Menopause – something I did not think about!

Menopause something I did not think about until I was at that age where my skin began to wrinkle and sag in all the wrong places! I ask, is there a right place? Lol

The M word, The Change, The Change of Life! 

I started looking forward to not having periods that messy time of month where I felt like crap, my ovaries were ready to burst and I felt that my uterus was about to drop out any minute with those cramps!

But little did I know that ‘the Change’ was not as simple as stopping the ‘monthly’. What I thought was that my periods stopped, I do not know where my belief started. I would see more wrinkles and maybe have to do some weights to keep my bones strong! But that was just aging wasn’t it?

  • I am that age now! What a shock it is…I just didn’t know

I am that age now! What a shock it is and it is so much more than I ever saw in other women! More discomfort emotionally, mentally, spiritually and yes physically.

Who knew?

How was I supposed to know? How do other women know?

Do men actually know anything about what us females go through at this stage? Never mind our monthly periods!

So to find what happens at perimenopause and menopause I have had to go through it! Thank goodness I didn’t have small children or grown children for that matter living with me.

So in a nutshell, for the moment, here are a few things I experienced. I will write more about these later.

Dry eyes – This was a surprise to me, I had issues with dry eyes! Before my extremely painful  experience I was teaching, which I will talk about in a mo. But my ‘dry eyes experience’ was one of the most painful, scary and baffling incidences of what I now know as ‘dry eyes’ – a symptom of perimenopause.

Photo by Mark Arron Smith on Pexels.com

I thought it was hay fever!

I was visiting my daughter in Wellington, we were doing what mothers and daughters do, go have lunch and wander around Cuba Street. As we were walking my eyes began stinging not too badly but enough to cause discomfort and for me to mention it to my daughter. We thought it was maybe hay fever, it was that time in the season, and dust was being blown around the street. I bought some eye drops specifically for hay fever. 

Little did either of us know what pain the drops would cause. Thinking I was doing a good thing for my eyes I carefully dosed each one. Within a minute my eyes were worse, stinging and watering so much so I had to walk down the road holding onto my daughter’s arm. I was totally blinded by the pain, my eyes running and so very sore. My eyes were red! This was unexpected, we stopped a few times, decided that the drops were not good for my eyes and waited! After about half an hour my eyes stopped watering, eventually they settled down. We had no idea what had just happened. I later discovered that the drops we purchased dried the eyes!! No wonder I was in so much angst and pain, the drops did exactly the opposite as to what was needed- rehydrate and repair!

Dry eyes –  after the first incidence my eyes recovered, I put the experience down as one in a million and as we women do – carry on with everything else. 

Until the next time…

When I was teaching I would spend hours at a computer. This was the norm and I happily carried on working on a screen for hours. I would take occasional breaks but then back to it! No problem with my eyes at all.

We moved into a new office with a heat pump, so after a couple of months my eyes became sensitive.  I reduced my screen time, ‘cause of course I used my phone too, for personal IG, YouTube etc.! I even took breaks from the screen following eye health protocols.

This did not alleviate the situation at all, my eyes became worse and worse. 

The day I had to make a Dr. appointment was a day that my eyes became extra sore and even taking breaks did not resolve the issue, my eyes were painful as if someone was sticking needles into them. When they watered the pain became worse! That evening I wasn’t sure how I would drive home, but I lived around the corner so I blinked, made sure I was vision clear and went home. Overnight my eyes repaired, so I thought it was an allergy, dryness caused by the heat pump and eye strain!

The next day, the same thing happened so off to the Doc I went, who sent me to the ophthalmologist. The result was that I had tiny little tears in the cornea and had to take hydro drops and a repair gel overnight. That was it, no mention of why or how it occurred, therefore I assumed it was over straining and dry eyes due to the heat pump. I regularly used the products and for a short time my eyes improved.

Any woman beyond 40yrs reading this may recognise the dry eyes scenario.

This is only one of over 40 symptoms of perimenopause and menopause! The drop in oestrogen (the female hormone produced by the ovaries) causes them. My eyes carried on being an issue, even after using the drops and repair gel. 

I am pleased to say that now I do not have agonising needles in the eyes because I have replaced my oestrogen by using transdermal patches as part of HRT. No more sore, dry eyes.

If only the Dr. or the ophthalmologist had explained to me what may be happening I could have discovered how to optimise my health and prevent other symptoms of ‘disease’ like bleeding gums, painful joints, fatigue and so many more. Needless to say I felt exhausted all the time, more about these in another blog!

#Rainbow’s Ramblings #menopause #perimenopause #makemenopausematter #dryeyes

Introduce Yourself (Example Post)

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

  • Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
  • Because it will help you focus your own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

  • Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
  • What topics do you think you’ll write about?
  • Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
  • If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.

Introduce Yourself (Example Post)

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

  • Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
  • Because it will help you focus your own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

  • Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
  • What topics do you think you’ll write about?
  • Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
  • If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.