My Menopause Blog

Should my career in blogging not work out, I may attempt to start an outdoor adventure company for menopausal women - with a focus on cold weather activities - for the menopause relief advantage. As you see, I’ve already started to get myself accredited.

The fuzzy type more or less reads: Having demonstrated the initiative (it took two days of flying to get there) integrity and bold adventurous spirit (when I flew off my sled, I didn’t cry) and showing exemplary skill ( I got back on my sled before I was left stranded in the minus 40 degree tundra) my license is good for life.

Me thinks the wise menopausal woman should always have something to fall back on.

Sue Richards

Menopause Tags: My Menopause Blog, my menopause blog,Sue Richards, peri-menopausal, menopause relief, guelph blog, baby boomer, womens health news, menopause symptoms .

Only one of the members of my team comes from the established medical community. The other 6 practitioners fall firmly under the heading ‘alternative.’

On average, I see my doctor for 15 minutes twice a year, unless I run into her in the post office. On average I see a member of Team Alternative once a week plus the inevitable meetings for walks, lunch, social events, weddings, funerals and random sightings.

Team Alternative is very generous about suggesting other forms of treatments from other practitioners that they know and respect. They provide their own referral system to their own world. They also suggest the conventional medical route when that path appears to be in my best interests.

This does not seem to be the style of the medical community. In the thirty year’s I’ve been navigating my own health I have never had my doctor say - “have you tried massage for your stress?” Instead I hear, “would you like a prescription?”

So here’s today’s point. As we all know, menopause is not a disease. Plus, menopause is not going away. And menopause is different for every woman. With this being the case, be very wary of any professional that tries to sell you on a one-pill solution.

Instead, I’d slip into the alternative stream and get a second opinion.

Sue Richards

Menopause Tags: My Menopause Blog, my menopause blog,Sue Richards, peri-menopausal, menopause relief, guelph blog, baby boomer, womens health news, menopause symptoms .

I hope by now you have noticed that I have a new ad in the top right column of My Menopause Blog. This is my first foray into the land of direct ad sales - but not just any ad sales. My hope is to present services and products that I can personally endorse.

I have little control over ads placed on my site by Google. I can’t encourage you to check them out for fear of being charged with click fraud, nor do I know any of the advertisers personally. So it is a great pleasure for me to introduce you to the woman behind the 5 Steps to Hormone Health advertisement you now see.

Jackie Harvey came to Guelph last spring for her saliva test and hormone balancing educational talk. I was front row center. As a mother of seven - can you say hormone roller coaster - Jackie joked about living in the House of Hormones.

“What a hoot”, I laughed, wincing at the thought of the twists and turns of her own and her kids hairpin hormonal curves.

But here’s the part of her presentation that rang true for me. Jackie made it clear that her own personal experience was what motivated her to learn about hormone balancing and particularly Bioidentical Hormone Replacement.

I left feeling like I’d just met ‘one of my people’ not to mention gained oodles of information about saliva testing, more confidence and a clear plan to go forth and slather myself with Bioidentical Hormone Replacement.

If you click anywhere on her ad, you’ll get a chance to meet Jackie by way of an intro video on her webpage. Scoot around and read her content rich site. Then, since she may not be coming to your town, I’d order her DVD.

Sue Richards

Menopause Tags: My Menopause Blog, my menopause blog,Sue Richards, peri-menopausal, menopause relief, guelph blog, baby boomer, womens health news, menopause symptoms .

It was a sad day.

Not once, but three times in the same evening I was offered a lame handshake.

I don’t think I was looking particularly aged, feeble or delicate and my eye contact was direct. So why I was offered a limp rag of a hand as a form of introduction puzzled me.

Then I had this chilling thought – could this weak wristed greeting be because I was the oldest person in the room?

So here’s a study for those researchers who keep telling us stuff we should already know. Perhaps they could dig into and uncover our societal attitudes about aging and the menopausal woman.

Sue Richards

Menopause Tags: My Menopause Blog, my menopause blog,Sue Richards, peri-menopausal, menopause relief, guelph blog, baby boomer, womens health news, menopause symptoms .

