Surviving Early Onset Surgical Menopause
Menopause is a part of every woman’s life as she matures into the later years. Menopause is usually a natural process occurring over a period of time with the symptoms worsening as time goes on. This gradual progression gives a woman adequate time physically, mentally and emotionally to prepare for the finality of her fertility. However, if menopause occurs suddenly after a surgery, the results can be devastating in their intensity of symptoms. You can adjust to the effects of surgical menopause if you become informed about the symptoms, are proactive in your health, and take time to nurture your spirit. A survival guide of basic information needed to ready oneself for the onset of surgical menopause can be a vital tool in helping you adjust to the new stage of your life. I, being in the throes of early onset surgical menopause myself, have prepared for you a handy little survival guide to get you through the basic issues.
Recovering from your surgical procedure will take time; use this time to prepare your mind and spirit for what the body is about to bring upon it. My first piece of advice is to make friends with old ladies, or make peace with your mamma; older women can provide a wealth of information on symptoms and coping mechanisms. Also, when you go to your post surgical gynecological visits sit with the late in life ladies and avoid the lush, pregnant women if you can. Their huge baby bumps and their glowing skin are a reminder of what your body can no longer do, reproduce, and this reminder can be painfully sad at first. The old saying, “Misery loves company,” is applicable in this situation. Talk with the older ladies, gain valuable advice and commiserate on hot flashes and mood swings. You might gain some valuable advice on the best skin cream for your soon- to -be losing-elasticity skin or a tip on the best tasting calcium chew; you’re going to need those, soon by the way, to avoid the bone loss that comes along with menopause.
When going through ‘the change’ known as menopause, it is important to remember to take care of yourself. Fatigue and insomnia and a drop in metabolism are all common to woman experiencing menopause. Combat these issues by exercising regularly, staying hydrated with water, eating healthy, and taking vitamins necessary for your body’s changing needs. You will probably experience the punishing experience known as hot flashes and also night sweats. Dressing in layers and sleeping with a fan will help you cop, but be prepared; these symptoms are especially severe in surgical menopause. Hormonal and herbal supplements have been known to help, so ask your doctor what she would recommend for you. Being aware of what you can experience helps take away some of the unknown of your situation and can help you feel more in control of this life-altering condition known as surgical menopause.
Women who experience menopause at a much younger age than expected often face other daunting side effects of menopause. Many times they lose self confidence and face depression as they say goodbye to their childbearing fertile years early. My advice is practical and fun. First, form a support network of friends, or even medical professionals who you can talk with about your feelings of loss or sadness. Purchasing a pretty journal to write all of your thoughts and frustrations as you deal with the blow of early menopause can also be helpful. Also, I say, embrace the sexy and the beautiful in you. Pamper yourself with manicures, pedicures, or even new underwear or lingerie; anything to remind you of your womanly self is great. I chose a theme song for myself that I played in the lowest points of recovery after my surgery, usually playing full blast after I left the gynecologist’s office, or attended one of the many baby showers of my young, beautiful, fertile friends. It is important in this shifting time that you not lose sight of the inner beauty of you, the part of you that nothing can rob or change, not even a scalpel or the absence of hormones.
My last piece of advice centers on the idea of mothering. I experienced my surgical menopause at a time in my life when I wasn’t quite ready to say goodbye to the idea of motherhood or fertility. My reproductive organs were surgically and necessarily removed from my body, and I felt the loss most significantly in my heart. I found it helpful to find something else to focus my attention upon; I needed something else to nurture and labor. If you also struggle with the loss of fertility in a personal, longing sort of way, I encourage you to find something else to baby. A pet, a project, a charity, a hobby- any of these can help you move on to a place of acceptance.
Surgical menopause is life changing. The symptoms of raging hormones, crashing moods, and memory loss can be difficult to deal with if you are not prepared. The loss of your fertility before you would naturally lose it can be daunting; however, avoiding the reality of it is not helpful. Embracing this extreme change is not expected, but preparing for it can help immensely. Arm yourself with tips and tools, equip yourself with proper nutrition and fitness, pamper yourself with fun and friendship, and you just might make it through surgical menopause with grace, dignity, and laughter.
