'til death do us part

Maze,

Save me some, leave the back door open ….. I could use cookies and tea and good company. The Bride and I can talk about hormones (and our mutual disgust on various related topics). You and me, we'll enjoy her baking and have a lively debate on the subject of snow sculpture or poetry that doesn't rhyme. The two of you can teach me a thing or two about the shifting universe and staying young.

Maze don't read this:  (HEY!  MAZEOPHILES!!!!  MAZE'S BIRTHDAY IS COMING UP ON MARCH 8!   This bulletin brought to you by Fat Bunnies, Inc., makers of CHAOS and HAVOC for…  quite a while now.) 

Just read this:  Thanks for bein' here, Maze and the Bride, may you have many happy cookin' on the stove and yummy kitchen aroma years. 

lol @ martha message received loud and clear

Fire up the coffee pot.  I'm coming in!!!

Good to hear the bride is not taking those deadly HRT's.  Menopause is a cruel trick played on women.  I have had hot flashes for at least 10 years.  I met a woman 70 yrs. old who still had them.  Yikes!  Hope she finds something that works for her sake and yours.

All right, you wise Divas, and Maze's bride also: Menopause is not a cruel trick, it is a gift we have been waiting for. Read Dr. Christiane Northrup's book The Wisdom of Menopause , delay not a moment!

I'll summarize it now: Dr. Northrup says she has seen menopause from both sides, and the view from the other side is glorious. I agree. If there is any more I can offer, just ask.

OH, and the best hormone regulator: Lots of orgasms (use contraceptives, Maze, it is time for your kids to have kids (soon))

I'm on the other side of menopause too and can attest that it's GREAT!  Maze, tell her to just hang on through the hot flashes and it will be wonderful on the other side.  And of course you can help out (see Carla's suggestion above.)

It's so great to vicariously smell those peanut butter cookies…they're my favorite!

sweet story. I felt all cozy in your kitchen with the oven and the cookies. I don't bake too much. Harry likes to make chocolate chips but he isn't around these days. Lots of orgasms. i just mentioned that to rich and he said ” she said orgasms not sex” I had to think about that one. So I guess  you could have one with out the other or both.I going to get on that.

WhooHoo,
Dr. Northrup thinks menopause is a gift?  Yikes! return gift to sender.
If she is so smart and has so much money, how come she has such bad shoes? huh?)

I think I will write my own book .  Let's see, I will call  it - “Menopause - The Fires of Hell, Burn Baby Burn”. It will come with a CD of me singing “Ring of Fire”, and maybe have some cute fireman on the cover. Maybe I will include an Evian water pocket -size mister.

Excuse me now while I go stick my head into the freezer compartment!

I must be one of the lucky ones as my really really bad symptoms (like hot flashes) only lasted a month at a time here and there. These were very very uncomfortable and I lost a lot of sleep. 

My mood swings….

I do not have children so this was an emotional time anyway, knowing I never would have biological children. 

I wished I had known about the orgasms, might have saved my sanity not to mention my relationship…hm, though it was the hot flashes that caused me to kick him out of bed…accidentally of course.

Mimi, I'll keep you company in the freezer :-D

Damn, Mimi … you burned my biscuit all the way down here in Atlanta.  I'm send you some fans … the big ass industrial ones.  And I agree - what's wiff da bad shoes, eh?

I donno.  Rather have orgasms WITH sex.  It's more fun that way.  For me.  Well, for me AND him actually.  BUT, sex INCREASES my symptoms, such as migraine for example.  So:  You can have sex now, but a migraine later.  What to do?  It's a cosmic decision.  How do I know about the migraines later you may ask?  Well, now you know the decisions made.  BUT, on another hand, just like Sprite, I've had almost no “hot flashes” at all.  Still, I'd trade in the headaches for them anyday, believe me!   Choices, choices, choices…

Do you wonder about it when you make a fairly outre comment on a blog and then find out it's the LAST comment?  Do you ever wonder whether the cycle ran out naturally, or whether people stopped commenting because you said something too weird?  That's why I miss Bewick.  He would never wonder something like that.  And so that helps me not wonder, either.  But now he's gone.  Oh well.

Martha, I was  wondering the same thing!  Glad you posted after me.  And, btw, I agree with you on both :-D

lol martha! i often wonder that…

I looked for Bewick when I was down south, he's incognito. I imagine I'll go visit my brother in Nashville, and walk into some dive, and he'll be there with a cigar between his teeth, playing the drums, and I'll holler: Bewick, you old shine on the buckle of the bible belt, its me the queen of Maine.

Martha, want some ideas about the migraines? I'll bet  you've tried a lot of stuff, so I won't start rattling off ideas. But if you want to ask… pm.