I think I should start applying for menopause research grants.

This morning I found this news alert headline in my inbox. Scientific American: Walking, yoga may help during menopause.

The study involved 164 sedentary women suffering from menopausal symptoms - i.e. hot couch potatoes - and the introduction of a regular exercise program in the form of yoga or walking. The conclusions suggested that after four months, the active group reported a higher sense of well-being than the control group that remained couch bound.

I cannot precisely pinpoint the date when I came to understand that regular exercise was a key element to my good health but I know for sure I was in my single digits. That would be the 60’s. The message was clearly planted in my very core by my family and my teachers. I was not separated from the rest of the class or told this information neither in private nor as a secret. As far as I could see, everyone was repeatedly told the same thing pretty much weekly if not daily during both my elementary and secondary education.

Exercise is very good for you. Period.

And yet, it appears that we still need studies to point out what should be obvious to every human being in North America. I’m sadly certain that finding 164 sedentary women was a simple task. And I bet that the gals were ’surprised’ by their improved health. Unfortunately the study could not draw clear links between reduced menopausal symptoms with increased activity so “more studies are needed.”

That being the case, I would like to make a confession. I’ve already done the extra study. I’d be happy to write up the results in a flash - get it - and deliver my report to the big menopause research folk for half the price of an ‘additional study’. Then, perhaps the researchers would like to move on and conduct a study that actually went beyond common sense and provided some real benefit to menopausal women.

Sue Richards

Tags: My Menopause Blog, my menopause blog,Sue Richards, peri-menopausal, menopause relief, information on sudden menopause, baby boomer, womens health news, menopause symptoms .

Today is in fact International Goof Off Day.

As a law abiding citizen and somewhat of a leader, I feel it is my duty to offer an example of goofing off and encourage you to follow suit.

My menopause and I will be at yoga if you need us.

Sue Richards

Tags: My Menopause Blog, my menopause blog,Sue Richards, peri-menopausal, menopause relief, information on sudden menopause, baby boomer, womens health news, menopause symptoms .

I won’t be renewing my subscription.

Sue Richards

Tags: My Menopause Blog, my menopause blog,Sue Richards, peri-menopausal, menopause relief, information on sudden menopause, baby boomer, womens health news, menopause symptoms .

Last week I wrote a post about the collective experience of menopause - the one outside our own sweaty bodies and muddled minds. I had this idea that perhaps, if we looked far enough, we might just see a point where all menopausal women are standing tall and together at the same place of the journey.

Today I’m not so sure.

There is a disease that wreaks havoc on the females of the world. It is a plague so insidious that everyone has it. It eats away at self-esteem, sucks energy like a vacuum and makes thinking of ones self into a crime against humanity. It strikes all ages, skin tones and religious orientation. It is ~ THE DISEASE TO PLEASE.

You know it well.

From my vantage point of non-mother, non-wife, non-employee, the ‘disease to please’ greatly impairs the average females ability to run with the wolves - or walk if running is not your thing.

Pleasing others requires a degree of sacrifice that short changes dreams, your dreams, and allow others to come first, second, third and fourth, several days a week for year’s at a time.

In reality, the list of people in our lives who want (need?) to be pleased extends beyond time. They’ve got your number. They aren’t shy about calling. Question is, are you ready to start screening those germy little calls.

Please allow me to talk big for a moment.

I want to look into the future - down Menopause Lane - and see a powerhouse of women waving first place ribbons. I want to have conversations that can only be enjoyed in the deep end of the pool and offer no fear of crushing my scull on shallow subjects. I want fun that does not involve mindless consumption, activities that engage my mind, body and spirit and connections that reach deep within my soul. I want to cultivate my own knowing with the belief that as I grow, so will my peers.

Now that the menopause bell has chimed, me thinks it’s time to take our place at the front of the line.

Sue Richards

Tags: My Menopause Blog, my menopause blog,Sue Richards, peri-menopausal, menopause relief, information on sudden menopause, baby boomer, womens health news, menopause symptoms .