Janna's Journey

Yes I am sitting on the floor in the hall eating otter pops with a fan on me, Ugh as if going through menopause at an earlier age wasn’t bad enough, These dang hot flashes are killing me!! I know, nobody really wants to talk about it, but I am at a loss of what to do about these things. In November it will be three years of suffering through these! That’s a lot of sweating, then freezing and then sweating again!! This month has been the worst month yet!

I am trying to go through menopause without any hormones and it’s kicking my butt! I keep trying to have a positive outlook about it, but its starting to bring me down a bit. It not only messes with me all day, at night it gets even worse! I decided to read up on Hot Flashes the other day and what I read did not make me feel any better… This is  taken from The Harvard Health Blog…”  a new study of women going through menopause. Hot flashes last, on average, for about seven years and may go on for 11 years or more. The SWAN researchers found that some women are more likely to deal with long-term hot flashes than others. Women who had their first hot flashes before their menstrual periods ended had hot flashes for an average of nine to 10 years. When hot flashes didn’t start until after the last menstrual period, the average duration was only about three and a half years. But even on the short end of the spectrum, that’s a long time to deal with hot flashes.” 

This just made me want to cry because I know I am in the 9 to 10 year category, So all i can do know Is to try to find the silver lining in all of this madness. According to HER Women’s  Health And Wellness Blog…

 

Heart Health

“When it comes to your heart, the when of hot flashes is an important marker. Women who experience hot flashes early in their menopause transition have shown to have a slightly lower risk of heart attack according to the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study (WHI-OS). But women who have hot flashes later in menopause have a slightly increased risk. The risk can also continue to increase over the years

Luckily, hot flashes can also be a signal of something positive: a reduced risk of breast cancer. According to research from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, women who experienced hot flashes and other menopause symptoms faced only half the risk of two common types of breast cancer. More severe hot flashes correlated to lower risk.”

So I guess at least there is a little good news to all this suffering I am going through. But right now, it’s no fun at all. If anyone has any tips or tricks for helping with these without taking hormones, I would love to hear from you! In the mean time, If you see me half-naked, hair up and a little red in the face eating otter pops with a fan… please NO Comment, move along, nothing to see here! LOL!!