Thursday 26 April 2007

Menopause and knitting

So as my heading says mainly knitting blog but also at times about life itself.

Well "da menopause" is at the present still part of my life and a darn pain at times. Had all the baby making equipment taken away 17 years ago at the tender age of 35....am sure loads of ladies out there going through and having gone through this at whatever age can emphasize.
So within 24 hours of op the first "flush" arrived, well I thought I would tackle it head on without help i.e. hrt. Managed for a year poor DH used to find me on the floor, out of the bed, in the middle of the night, as I used to find it cooler down there. Honestly talk about daft, the things I used to do, walking around the house all times of the night through the "night sweats" think they were about every hour on the hour. In the end succumbed to the HRT and was on it until about 5 years ago....came off at age 47, now there is a train of thought that one could possibly have gone through the menopause whilst on HRT. Not so, came back with avengeance, but thankfully over the last year or so gradually whittling down to maybe 1/3 flushes a day...so this is where we come onto last night.

Went to bed fell straight asleep, woke up with a start looked at clock 1.47am...legs restless...put them in the bed.... out the bed.... on top of the covers...then got a flush. DH soundoo, nearly decided at about 3ish to come and write this then...but the thought of me in my dishelleved state at that time of the morning. I mean whats a girl to do, no war paint on. Nowadays as DH says jokingly "whats the mix 2/1"...no more like 3/1...got to fill those cracks in you know. I would have sat at the puter dreary eyed looking witch like with my curly hair. So I persevered and stayed in bed tossed and turned humphed and harded until when I last looked at the clock 3.38am. Now was feeling so totally tired...had put my legs on every cold spot I could find in the bed thankfully we have a kingside bed...DH is always like a radaitor, which is great for my cold footsies in the winter. So this morning 7am having a shower...Dh walks in "Oh! you didn't have too bad a night did you"? I nearly bopped him one. But he is a darling and very supportive.

So where does the menopause and knitting come in...well even though it is restful and relaxing most of the time...it can and does start me off on a flush. I will be sitting there happily click clacking away and look down and all hells broken loose with the pattern...its gone Pete Tong....wrong...and then it starts...for ones that know... you feel that creeping sensation of your body starting to heat up and the more it heats up with a flush the more aggavated you get...the more aggravated you get...the more you try to put the knitting correct...the more it goes wrong.
The worse the flush gets the longer it lasts. Now I am learning just to dump the knitting down and walk away.

Calm and calmness is the word of the day.......oh thats two words...ops!! he he.

So to all the ladies out there going through this...deep breathe, stay calm, stay happy, find time for yourself above all treat yourself and know that there is an end to the menopause. I think mine should be finishing soon. ttfn now hugs to all xx

3 comments:

Roobeedoo said...

Oh sweetie! For all the open-ness that goes on these days, there aren't many women talking about what it is like to go through The Change, and I think there are a lot of people thinking they are the only one. Thank you for sharing! And well done for walking away from the needles! "Put the gun DOWN! Step away from the vehicle!" translates to "Put the needle DOWN! Step away from the knitting!" This woman is armed and dangerous!

Knittings Nice! said...

roobeedoo...just cracked up laughing at the last bit....brilliant.

Artis-Anne said...

Oh I did have good laugh at this post and yes I do know were you coming from. HOW long does it go on for? I have a 'Chillow Pillow' I bought off one of the shopping channels hoping it would help and it does at times . It has water in it and the theory is it helps to cool you but I swear I could make a hot cup of cocoa with it some nights !!