Showing posts with label menopause. Show all posts
Showing posts with label menopause. Show all posts
Friday, January 28, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
In an attempt to avoid fluff, more menopause talk...
...Thinking tonight-of writing.
of writing about my hysterectomy
of the state of my body almost a year after the surgery,
of menopause.
I did write about it, an assignment for class, a rushed, last minute, just get it done paper. I will probably post on here soon. I got an A on the paper, was proud of it for a minute. But then I reread it and it just felt like fluff. Because I cant wrap up the last year in five paragraphs. I cant wrap up in a neat, little bow the heartache and loss I felt after losing my fertility from a scalpel. I cant explain away the year of wondering in the darkness, of trying to find my way back to the woman I once was with a few quick words of advice. I haven't recaptured the self confidence I lost. Sometimes I cant identify my new self- more quiet, more uncertain,withdrawn shifting, shuffling my feet almost in this life, not wanting to be recognized or noticed yet.
"Don't look at me, I don't feel youthful anymore. Don't notice me, I don't feel sexy anymore. I lost that. Don't look at me, you might see envy in my eyes or recognize the weariness of my soul."
I miss my period. It's been over a year. I have a hard time realizing that I will never have one again. I know, how ridiculous, how often it was an inconvenience or an interruption into my life but the absence of one makes me cry.
My body has changed in crazy ways I wont share on here. I find myself looking for age spots or wrinkles, as if I am really aging that fast. I'm not. I'm just in premature menopause.
More this year than ever before. I have played with makeup, I have invested in beauty supplies. I've curled my hair, I've painted my nails. I've worn more dresses and high heels. I have played in boots, black stripper boots, brown cowboy boots; anything that goes "clickety clack" in the hopes that the echo will make me feel sexy. I've bought more lingerie this year than I brought on my honeymoon. All of it is a fake out.
A surgery cannot rob me of my inner beauty. The scalpel cant cut that away. My hormones may fluctuate and wreak havoc on my body and my mind, but they are just a part of me, not the full picture. Some days I do have this self awareness, this logic pulls me out of my sadness. Most days I still sense a challenge and embrace it, bring it world, that girl is still inside me. But there are days when I am flat, when my emotions are flat, my hormones fluctuate, my body responds, but my spirit is flat. I am not sure I can describe or explain it to a woman who hasn't been there. And maybe others are different than I.
I feel like I had to redefine myself in some ways after my surgery. I identified so much with being a mother, with being a nurturer, with being a lush and fertile woman in the prime of her life. Suddenly, all I knew changed. I feel like I have had to fight my way back and at times find other things to embrace about myself.
My article wasn't fluff. The advice is helpful, but I know my tone was light. Perhaps it shouldn't be. I wasn't prepared. I didn't know how heartbreaking this last year would be for me as I said goodbye to what I defined as feminine and beautiful. I didn't know how disconcerting it could be to age prematurely, suddenly. I found I wasn't quite ready to grow up so soon.
I remember in the span of one day having a conversation with my twin about her period and my mother about our menopausal symptoms. That night I sobbed because what was happening to me wasn't normal and wasn't natural. How do you come to terms with that? It doesn't happen over night. I still have days when I struggle to deal with the physical symptoms of menopause and more so struggle with the acceptance that this is my life now. But I think each day that goes by, I feel stronger, more confident.
The days and weeks right after my surgery were very dark, bleak days. I don't ever want to go back there. I felt adrift, in a sea of pain and then oblivion as my pain medicines kicked in. I felt alone, lost, forgotten, and unrelatable. My friends could not understand; they were still having periods, making babies, having babies,or trying to avoid making a baby. I was realizing that babies were no longer in my future.
Last spring was not about rebirth and newness to me; it felt more like a long, dark winter. Then came all the other issues that led to the realization that my body wasn't going to recover like expected and that I was experiencing surgical menopause. A final blow for me; it sent me lower than I have ever been. There were days I didn't want to get out of bed. Days I didn't want to talk to anyone. Days I cried, nights I did as well. I pulled the covers up over my head on life for a while.
