Saturday smiles for the menopausal

Here you go folks, I had such a laugh when I found these!  I hope they make you smile too :-)

Where I go from here......the spare room?

Bloomin' heck!  Retirement.....that's for old folk, right?  Well it seems its for me too, this big life changing new phase.  Grumpy Trousers has a three year head start on me so he's well happy with his routine.  That I'm about to disrupt!

I think he sees my retirement as having a hand-grenade chucked into his world.  He wasn't happy for a few days until we had 'the talk' about what adjustments both of us were having to make.  I don't relish the thought of being with him 24/7 any more than he does - in fact the thought of it makes me cranky and I am fighting the urge to be rather unpleasant to him.  That's so WRONG isn't it?  But if he will insist on closing the bedroom window on a humid, sticky night the results are me heating up like a furnace with hot flushing and becoming itchy, witchy and bitchy.  All at once!

(image nicked from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health)

Since his triple heart bypass operation three years ago Grumpy Trousers body temperature is much lower than mine.  I have occasional resurgence of menopause symptoms so am always hot.  Therefore, closing a bedroom window on such a night was bound to have a negative effect. He can always burrow under the duvet, but I can't get any cooler even if I'm bloody buck naked!  I huffily flounced off into the spare room, almost tore the window from hits hinges to get some air in, then realised all his crap paperwork was on the bed.  With one sweep of my arm, it scattered all over the floor in order for me to throw myself on the bed.  I shouldn't have been so worked up but (now, is this familiar to you yet?) being overheated brings on hormonal headaches that bang inside my skull.  In hindsight, I should have given myself a cool sponge down in the bathroom, but hormonal headaches prevent me from thinking clearly.  So in the spare room I remained, with a bottle of water and my Kindle, eventually soothed by a cool caressing breeze that gently wafted the curtains and sent me to sleep.

Grumpy Trousers misses me sleeping alongside him far more than I miss him.  He takes comfort from my warmth; but unfortunately I don't take comfort from his snoring, coughing, wheezing, belching and farting that keep me awake.

This is all pointing to separate rooms isn't it?  I don't want it to come to that.  Occasionally is fine, but even I would hate it to become permanent.  I'll compromise on the belching and farting, and the snoring at a push, but the coughing and wheezing needs to be addressed.

Guess who will be the one to ring the doctor?

Menopause crap

Despite it being International Happiness Day I woke up distinctly grumpy this morning.  I hoped it would wear off but there's no sign of it abating just yet.  This blog address isn't called 'grumpydrawers' for nothing, so I guess I'd better tell you what's causing it. Menopause crap that's what.

I'm on 'Round 2' can you believe!  I started my first menopause at the early age of 39, avoided HRT and got through the whole caboodle by age 48.  I was well happy about that, I can tell you.  For the last few months however, I seem to be having some kind of resurgence of symptoms that I escaped first time round.

Listed in order of the annoyance factor, there's....

1.  Night sweats (hot flashes) - some nights I'm burning up the moment my back touches the mattress!
2.  Itchy skin - mostly on my legs.  I shed flakes of skin on the inside of my black work trousers - eek!
3.  Aching joints - my wrists are hurting a lot today.  Lifting books are a problem.
4.  Extreme lethargy - may be due to not sleeping because of the night sweats.
5.  Head pains - similar to the electric shock type pains I had first time round.  Not as intense this time.

How I think I look.....

Bless her she's probably drunk, and NOT menopausal - it's another Grace Robertson image from the book, Grace Robertson Photojournalist of the 1950's.

I need chocolate!