Ta Da!

First there was Menopause the Musical. Now, there’s Menopause the Blog!

Please allow me to show you around my new snazzy cyberdigs.

Starting on the left side, at the top, you will see me in black and white. I’m actually dressed in orange but for the sake of artistic effect, we opted out of a colour picture. If you click on View Profile, you will find out a bit more about how my head is screwed on when it comes to menopause, who discover My Period and how peri-menopause and I are getting along.

Under my mug shot is Categories, where I list a whack of titles that I use to file my daily posts under. So let’s say you want to find out about Saliva Testing, or at least what my experience has been. Click on the link and every post I’ve written about the rather strange process is right there.

Speaking of posts, which appear in the middle, the most recently written one always appears at the top of the page. Each is time and date stamped. This feature has been most helpful given my memories charming new trait of wandering off. I read my own blog to remind myself of how I’m doing. (more…)

Two conversations stuck out recently.

There were three of us. We were referencing a slight acquaintance that we knew or perhaps didn’t know equally.

Me: She seems sad.

He: That’s funny, I thought she was shy.

Her: Really? I got the idea she was stuck up.

Second conversation, different person.

She: It’s always good to look at the other perspective.

Me: You make it sound like there’s only two ways of looking at this. I suspect there is thousands.

She: How can you take in more than two perspectives?

Me: How can’t you?

Neither of these conversations were about menopause. But they could have been. As it stands they illustrate how rigid or limited beliefs impact our understanding of the world and the people around us.

Menopause comes with a diversity of experience, beliefs, attitudes, fears and symptoms. It’s not a just a matter of what you believe about this life stage or your experience but rather how tightly you hold your beliefs and limit your thinking.

Like a elastic waist band, me thinks that a more flexible grip on menopause will ease the way.

Sue Richards

Tags: My Menopause Blog, Sue Richards,Blog Guelph.

I do not expect you to “noos llew teg esaelp”. Unless you want to of course. Then, by all means, noos yourself silly!

My point, as you’ve no doubt noticed I have ample of, in posting this very old card, is to draw attention to the fetching hat, not the fact that I scanned it backwards.

Can’t you just imagine the reaction you’d get if you, oh I don’t know, went grocery shopping with such a magnificent item strapped to your proud noodle.

Sure some folks would think that you were nuts. But guess what? Some folks already think you’re nuts. So what does it matter. Other folks would think that you were brave. Some would suspect you were fun, maybe eclectic, whacky, whimsical, liberated, free spirited…maybe zestful.

I think menopause is pretty nutty. My lunch mate this week rolled her eyes as she flushed red and started fanning herself. “Five year’s of hot flashes every day”, she claimed, “I’ve tried everything.”

I bet she has not tried wearing a big poofy hat! Maybe such a bold move would take her mind off menopause.

Sue Richards

Tags: My Menopause Blog Sue Richards

My book keeper is here today. We’re shoveling through old tax forms to be sure that our inventory reports have been consistently kept and our ducks are correctly lined up. Our main problem is off-the-shelf software that does not fit our business needs. We need a more customized package, but we simply don’t have the budget. So we muddle along.

After two hours of casting our brains back to ancient times, like 2001, I could feel my body start to slump and my mind close down. Yet we were close to a happy conclusion so I soldered on. Following several minutes of looking through a file, carefully scanning each page, I realized that I had no clue what I was looking for.

I looked at my bookkeeper, as she waited patiently for my answer to the question that seemed to have vanished and said with complete hopefulness, “Do you have any idea what I’m doing?”

“No”, she replied.

At another point in my life, I would have been horrified, concerned even, over my clueless ness. I prided myself on the sharpness of my mind, my memory, the sheer amount of data that I could regurgitate in a flash.

After we stopped laughing, we wrapped up our investigation for the day. Instead of beating myself up for my ‘lacking’, I’ve decided to congratulate myself for being honest. Yup, it’s my business. Yup, I’m steering this ship. And yup, when I’m not remotely sure of where I’m headed, it’s wise to ask around.

I think menopause makes me more real.

Sue Richards

Back to the task of figuring out Bioidentical Hormone Replacement.

I’ve hit gold.

Here I am in small city Canada thinking, okay, now that you’ve stirred yourself and who knows who else into a flap about BIHR, where the hell are you going to find a pharmacist that deals in compounding?

Oh yea of little faith Sue Richards. Clearly the hormone goddess is looking down on you!

How about this! An easy, type in your zip or postal code referral service compliments of The International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists (IACP)? I love these people already and I don’t even know them.

Low and behold, Canada, US and other countries are serviced by this nifty website. Over 1300 compounding pharmacists are listed. Let the bells ring out and the banners furl.

Furl?

Sue Richards

Tags: My Menopause Blog, Sue Richards, peri-menopausal, menopausal, menopause, humor , The International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists, Bioidentical Hormone Replacement, Compounding .

The light bulb that popped on over my head blinded me with it’s brightness. After weeks of searching it was suddenly clear. I got up, walked to my bookcase, opened the binder and voilá , the photo of my boot and the hippo foot print was waiting patiently. Right where I left it.

According to my memory of the event, my foot fit inside the hippos foot print with room to spare. This is clearly not the case. I seem to recall, with great confidence, that the ground was rutted with hoof marks sunk deep in the ground. Still, further distortion of my own experience. And of course there is all the rooting around I did to find the photo in the first place. Tucked in a note book my ass. (more…)

Photo Flash Back: December 2000, Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, Africa.

Following the African theme of the last few days, I thought I’d share my ‘on safari, wish I’d been menopausal’ experience.

After 3 days of roaming the savannah of Tanzania where herds, prides and packs of zebras, giraffe, elephant, baboon, lion and all manner of long legged, fleet of hoof creatures were thick, we, that being my man, a Norwegian couple, our cook and guide, stopped to camp in a public camp space, in the middle of nowhere. We were greeted by an armed guard.

The guards job…keeping wild animals at bay…. was a new camping feature for me. I am a seasoned, wilderness wise individual. I’ve encountered bears, rattlesnakes, poisonous spiders the size of dinner plates, assholes and all manner of weather. Never had I felt the need for a gun. (more…)

I am (sadly) out of my office today.

This does not mean you won’t get your fix of meno madness though. In fact, thanks to one of the newest members of Club Meno you get to explore, at her expense, what happens when too much missing hormone gets replaced in a short period of time.

Please join Ellie as she coyishly brings a whole new meaning to ‘going on safari’ with her post, Venus Envy. If you feel the need to clutch your girl bits part way through, feel free.

Oh the terror, spills and thrills of menopause just keep on revealing themselves.
Sue Richards

Tags: My Menopause Blog, Blog, Sue Richards, peri-menopausal, menopausal, menopause relief, menopause symptom, information on menopause ,humor.