When that did not work, I tried diversionary tactics; busyness, road trips, shenanigans. Along the way, I found parts of myself. It's still a journey for me. There is no magic pill, no fast and sure way out of the flatness, out of the sadness. There is more than fluff though to my story, to the last year of my life. It has been hard, so very hard, but it has also had it's moments of beauty and of rediscovery...
I found peace in the mountains. I've been several times this year to WV. It always calls me home. My home among the hills, how very true.
I found joy again. On the fourth of July, my daughters chasing fireflies as I sat and talked with my best friend on the back patio. All was not lost because of my surgery, things were shifted and change happened, but the beauty of my life still remains. My children. My family, My friends. I felt blessed beyond measure that night, I felt ready to embrace life and laughter and simplicity again.
I found solace in my writing and in my openness with friends who read my words, my emotions poured out in emails; beautiful, loving friends who allowed me to just be me.
I found passion for old dreams I had set aside. I found parts of myself I had shelved and denied.
There is more, I am sure. But I don't want to do a disservice to my struggle. Not many people talk about this subject, hysterectomies, surgical menopause, early onset menopause. How about periods, most people don't even talk about them and I will never take them for granted again. And so I am beginning to open up, to examine this past year and find out what I can take from it, what I can gain from it, instead of just focusing on what I have lost.
of writing about my hysterectomy
of the state of my body almost a year after the surgery,
of menopause.
I did write about it, an assignment for class, a rushed, last minute, just get it done paper. I will probably post on here soon. I got an A on the paper, was proud of it for a minute. But then I reread it and it just felt like fluff. Because I cant wrap up the last year in five paragraphs. I cant wrap up in a neat, little bow the heartache and loss I felt after losing my fertility from a scalpel. I cant explain away the year of wondering in the darkness, of trying to find my way back to the woman I once was with a few quick words of advice. I haven't recaptured the self confidence I lost. Sometimes I cant identify my new self- more quiet, more uncertain,withdrawn shifting, shuffling my feet almost in this life, not wanting to be recognized or noticed yet.
"Don't look at me, I don't feel youthful anymore. Don't notice me, I don't feel sexy anymore. I lost that. Don't look at me, you might see envy in my eyes or recognize the weariness of my soul."
I miss my period. It's been over a year. I have a hard time realizing that I will never have one again. I know, how ridiculous, how often it was an inconvenience or an interruption into my life but the absence of one makes me cry.
My body has changed in crazy ways I wont share on here. I find myself looking for age spots or wrinkles, as if I am really aging that fast. I'm not. I'm just in premature menopause.
More this year than ever before. I have played with makeup, I have invested in beauty supplies. I've curled my hair, I've painted my nails. I've worn more dresses and high heels. I have played in boots, black stripper boots, brown cowboy boots; anything that goes "clickety clack" in the hopes that the echo will make me feel sexy. I've bought more lingerie this year than I brought on my honeymoon. All of it is a fake out.
A surgery cannot rob me of my inner beauty. The scalpel cant cut that away. My hormones may fluctuate and wreak havoc on my body and my mind, but they are just a part of me, not the full picture. Some days I do have this self awareness, this logic pulls me out of my sadness. Most days I still sense a challenge and embrace it, bring it world, that girl is still inside me. But there are days when I am flat, when my emotions are flat, my hormones fluctuate, my body responds, but my spirit is flat. I am not sure I can describe or explain it to a woman who hasn't been there. And maybe others are different than I.
I feel like I had to redefine myself in some ways after my surgery. I identified so much with being a mother, with being a nurturer, with being a lush and fertile woman in the prime of her life. Suddenly, all I knew changed. I feel like I have had to fight my way back and at times find other things to embrace about myself.
