Flame On © lynette sheppard
I’m a hottie. There, I said it. I’m not a Demi Moore, cougariific kind of hottie, though. I’m a middle aged, newly slender, boiling in my own casing kind of hottie. No frog in the frying pan here, gradually warming, adjusting as she goes, wondering what all the fuss is about.
No, no, no. The Big M flung my little froggie self into a scalding hot, non stick, anodized cauldron from hell – so I was most painfully aware that I was freaking hot.
That said, there may be a smidgeon of good news. A new study suggests that women whose hot flashes began early in the Pause, but not later seemed to have a lower risk for heart disease and death than those who never boiled in their own skins or those who developed flashes later.
My hot flashes were just short of self immolation when I first began this journey. They tapered off enough to allow me to begin decreasing my bioidentical HRT in hopes of ceasing it altogether. My plan was to get rid of my tiny, half patch by April.
Then I had to go and mess with the delicate balance I had achieved by going on the HCG diet and losing that turkey that had taken up residence around my middle zones.
Is it possible that one can be too thin!? Especially if she is post menopausal?! ? Because my new svelte self has begun having hot flashes. Again. Feel them again for the first time. Sheesh.
These power surges are not nearly as horrific as the early ones, but they are certainly present and accounted for. Dewitt gave me a hug the other morning and noted, “Ooh, clammy girl is back.” So I’m wondering if my April target date might have to be pushed a bit.
I’m pretty sure that the new research findings don’t include a category for early-hot-flashes-diminished-over-time-with-spontaneous-return-post-turkey-loss-no-end-in-sight-just-yet. So I’m not sure if the latest study is good news, bad news, or no news in my case. The Big M is still mostly uncharted territory, but we are definitely becoming expert orienteers, mapping the way for ourselves and our sister goddesses.
So stay tuned. Menopause is not just a soap opera. It’s the real never ending story. For now, I’m going out and looking for my luck dragon.