Breaking Bread with Menopause

I’ve always slept like the dead.

My head hits the pillow and I am slumbering within minutes.

And it’s a rare occasion that I don’t sleep through ‘til morning.

But recently I’ve been waking three or four times a night.

Kicking off the covers because my body feels like an inferno.

Pulling the sheet and blankets tight to my chin when, fifteen minutes later, I feel the arctic blast of the room we prefer to keep cool.

I wish I could say that my body at least regulates a constant temperature during my waking hours.

But, no.

One minute I’m shedding the multitude of layers I dressed in, right down to the sleeveless, summer top.

And the next my teeth are practically chattering.

Hello.

Welcome to menopause.

Now I understand the brow mopping my coworker frequently complains about.

“Sorry, I’m having a hot flash,” she says as she dabs her forehead, her cheeks, and then, her chin.

Two nights ago, my sleep was disrupted three times. The third at 3:33.

In an effort to avoid being stressed over it, I thought about the peaceful symbolisms my dream dictionary tells me about the number three.

Last night, when my boiling blood woke me for the umpteenth time, I found myself wishing someone would devise a human baking rack, so I could keep aired out while sleeping flat.

Breads and muffins I made last fall for my son’s and daughter’s soccer teams –

The cooling racks sure keep the bottoms from becoming sticky with sweat…



Sleeping on my side seems to be the most suitable as far as regulating my body temperature, but it does nothing for that neck pain I worked so hard to eliminate.

When I woke with tingling fingers, I could feel steam coming off my back as I rolled over onto it.

And let me just say there’s nothing appealing about feeling like a loaf of freshly baked banana bread.

I keep telling myself that one saving grace is that I’m beginning this stage of my life early.

(Relatively speaking, of course.)

Hence, it will end while I’m still young enough to appreciate it and I can live out the rest of my days free from raging, screwed up hormones.

In the meantime, here’s a glimpse into my days.

Hair clips, and a choice of hot or cold beverage always at the ready.

When the hot flash passes, I need my handy-dandy heater and a lap blanket by my side.

 

Today’s throw is one my little sis gave me.

 

 

The glow and glamour of scented candles adds additional warmth—inside and out.

 

 

Right now I need all of these resources, given one other menopausal factoid.

“Let’s do it a year early and be done with it,” my doc said when he scheduled the colonoscopy and upper GI.

Yep. 

Today it’s all about the clear stuff…

What about you? Have you experienced any of the menopause symptoms? What do you do to make them more tolerable and your days (and nights!) a little more bearable?

Soon…