I am posting today about how useful it has been to be a member of The Daisy Network, the only UK charity purely supporting premature menopause. As you know, I've had a tremendously frustrating time with GPs and gynaecologists to date, but charities such as Daisy do offer us hope with their hard work getting us all answers and support that would evade us otherwise.
Sadly I couldn't make the Daisy annual conference that is arranged each year in June. This is a fantastic event when we can all meet up together and go to talks and workshops by experts who do have a clue how we can be treated - hurrah!
However, I received my Update newsletter through the post last week which devoted a full 2 pages to Dr Nick Panay's presentation which was absolutely a sight for sore eyes - how to treat and manage premature menopause/POF properly, right down to the use of bioidentical HRT and DHEA instead of the pill. I am now looking forward to the next GP appointment at which I shall be armed with this article, to ensure that my GP knows I'm not crazy and that I have thoroughly researched my treatment - and they should read the research too.
Monday 18 July 2011
Friday 8 July 2011
In the beginning...
Just come across this piece in the Daily Mail and it really seems like modern lifestyles aren't good for us. I'm not the only person I know with premature menopause, so I've always felt the numbers must be higher as more and more of these articles are published, most of which though are the usual negative story about high-flying career women leaving it too late to have children.
My dear Mum who passed away 9 years ago left us a blessing in the form of her diaries which she wrote all her life, so I am wondering if there are any clues to what may have happened to me in there, anything that happened to her during her pregnancy with me possibly? Widespread use of the Pill for example, occurred after my sister (now 45 and still with periods) was born but before I turned up - would the much stronger hormones used in those days have any bearing? Perhaps it isn't the whole story but part of a catalogue of unfortunate lifestyle coincidences creating the problem I now have. And no, I would never put any blame on my mother for any of this - she would be devastated at knowing what's happened to me.
The dietary changes have definitely had a fabulous effect - another 5lbs gone in the last 2 weeks adding up to a 25lb loss. I did have a faddy diet for the first 30 years of my life unfortunately which in itself stressed my body out as well as the emotional stresses that followed. So I'm of the opinion that all of these things add up to my premature menopause.
As I'm a natural researcher, I will continue with the detective work to somehow give myself closure for what's happened, and find the key to what to do next for my health.
My dear Mum who passed away 9 years ago left us a blessing in the form of her diaries which she wrote all her life, so I am wondering if there are any clues to what may have happened to me in there, anything that happened to her during her pregnancy with me possibly? Widespread use of the Pill for example, occurred after my sister (now 45 and still with periods) was born but before I turned up - would the much stronger hormones used in those days have any bearing? Perhaps it isn't the whole story but part of a catalogue of unfortunate lifestyle coincidences creating the problem I now have. And no, I would never put any blame on my mother for any of this - she would be devastated at knowing what's happened to me.
The dietary changes have definitely had a fabulous effect - another 5lbs gone in the last 2 weeks adding up to a 25lb loss. I did have a faddy diet for the first 30 years of my life unfortunately which in itself stressed my body out as well as the emotional stresses that followed. So I'm of the opinion that all of these things add up to my premature menopause.
As I'm a natural researcher, I will continue with the detective work to somehow give myself closure for what's happened, and find the key to what to do next for my health.
Monday 4 July 2011
The sun is shining
Whilst trying to find a good time to heal myself naturally of the stress that has affected my body so much, the last few months has seen a family bereavement, 2 further family members with major illness worries, a major redundancy situation coming right up (the third in five years!), and another 3 family members going through the major fallout of another divorce. So, not much to stress about then!!
Despite all of this, or maybe because of it, I am happily distracting myself with other pursuits to give light to the shade within which it's all too easy to wallow in sometimes. Not that it's not important to give time to grief and the sadness, but the happy times are what life's about and seeing the good things around me and being mindful enough to enjoy the moment is my current focus. I've been looking at photos which look like happy times but I can remember at the time being grumpy about something insignificant - what a waste. Life goes along too quickly not to enjoy as much as we can on the way.
So today I'm back at work after a fabulously distracting weekend with family, playing in my covers band The Uninvited on Friday night, seeing the Foo Fighters and Biffy Clyro on Saturday night at Milton Keynes Bowl and chilling about on Sunday. As you can guess I'm a muso, and I find it a wonderful distraction from the other stresses in life. Sometimes when I'm happily distracting myself, I feel like I'm being some kind of slacker, not dealing with practical things that I should be or facing issues "head on" but it's the joys in life that can ultimately heal you. This is the life lesson that I keep reminding myself of whenever the negative emotions return. It's July and the sun is shining :)
Despite all of this, or maybe because of it, I am happily distracting myself with other pursuits to give light to the shade within which it's all too easy to wallow in sometimes. Not that it's not important to give time to grief and the sadness, but the happy times are what life's about and seeing the good things around me and being mindful enough to enjoy the moment is my current focus. I've been looking at photos which look like happy times but I can remember at the time being grumpy about something insignificant - what a waste. Life goes along too quickly not to enjoy as much as we can on the way.
So today I'm back at work after a fabulously distracting weekend with family, playing in my covers band The Uninvited on Friday night, seeing the Foo Fighters and Biffy Clyro on Saturday night at Milton Keynes Bowl and chilling about on Sunday. As you can guess I'm a muso, and I find it a wonderful distraction from the other stresses in life. Sometimes when I'm happily distracting myself, I feel like I'm being some kind of slacker, not dealing with practical things that I should be or facing issues "head on" but it's the joys in life that can ultimately heal you. This is the life lesson that I keep reminding myself of whenever the negative emotions return. It's July and the sun is shining :)
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