I have been known to complain from time to time – don’t be shocked. Life after menopause has not been all peaches and cream. I have also candidly admitted that it might not all be due to menopause – I’ve had a few random health issues that could easily have contributed to my dissatisfaction with the way my body functions.

Very recently a few things happened that seem to be making a pretty big difference for me.

My hormone doctor and I have been going round and round on my thyroid medication. I keep telling her that my dosage is too low and she keeps telling me that she doesn’t want to take any chances with overmedicating me (the AMA doesn’t believe I should have ANY thyroid medication despite the fact that I’ve had the majority of my thyroid removed). I appreciate her caution – but my body does not!

I finally convinced her to up the dosage. She said “okay, I’ll double the dosage, but every time I do that we wait a few weeks, take a blood test, and end up lowering it again.” I was willing to take the chance.

Then, a few weeks later, a good friend told me about a fruit and vegetable cleanse. I tried it for two days and lost 8 pounds. I feel a million times better!

Those two changes have made a marked impact on my life.

Am I exactly where I want to be weight wise? Hell no, but 8 pounds is an awesome start – and I plan on doing that cleanse on and off throughout the holidays to help stave off holiday creep.

So what’s the point of my little story? Just a few small steps in the right direction can make a huge improvement. You can re-energize and feel much better long before you achieve all of your aggressive goals. Go ahead and try healthy improvements and take your victories with gusto – no matter how minor they may seem!

It’s a never ending battle. You diet religiously to lose a few precious pounds, and two days later you’re all puffed up like a blowfish. It just sucks. Up and down and virtually impossible to control.

The other day I came to a startling revelation. I bought a three pack of hi-cut underpants. They were cute colors and the fabric was cotton – perfect for the warmer weather to come.

The next morning, I opened the pack and put on the first pair. Oh crap. Were they smaller than the ones I typically buy? Had I added a few pounds unwittingly? Or maybe I was bloated for some inexplicable reason. I pondered the possibilities that cast a slight pall on my day, lamenting the fact that my cool new hi-cuts were a tad more snug than I would have liked.

The next day I approached the package with far less enthusiasm. I grabbed the next pair in line and slid them on. They were fabulous! They fit perfectly and looked great – I could not have been more pleased.

And then it dawned on me. Inconsistencies in an identical product had messed me up the day before! Those bastards! They robbed me of a day when I could have felt this good – because they couldn’t produce a consistent product!

I started to think of all the other times when unexpected product inconsistency had messed with my mind, making me think that my body was betraying me even worse than it actually was. I recalled a recent event where I had purchased a really cool pair of pjs online. When they came, I loved them – but the colors ran after washing. I contacted the manufacturer and they offered to replace the pair. When the new pair came I tried them on and almost choked to death. I took them off and checked the size – yep – they were the same as the original oh so comfortable pair.

How often do you think inconsistencies in manufacturing are what cause us to beat ourselves up? I bet it’s more than we think! Oh well, at least my Mom got a free pair of pj bottoms out of the deal!

Yeah, yeah, we all know the majority of menopausal women suffer with weight gain issues. But do we realize that often segues into cholesterol and high blood pressure issues?

I was lunching with a friend yesterday and talk gravitated toward blood pressure and systolic numbers. I commented that mine was running in the 130’s and occasionally up to the mid- 140’s. That was enough for my new GP to put me on a diuretic in order to try and get that critical number lowered.
I thought it was a little bit overkill because a doctor I know (who specializes in blood pressure) had said as long as I’m mostly under 140 – I should be fine. But I’ve read that anything over 120 is not okay, and I’ve heard that doctors are tending to expect numbers under 130. Is it overkill?
My friend, who has had some health issues related to blood pressure commented that hers is regularly in the 150’s – and her doctor just shrugs. She finds that worrisome.
This is becoming one hell of a numbers game. How the hell do we know what to think? I’d rather not be on meds, but if I need them I’m game.
It doesn’t appear as though there is flexibility in blood pressure numbers, i.e. it’s okay for Marla to be at 150, but very dangerous for Lisa to be over 123 – or am I wrong about that?
Does anyone have the key to healthy blood pressure for women of menopausal age? And what should be done at the various levels?
What’s the truth?

As we turn the corner and head full speed at the holiday season, many menopausal women have an additional burden to carry along with their never-ending quest to make the season bright and cheery. They have to fight their own body’s attempt at sabotage.

By now some of you have already surmised where I’m going with this. As a fairly typical menopausal woman I recently had a saliva test to measure my cortisol level and the function of my adrenal glands. Guess what? They were through the floorboards and I was told I needed to start taking steroids to jump start them.

The problem was I’d been trying to lose some weight. It had been a slow process but it had been working. Once I started the steroids, the weight loss stopped.

Then I went to my GP and he decided it was imperative I drop a few pounds. He wants to see me in January. This is NOT a recipe for success! I think he does it on purpose so it will ruin my entire holiday season – which for me includes my birthday and my anniversary.

Unfortunately for menopausal women everywhere – I don’t think my story is rare. I am left with a choice: ruin my entire holiday season and shun holiday festivities in order to diet drastically or sacrifice my health. Is there no happy medium?

I like to eat. I have a tendency to gain weight. I like to be thin. That is the unholy trinity that puts most women on a lifetime rollercoaster of torturous emotional self-abuse.

It’s also the deadly threesome that causes young women to throw their lives away to anorexia, bulimia and a plethora of other forms of physical self-abuse. So it’s damn serious. Read the rest of this entry »