Let’s Talk Hot Flashes
Hot Flashes
Let’s Talk Hot Flashes. First of all WTF? This is where this whole deep dive started in the first place. Well, technically it was a few nights of sweating through the sheets. I did have a few during the day and I’ve taken to carrying my foldable Veuve Clicquot fan I got from an event they had a few years back, just to take the edge off. Mind you it was coincidentally timed with the first hot week of the season and I am usually sweating by the time I walk 8 or 9 blocks on a typical summer day. We sat inside for brunch but they had all of the french doors open and no air conditioning going so again I chalked it up to the environment. Can you tell I’m not quite ready to admit I’m starting perimenopause? Why is that? Why is there such a stigma in our society with getting older? I mean seriously, we spend most of our adult life trying not to get pregnant until we want to but the idea that your body is no longer capable of producing offspring is like a freaking scarlet O on your chest for OLD LADY! The dissonance is astounding to me. I still look good and I take care of myself and often people are surprised when I tell them I’m 53 but still, I feel embarrassed about the idea that I might be having a hot flash. Scott even made a joke about it and I blame the hormones but I was like “NO, we are not going to be joking about this.” Not that I can’t laugh at myself and maybe it will become comical at some point. Right now it is just weird and unknown and the fact that I hate to be hot on any given day and this might be my new normal for the next who knows how many years, does not feel entertaining to me.
Here’s the other really disconcerting thing about them. While they are the most well-known menopausal symptom, NOBODY seems to know for sure why they happen. Hence there is no known cure or fix for them. What the actual Hell? Oh sure there are studies and hypotheses and old wives’ remedies but no sure-fire way to stop them or prevent them. Just buckle up and do the best you can. For me, thankfully they stopped after a week. Well, whatever was happening stopped after a week. The weather cooled off a bit, we took the down comforter off the bed, the radiators finally stopped radiating, and on nights it was still stuffy, we turned on the air. Problem solved, for the time being. But if those bitches come back we are going to fight.
