Flame On © lynette sheppard
I’m a hottie. There, I said it. I’m not a Demi Moore, cougariific kind of hottie, though. I’m a middle aged, newly slender, boiling in my own casing kind of hottie. No frog in the frying pan here, gradually warming, adjusting as she goes, wondering what all the fuss is about.
No, no, no. The Big M flung my little froggie self into a scalding hot, non stick, anodized cauldron from hell – so I was most painfully aware that I was freaking hot.
That said, there may be a smidgeon of good news. A new study suggests that women whose hot flashes began early in the Pause, but not later seemed to have a lower risk for heart disease and death than those who never boiled in their own skins or those who developed flashes later.
My hot flashes were just short of self immolation when I first began this journey. They tapered off enough to allow me to begin decreasing my bioidentical HRT in hopes of ceasing it altogether. My plan was to get rid of my tiny, half patch by April.
Then I had to go and mess with the delicate balance I had achieved by going on the HCG diet and losing that turkey that had taken up residence around my middle zones.
Is it possible that one can be too thin!? Especially if she is post menopausal?! ? Because my new svelte self has begun having hot flashes. Again. Feel them again for the first time. Sheesh.
These power surges are not nearly as horrific as the early ones, but they are certainly present and accounted for. Dewitt gave me a hug the other morning and noted, “Ooh, clammy girl is back.” So I’m wondering if my April target date might have to be pushed a bit.
I’m pretty sure that the new research findings don’t include a category for early-hot-flashes-diminished-over-time-with-spontaneous-return-post-turkey-loss-no-end-in-sight-just-yet. So I’m not sure if the latest study is good news, bad news, or no news in my case. The Big M is still mostly uncharted territory, but we are definitely becoming expert orienteers, mapping the way for ourselves and our sister goddesses.
So stay tuned. Menopause is not just a soap opera. It’s the real never ending story. For now, I’m going out and looking for my luck dragon.
Twitter
Linked In
Facebook
Like Us
I think it is the addition of sugar to our bodies after having withdrawn during the diet. So I am here in Maui and had two mai-tai’s and got an immediate sugar low from the juice. I make them with rum and pure pineapple/orange juice so no added sugars, but the natural sugar is just as powerful to my body.
So the hot flashes reappear when I have additional sugar, from any source. Now that I have identified the culprit, perhaps I will switch back to wine. Cheers!
I was forced to go off my HRT patches when I got allergic to the adhesives (of two different brands). Shit oh dear, as my sainted mom would have said. So I’ve been flashin ever since. Since my big risk factors are heart disease and heart disease, I’m hoping I’m o.k. But my mom was in terrible shape, and she lived to nearly 84. So there ya go. I’m afraid we will all live way longer than we hope/wish. I would like to be in better shape, so I do yoga 3 days/week. Still have my big fat turkey belly, and haven’t given up my wine. Oh well, can’t be too good. My hot flashes are definitely triggered by things like my second glass of wine. My solution: take off some clothes. You will then cool down. It’s a teeter totter.
A.
your sweaty, then clammy friend,
a.
Ps I NEVER actually sweated until the big M. It used to take 3 sets of tennis in the desert to make me sweat. Now I can do it any season, and without effort!
Before I ever had a hot flash, I could not imagine what all the fuss was about. Silly me. They appear out of nowhere, with little provocation and wreak havoc on the poor soul experiencing them. I thought I had everything figured out until I had a hot flash.
I went into the hottie-ness around 50, I am 63 now and I still have hotflashes…..go figure, I am and have always been thin and stay in shape, I have become so used to these little hot events that I just say, “my body is fickle just like spring and fall, one minute I am just right and then suddenly just like that wind out of NO where I am boiling like it is full on desert summer heat.”
Any more I have adjusted my thinking about it to the positive and have decided to enjoy the added warmth of that heat and as someone else mentioned about taking a layer off, I just do the ole strip tease, yup just dance it off!
Oh and usually I stay a way from the sugar except for the real thing (fruit) and only drink straight gin on ice with water and occasionally a glass of wine. My hot flashes still seem to come ‘whenever’ night, day doesn’t seem to matter.
Thank goodness the anxiety finally went away! 2 years of that was enough to almost ruin my marriage.
P.S. Love this Blog!
Day 3 of progesterone cream prescribed for the hot flashes that started in mid January. OMG. I’m only 43 – turning 44 next month. I can’t even believe that I’m going through this – holy cow, wasn’t I only 25 a few days ago?!?! I’m not old YET! (well, anyway, the cream is working! I am already feeling so much better! YAY)
oh, girlfriend sorry, about all the pilikia, especially after all the hard work getting rid of the turkey.
Hi Lynette! I just started a blog about being 52, which equals full-blown menopause, so I’m in awe of your blog! It’s not easy getting started, but you’ve done a great job. I’m sorry about the price you’ve paid for “losing that turkey” since that seems to be the goal for 98% of the women I talk to! Sometimes life is just not fair…. At least we’re all in this together!
Girlfriends, thanks so much for sharing! I feel cooler just knowing we are all (or have all) gone through these incendiary moments. I’ll check out your blog, too, Melissa!