So how do you know that the journey to the wisdom years has started? Does it come knocking on your door one day and announce ‘Hello, I’m here!’ or is it more subtle like a stirring in the breeze? Unless you have a medically/surgically induced Menopause, it is more likely to be a stirring in the breeze that whispers change is a foot and signs will start appearing to point the way. This stirring of the breeze is more commonly known as Peri-Menopause and can be the time when things start to go haywire as we begin to make sense of the journey ahead and we start our transformation.
For me I can remember when my menopause journey started. It was back in November 2015 when I began having problems with the coil, which had been inserted following surgery in 2013 to remove ovarian cysts. I was getting a lot of pain and discomfort from the coil, so I went to the GP and asked for it to be removed. Once it was removed the pain eased and I breathed a huge sigh, but a couple of months down the line my normal menstrual cycle had not returned. Being a little concerned about this I went back to the GP who suggested that I have a FSH (Follicle Stimulating Hormone) blood test. The results came back and my FSH levels were low, it was then that the GP mentioned for the first time the “M" word. (GPs only tend to use FSH blood tests if you are under the age of 45 to indicate Menopause, after that age they tend to go on signs and medical history), and I was pretty much sent on my merry way with a leaflet or two.
I can still see myself walking out the surgery, thoughts racing through my head, thinking I’m only 44 I’m not ready for this. It was a bit of a shock, and never having had children of my own this moment felt especially poignant. I mentioned my ‘diagnosis’ to my Mum, hoping for words of wisdom, but her response was ‘oh I went through that 20 years ago and I’m still getting hot flushes’ just what I wanted to hear – not. It was no wonder I felt discouraged about the journey ahead. If only I knew then what I know now - the Menopause is a transformational journey and it’s a journey, as I discovered, we are not properly prepared for or supported through.
I certainly didn’t feel ready or prepared for the transformational journey ahead, and if I’d known what a hell of a ride lay ahead I would have been requesting to get off right there and then and demanding a refund! What I would go through over the next few years physically, emotionally & spiritually would turn my world upside down and inside out. As the breeze began to stir my body began changing and I began to question everything and life as I knew it.
Like Alice in Wonderland, I was about to enter a deep rabbit hole that would take some getting out of and it would be a journey that I would find very lonely at times.
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