Perimenopause is NOT my friend: Episode 2
As with many life-altering phases I’ve gone through, I’ve apparently decided to (over-)share yet again. The messy, confounding, not often hilarious process of figuring out what’s happening in my body and my brain during this rich phase of life is now not just mine, but yours too. You’re welcome!
I would say that I pride myself on honesty, but in reality, I don’t know how to do it any other way. I somehow don’t have the filter that tells me maybe not everyone wants to hear about my hot flushes, pap smears, and pill popping.
And I guess I am being very honest because my mom called me the other day panicked. My mom almost never calls me out of the blue. Not because we aren’t close, but because she just assumes that I’m always too busy. So, when she does, I know something’s up. She was frantic, words tumbling over each other:
“I was just catching up on my email and I saw your blog about writing, and then I saw this new one about perimenopause, and I clicked on it and—oh, well, I guess—I didn’t realize it was that bad. I mean, when we’ve talked you’ve sounded fine, or maybe you just didn’t want to tell me? Or worry me? Are you okay? Is your depression back? What’s happening? How are you? Really? Are you fine?”
I convinced her I was okay and promised to call the next day when I wasn’t watching Gilmore Girls with Izzy before bedtime.
Okay, okay. Enough already. Back to the perimenopause. If you haven’t read Episode 1, click here—it’s where this story begins.
After looking for a specialist and coming up empty handed, I decided to reach out to my GP. She’s been our family doctor for four years, and she’s always been very helpful so why not? I made an appointment.
And oh my god, did I feel seen and heard. Not only did she validate my experience, but she could empathize with everything too. She’s nearly my age and shares a lot of my symptoms—not great news for her, but definitely for me!
She told me that what we think of as hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is not available in Jordan. Why everybody doesn’t just say that when people ask for it, I don’t know. More specifically, estrogen isn’t available in cream or gel form, progesterone is available only in tablet form, and testosterone is only available as injections—which she said she wouldn’t guinea pig on her patients though she might on herself when the time comes.
We had a long conversation. I listed off my symptoms—everything from insomnia to brain fog to the kind of exhaustion that makes even the simplest thing feel like too much. She told me that there’s an off-label pill for every single symptom I mentioned. But, she asked, “Do you really want to take eighteen different pills?”
She suggested we go a different route: supplements (some backed by research and some definitely not…yet) and lifestyle changes for three to six months, and then reassess. She also performed a Pap smear and ordered a full blood panel and several additional tests to see what else might be contributing to my what-the-fuck feelings as of late.
Next time—in Episode Three—we’ll get into some nitty gritty. We’ll talk supplements—what she prescribed, why, and what seems to be making a difference. I’ll lay out what I’ve learned about treatments from her, from the menopause specialist I’ve talked to in the UK, and from my own reading and research. And I’ll detail what has been helpful thus far.
Buckle up. It ain’t over until the perimenopausal woman stops getting her period.
