Nearing menopausal stage

I’m female and I am in pre menopause right now, which means I’m not quite there yet but getting symptoms. Primarily I get hot flashes, which means that I perspire so much that sweat runs down my face in droplets.

My clothes get soaking wet. It’s kind of embarrassing when I am teaching to be sweating so much, but there is not much to be done about it. Because my grandmother and mother had breast cancer, I am not going to do any kind of hormone therapy.

My mother’s breast cancer was definitely related to estrogen, so that is a warning for me. I’m going to tough it out for the next five or so years. Fortunately, I have a great doctor and he is helping me with mood issues, so I am not experiencing hormone-related mood swings.

That is a real blessing because I have had those and they are not pleasant. I have read in years past that this is sometimes a hard time to go through. I never had kids, so the end of fertility does not seem to be a big issue for me–in fact, I can’t wait until that part is done.

It’s certainly a change in how my body operates, but I know that this is a transition and the transition will be over…eventually! What I have appreciated about growing older is that I seem to have a greater understanding of people than I did twenty years ago and I am able to share that with the young folks I teach.

Some of them even listen to me!! I have also noticed in myself and other women I know that the forties are a time of shedding social expectations and becoming oneself. There’s not time to try to appease everyone in my life–I have to make choices.

This is making me a stronger person and giving me more confidence in my life. So–overall this is a good time for me despite the physical symptoms.