And everybody, take your orgasms any way you can get them.

lol carla i like to be choosier than that about my orgasms thanks :)

The good news for me was that the migraines disappeared with  final menopause.  The doctor told me that migraines were hormonal in my case (I got them 4-5 days before my period).  Gone Gone only to be replace by Hoooooooooot Flashes.  Today I heard  a doctor on TV say that flashes are actually an adrenalln rush.  I am going to google”stop adrenalin rush” and see if I can find out something.  Nothing seems to work, and believe me I have tried everything. (I used to be a perfect speller.  Have no idea at all how to spell adrenalin!)
If i have to have something hot, would prefer it be a  firey hot orgasm. WhooooHoooooo

Research shows men should have an orgasm a day to keep prostate cancer away.  Not sure all the bene's for women but I'm with Carla, just get them! 

Carla, you come down to Nashville, I'll come up and we'll both look for Bewick!

I would like to help find him too if I can tag along. I had migraines with my first pregnancy and none since. I hope I don't get those again. I liked your comment Martha. This is quite the topic anyway, orgasms and menopause. I am ready to take it on, menopause I mean, and if it takes lots of orgasms, well, I am okay with that. I hope this isn't the last post.

maze! now see what you started……;>)  I made this smiley face especially 4 U

mimi, here is something i googled: http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=54615

Moderator: How does menopause affect sleep?

Walsleben: Menopause tends to fragment sleep, and the predominant complaint of even perimenopausal women is that of insomnia. Some problems may be due to the vascular changes and hot flashes. Other problems may be due to stress mood changes that occur. Most of the research looking at sleep in this period tends to see very few changes, except for frequent arousals. Many researchers believe the sleep problems during this time may be due to the variety of psychosocial issues as well that developed during that time.

Moderator: That sounds like someone saying, “It's all in your head.”

Walsleben: The answer to that is, I know, and I don't tend to believe it. I think 60% of menopausal women know that they don't sleep well. I suspect that our ability to monitor the brain changes may not be adequate enough to see the subtle changes that women experience. But it is true stress impacts our ability to sleep. So this is a period of our life with good and bad stressors. We must be careful to keep the bad stressors away from our sleep.

Member question: How do you keep the bad stressor away?

Walsleben: The best way to keep stress away from the bedtime is to focus on it in the afternoon. I advise patients to worry well with a worry book for half an hour every afternoon and they train themselves to close the book, put it away, and not consider those problems until the next day. Many times relaxation techniques, visualization, even self-hypnosis can be very helpful and allow you to get off or back to sleep.

Moderator: What role do hot flashes play in the lack of good sleep during this time?

Walsleben: Hot flashes tend to be a major culprit for the lack of sleep. We actually suffer a total arousal and a surge of adrenaline during the hot flash and so our bodies may sweat, but adrenaline awakens our brains, and unfortunately it takes time for that adrenaline to recede and let us settle down into sleep again.

Member question: Is there anything natural to help hot flashes and sleep?

Walsleben: The “natural” products to help hot flashes tend to be herbal. Black cohosh has been thought to help hot flashes. Also, soy may improve hot flashes.

We also can do behavioral things, such as:

There are other medications that have been shown to help hot flashes. They include some antidepressants and also an antiepileptic drug called Neurontin.

Member question: When you have hot flashes can tongue biting and fingernail imprints go along with this sleep pattern?

Walsleben: Typically, if I hear tongue biting and fingernail imprints, I think more of a seizure-like event in the night, and I would not connect that to a hot flash. It may be wise to monitor the number and perhaps timing of these episodes and speak with your physician.

Member question: I am unable to go back to sleep for at least three hours once I wake up. Aches and pains make it difficult to sleep also. What do you suggest?

Walsleben: I would suggest first thinking about the aches and pains and treating them, either by removing the cause or getting the proper analgesic medication, which you would take before going to bed.

The other problem when we wake ourselves up with a hot flash is settling down again. If we are angry or upset at these episodes, it makes it worse. That's where relaxation exercises come in. You can immediately put your head somewhere else to prevent that response, and the likelihood is you will return to sleep sooner.

I laughed as I remembered maze writing this a few days ago: :
“damn, I wish I could make  you all have  an orgasm, but I am wondering if all that stress would give me a migraine.”

When I  clicked on here today, the first thing I saw  right at the top  was the response by crow:

“Maze,
Save me some..leave the back door open….”         

..me bad!

Laughing : )   Mimi, you is SO bad!

(Now for a clever segue)…….. This afternoon, I copied out fortune cookie sayings from a mini bookful of them, to put in the kids' lunches. One said “Be good. If you're not good, be careful,” which sounded more like a warning from Santa than helpful advice. Ominously, the one on the facing page intoned “Redemption is within your grasp.”  But I didn't copy that one :P

My favourite is “The light at the end of the tunnel could mean bad things.” 

lol tom and crow