I was taught in medical school and residency that menopause is all about estrogen. Symptoms include weird bleeding, hot flashes, sleep disturbance, and irritability and can last for about 6 years. Then, it resolves.

Since then, I have learned that female hormones mean a lot more than that to the person within.

Hormones are the messengers and connectors from your brain to some of the other organs of your body. Your brain thinks up the message, and it tells the organ what to do. If the organ listens, then the brain backs off. If the organ does not listen, then the brain keeps trying to get it to do so.

When a woman goes through perimenopause, the ovaries do not quit all of a sudden. They sometimes listen, and other times do not. This is a hard state. Your body is still trying to carry you- it is still trying to take you to work, or drop the kids off, or go to whatever you are doing. It is still trying to maintain your relationships and your responsibilities. Your hormones are ready to slow down but life doesn’t allow a woman in her 40s and 50s slow down. The family does not stop needing mom for everything. The workforce does not slow down to accommodate your ever changing hormonal symptoms.

A woman in her 40s and 50s still has a super high level of output of energy. And, now the body is distracted and irritated by the unsteady supply of hormones and lack of sleep. Now wonder this does not feel so good. I forgot to mention (but not less important) is that your significant other often still wants to be intimate with you. But, you are tired and irritable and the last thing we often want to do in this state is be intimate.

But you do want love. You want understanding and you want to be able to breath in your own skin.

I get it.

I have been there.

I help people with this every day.

We feel alone. We feel fearful.

It is okay. You are not alone. Don’t be scared. You are so normal- you are human.

There is hope and there are answers. You just need to reach out. If you reach out and do not get help, reach out again and move on. There is hope.

I just look at menopause these days as a time of life that your body cannot give you as much energy as it used to. It is a time to find yourself, figure out yourself, and find that while you have been living for everyone else, you matter too. Find that girl. Celebrate her and then teach your children how to celebrate themselves too.

We (women ) are the centers of our families. If we do not take care of ourselves, the family does not do so well. It can sometimes feel selfish to love yourself but it isn’t.

Don’t feel selfish for taking a breath.

Don’t feel shameful.

You are the same girl that you have always been.

Find her.

What an opportunity in life— to have the confidence of life experience in a regenerative body-

You have the opportunity and ability to find yourself no matter what your age…

If you have the intent, believe that anything is possible.

Knowing you are not alone can help you make it through the day, week, month, year. I am here to answer your questions, provide solutions and help you feel like yourself again.

Let’s all help each other. Feel free to share your menopause experience in the comments section below to help others know they are not alone. I will also answer questions posted below.