My article wasn't fluff. The advice is helpful, but I know my tone was light. Perhaps it shouldn't be. I wasn't prepared. I didn't know how heartbreaking this last year would be for me as I said goodbye to what I defined as feminine and beautiful. I didn't know how disconcerting it could be to age prematurely, suddenly. I found I wasn't quite ready to grow up so soon.
I remember in the span of one day having a conversation with my twin about her period and my mother about our menopausal symptoms. That night I sobbed because what was happening to me wasn't normal and wasn't natural. How do you come to terms with that? It doesn't happen over night. I still have days when I struggle to deal with the physical symptoms of menopause and more so struggle with the acceptance that this is my life now. But I think each day that goes by, I feel stronger, more confident.
The days and weeks right after my surgery were very dark, bleak days. I don't ever want to go back there. I felt adrift, in a sea of pain and then oblivion as my pain medicines kicked in. I felt alone, lost, forgotten, and unrelatable. My friends could not understand; they were still having periods, making babies, having babies,or trying to avoid making a baby. I was realizing that babies were no longer in my future.
Last spring was not about rebirth and newness to me; it felt more like a long, dark winter. Then came all the other issues that led to the realization that my body wasn't going to recover like expected and that I was experiencing surgical menopause. A final blow for me; it sent me lower than I have ever been. There were days I didn't want to get out of bed. Days I didn't want to talk to anyone. Days I cried, nights I did as well. I pulled the covers up over my head on life for a while.
When that did not work, I tried diversionary tactics; busyness, road trips, shenanigans. Along the way, I found parts of myself. It's still a journey for me. There is no magic pill, no fast and sure way out of the flatness, out of the sadness. There is more than fluff though to my story, to the last year of my life. It has been hard, so very hard, but it has also had it's moments of beauty and of rediscovery...
I found peace in the mountains. I've been several times this year to WV. It always calls me home. My home among the hills, how very true.
I found joy again. On the fourth of July, my daughters chasing fireflies as I sat and talked with my best friend on the back patio. All was not lost because of my surgery, things were shifted and change happened, but the beauty of my life still remains. My children. My family, My friends. I felt blessed beyond measure that night, I felt ready to embrace life and laughter and simplicity again.
I found solace in my writing and in my openness with friends who read my words, my emotions poured out in emails; beautiful, loving friends who allowed me to just be me.
I found passion for old dreams I had set aside. I found parts of myself I had shelved and denied.
There is more, I am sure. But I don't want to do a disservice to my struggle. Not many people talk about this subject, hysterectomies, surgical menopause, early onset menopause. How about periods, most people don't even talk about them and I will never take them for granted again. And so I am beginning to open up, to examine this past year and find out what I can take from it, what I can gain from it, instead of just focusing on what I have lost.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
My Nike statement
The motto for my life, JUST LET ME BE.
If I were to design a t shirt that accurately represents me, my heart, my sentiment, my "Nike" statement if you will, it would say this, "Just Let Me Be."
Not as in leave me alone or do not even think about bothering me; no, that isn't what I mean. I love people, enjoy being involved and invested in people. How can I help, what do you need, two of my favorite statements said genuinely. I've been blessed many times over by friends and strangers who have offered assistance and care and I like to pass it on.
But here I am at 33, wife, mother, daughter,sister,friend, some days wishing I could scream, just let me be. Or even say it in my, calm, mild-mannered, gently spoken voice, almost above a whisper: Let me Be! Let me be.
Let me be the girl I was. Let me be the woman I want. Let me be who I am right now. There are still remnants of the girl I was. Was as in when? Before I became a responsible adult? Before I became a mother? Before I became a mom of a special needs boy? Before I became a woman who lost her reproductive organs and skyrocketed into menopause? The girl who would try anything once, the girl who didn't look for assurances in life but embraced challenges. That girl's motto was "Bring it, I'll be ready." I'm no longer that girl although I try to embrace and incorporate her spirit in simple ways. Life taught me some hard lessons and they changed who I was.
