Is It Hot In Here?

September 2, 2011 ~ JodiLea

September is National Menopause Awareness Month.

Hot Flash Fridge Lady Today’s awareness focuses on “hot flashes”. According to medical studies, about 65 to 75 percent of women experience hot flashes, most commonly during late perimenopause. Does this mean that after 17 years (yes, that’s right ladies – seventeen years) of perimenopause, I may soon reach the end? My husband sure hopes so.

Why they are called flashes is a mystery to me. First of all, a flash will suddenly happen then disappear. We should be so lucky. Sure they can come on quickly, but they linger.

I normally experience them in the middle of the night. Every night I start out with a fresh pair of pj’s and before my alarm goes off, they are trashed. I wake up to find them sticking to me, drenched in sweat. This feels pretty damned gross, so no wonder I’m a grump-ass in the morning.

This weekend I am going to spend with my daughter and 2 granddaughters, so I imagine my mornings will be a lot less grumpy. I better pack plenty of pj’s and undergarments! I may not be posting. But hopefully you have more exciting things to do on your labor-day weekend than listen to me whine 😉

For more information on hot flashes and menopause, the Mayo Clinic is a good resource -and in normal English.

Is That “Be Aware” or “Beware”?

September 1, 2011 ~ JodiLea ~ 1 Comment

September is National Menopause Awareness Month.

Well, what a coincidence! I am personally experiencing my own “awareness”. After being in “peri-menopause” for years, my symptoms are now getting stronger. In other words, what sucked before has now become barely tolerable.

Why the Hell do they call it “menopause” anyway? There is NO pausing. At least not to my meno. My ovaries & uterus think they belong to a fertile 25-year old. How long can their denial last? The rest of my body is drying up and my mind is half gone. Are hysterectomy’s an elective surgery? These are just a handful of the questions I have.

This month I will be trying to learn the whats, hows and whys for all this. I promise to pass along any interesting stuff to you, dear readers. I should warn you, I may whine a bit while doing so. OK, I may whine a lot…

These seven dwarfs demonstrate life as I know it. I may have to use them for my Threat Level Warning (on my door at work) this month.

Is menopause a politically correct term? Will I get in trouble posting it?

I’ll let you know…

Don’t Say I Didn’t Warn Ya…

August 24, 2011 ~ JodiLea ~ 3 Comments

Every morning I post the current Threat Level. When I arrive at work, I assess the situation and post the days level prominently on my office door. This threat level has nothing to do with terrorists.

It’s all about me.

I have really good mornings most of the time. Today was not one of them. I normally use the real color-coded threat level sign. But that seemed too ordinary to express the condition I had elevated to in the 3 hours between getting out of bed and starting to work. Every joint in my body hurt, my fasting blood glucose was 314, meaning two injections instead of one. I felt feverish, sweaty and grumpy. My skin itched and crawled.

I did not want to go to work. I wanted to scream, throw a tantrum, and go back to bed. But being the dedicated employee that I am, I sucked it up and went to the office. Where I found more crap to irritate me, just reading my email.

Evil Child <—Today’s Threat Level

Someone said “A picture is worth 1,000 words”. I have no clue who this little girl is, but she looks how I felt today. And still feel tonight, so I am sending my grumpy ass to bed now.

Thanks for listening 😉