My Menopause Blog

Sue’s reproductive cycle was her sometime beloved and occasionally scorned monthly reminder of womanhood. Survived by Sue, Sue’s Period remained gleefully childfree and will be remembered for its punctuality, reliability and relative gentle nature. Fondly regarded by lovers that welcomed its monthly visit yet often cursed for it’s uncanny timing.

A funeral service will not be held. Instead a private ceremony will take place to mark the passing of time. A tree may or may not be planted. Donations can be made to Save the Period Fund or The Cougar Foundation.

Flowers are and always will be welcome.

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 , pdrecovery , Parkinsons .

I’m in my fourth month of treatment for Parkinson’s - following the pdrecovery.org plan - and I’m showing all the recovery symptoms and landmarks - lassitude, deep fatigue and body pain to name a few. Not exactly a picnic to manage, especially in my incredibly cold, snow and ice covered city, but encouraging signs just the same.

During yesterday’s treatment, Russell was quick to point out a key improvement, increased cranial flow in my left foot. Up until 3 weeks ago, there was no evidence of this critical, life energy movement nor had there been for at least a few years. Tears of relief and gratitude flowed into my ears like April showers sure to bring May flowers.

When I returned home, wiped out from my 5 block journey, I filled a bowl with Eve’s home preserved peaches and plunked down on the bed in my sunny spare room. Within minutes sleepiness invaded my profoundly weak body. Three hours later I woke to the setting sun.

I suspect the flowers of May will be extraordinary this year.

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 , pdrecovery , Parkinsons .

I’ve been trying out my new operating system for 18 days now. I’m extra pleased to tell you that it loaded easily, presented no glitches and did not require re-booting. In fact - considering all the poop that last decades OS 40.49.0 dished out - 50.18.0 purrs like a kitten.

Could this be - The Cougar Edition?

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 .

There’s a new way of framing our forgetfulness that I would like to encourage all menopausal women to consider and perhaps embrace.

Miss Remembering recently got her 15 minutes of glory during the ‘did the pro baseball dudes pump themselves full of steroids or not’ congressional hearings in the states. According to both sides, there was a whole lot of Miss Remembering going on.

Now I realize that in this particular sporty application, Miss Remembering is kin to lies of various colours and sizes, none of which I want to encourage. But lying aside, does it not seem fair to rename the dreaded ‘forgetting everything, my menopausal mind is going to mush hysteria’ with tidy, fresh and cute as a button Miss Remember?

Why not try it out and see for yourself the next time you forget to ____________[fill in the blank]. Before you launch a full shame loaded attack on yourself, an attack that has no hope of helping you remember, reassign the synapse glitch to Miss Remember. I think you’ll be pleased with the results.

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 .

My inner brat finds this amusing. My inner geezer does not.

I recently heard the Rolling Stones referred to as the Strolling Prunes.

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 .

My much anticipated MacSpeech Dictate voice recognition software has yet to be released. Apparently more media buzz is generated by missing the published release date and making people wait.

Fine then. Here’s my bloggy contribution to the buzz.

Dear MacSpeech,

Your policy pisses me off. Please ship the software.

Until I get my slightly hot little hands on this much needed technology, my menopause blog posts will be pithy and possibly sporadic. Much depends on how my Parkinson’s is behaving on any given day. At a whopping 6 - 10 words a minute, there’s only so much typing I can give and take.

I did have this amusing thought last night. Since I’ve officially reduced my emissions in the bodily fluid department, me thinks I should get credit for having a smaller environmental footprint.

Menopause is the latest shade of green.

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 .

Okay.

It’s true that I have not been paying close attention to the state of my missing menses of late but I’m quite sure, confident even, that my last period punctuated my panties well over 12 months ago. This means - sound of drums rolling in the background - that I am officially out of peri-menopause and now enjoying full on menopause. [Sue curtsies to the thunderous applause.]

As I stand on the final stage of my reproductive life, my memory flashes back over some of the many bloody mishaps along the way. White pant horror stories, swimming with poorly placed pons that popped, wilderness camping with a tribe of bleeding girlfriends, scary missing periods, annoying extra periods and cramps that made a root canal seem fun are fading fast. Such a pity really.

Yes the other side of Bleedtown is much less dramatic for sure. When hot flash number 3,475 presented itself to me this morning, I barely lifted a finger or broke a sweat. Unlike the peri-barn burners of my slow descent into full fledged menopause, today’s hot flash was kind. Cozy even. In truth, I welcomed the sucker.

My new position was inevitable. All things pass and change. Still, my hope is that even though I’ve reached a sort of hormonal harmony, I can still be of service to those of you that are mired in the hot hell of menopause madness.

Time will tell and you will be my judge.

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 .

Find out what last nights lunar eclipse looked like in my town at Blog Guelph.

I haven’t come out and said this directly but today seems right for fessing up. Last summer I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease.

There are many grim reports and scary beliefs out there about PD - I’ve Googled my poor old brain out for the last several months, talked with scores of folk that ‘had an aunt’ and allowed my symptoms to hook up with my imagination for a hair loosing romp. None of this was fun or pretty. But it did serve to lead me to the PD Recovery Project - a very bright light indeed.

I’ve been following the treatment protocol offered by PDRP for three months now. I know without a hint of doubt that I am on the right path and that despite the main stream belief that Parkinson’s is incureable, dear old lumbering main stream is wrong.

Recovery will take many months. Meanwhile, my symptoms make typing extremely laborious and painful. Writing this blog became impossible and making a living as a writer - well, let’s just say, not so good. The artists way - my particular choice of life vocation - worked beautifully while well but not so good now that PD symptoms have disabled me.

One might call this a rock and a hard place. I certainly did for a few months. But then the universe twisted in a particular way and voila, another light was shining down my tunnel.

MacSpeech has just released highly regarded, voice recognition software for my dear Apple. Thanks to a generous monetary gift from dear friends in Montreal, I am ordering it today.

I have no idea how well I’ll take to ‘talking to my computer’. Over the year’s my verbal commands have been anything but kind, printable or even interesting. Still my hope is for this match to be made in heaven. [Sue clasps hands and offers a pretty please prayer to the techno gods. Amen.]

With technology acting as my friend, the hurtle of writing should be behind me. The next challenge will be to pry my menopause loose from my Parkinson’s experience. Not to be crass or insensitive but if you want to get menopause in perspective try getting really sick. I truly love my menopause now. It helps me feel normal.

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 .