The woman I want to be she seems almost as unattainable as the girl I was who so easily retreated, disappeared. I want to be strong and capable and giving and selfless. I want to be more, so simple in a statement, More. I want to be more than I am now. More than a wife, mother, daughter, sister, those are all roles I play, central to who I am, absolutely, yet dependent on others, on relationship dynamics.I want to be a writer, an advocate, and a capable, confident woman again. My surgery, this change in my life, robbed me of confidence and I stand on shaky ground. I want to be a woman who rises above that.
But right now I'm coping, looking in a mirror trying to find the best reflection of myself. The reality is that I am just staring back at myself and I need to accept who I see, not look for better lighting, or a different angle. I am a woman in the midst of a change I did not want, did not expect but cannot alter. Many days I do my best to just manage all the roles in my life. I don't take time for me and I think it is part of why I don't recognize myself now. Also part of why I feel the need to scream my new motto. For me in some ways change came over night, the birth of a son with health issues, the almost instant onset of menopause after a surgery, instantaneous and shocking alterations in my life. But in other ways, change is gradual, almost sneaking up on you. I became busy with life, with fulfilling the responsibilities of my life, and now my life is full of pressure, expectation and busyness.
I am attempting to come out of the retreat mode I entered into months ago. It seems riddled with setbacks and traps of my own making. I no longer offer the challenge of "Bring it" to the universe. Right now more than anything I just want to be. Be what? Just let me be who I am and not who you need or want me to be. Be whatever I need to be and I can tell you it probably isn't strong or capable.
If I were to design a t shirt that accurately represents me, my heart, my sentiment, my "Nike" statement if you will, it would say this, "Just Let Me Be."
Not as in leave me alone or do not even think about bothering me; no, that isn't what I mean. I love people, enjoy being involved and invested in people. How can I help, what do you need, two of my favorite statements said genuinely. I've been blessed many times over by friends and strangers who have offered assistance and care and I like to pass it on.
But here I am at 33, wife, mother, daughter,sister,friend, some days wishing I could scream, just let me be. Or even say it in my, calm, mild-mannered, gently spoken voice, almost above a whisper: Let me Be! Let me be.
Let me be the girl I was. Let me be the woman I want. Let me be who I am right now. There are still remnants of the girl I was. Was as in when? Before I became a responsible adult? Before I became a mother? Before I became a mom of a special needs boy? Before I became a woman who lost her reproductive organs and skyrocketed into menopause? The girl who would try anything once, the girl who didn't look for assurances in life but embraced challenges. That girl's motto was "Bring it, I'll be ready." I'm no longer that girl although I try to embrace and incorporate her spirit in simple ways. Life taught me some hard lessons and they changed who I was.
The woman I want to be she seems almost as unattainable as the girl I was who so easily retreated, disappeared. I want to be strong and capable and giving and selfless. I want to be more, so simple in a statement, More. I want to be more than I am now. More than a wife, mother, daughter, sister, those are all roles I play, central to who I am, absolutely, yet dependent on others, on relationship dynamics.I want to be a writer, an advocate, and a capable, confident woman again. My surgery, this change in my life, robbed me of confidence and I stand on shaky ground. I want to be a woman who rises above that.
But right now I'm coping, looking in a mirror trying to find the best reflection of myself. The reality is that I am just staring back at myself and I need to accept who I see, not look for better lighting, or a different angle. I am a woman in the midst of a change I did not want, did not expect but cannot alter. Many days I do my best to just manage all the roles in my life. I don't take time for me and I think it is part of why I don't recognize myself now. Also part of why I feel the need to scream my new motto. For me in some ways change came over night, the birth of a son with health issues, the almost instant onset of menopause after a surgery, instantaneous and shocking alterations in my life. But in other ways, change is gradual, almost sneaking up on you. I became busy with life, with fulfilling the responsibilities of my life, and now my life is full of pressure, expectation and busyness.
I am attempting to come out of the retreat mode I entered into months ago. It seems riddled with setbacks and traps of my own making. I no longer offer the challenge of "Bring it" to the universe. Right now more than anything I just want to be. Be what? Just let me be who I am and not who you need or want me to be. Be whatever I need to be and I can tell you it probably isn't strong or capable.
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