Transition

This weekend I started getting those almost certain signs that my period was imminent, a mere nineteen days after the last one began. That cycle had been nineteen days too, so it was a bit disconcerting to think I’d be spending half of every month in the middle of a period. I had thought that my cycles were alternating between a short one and a nearly average length one, but upon reviewing notes I’d made I found that they have, in fact, been getting shorter as the year has progressed. So it seems pretty likely that I’m going through quite a few anovulatory cycles these days.

I’ve glanced through library books about the perimenopause in the past but nothing really shouted out that this was me. That’s not to say I wasn’t experiencing some of the signs but there was nothing that really felt like it was a change. I guess some of it has been happening so gradually over the years that it’s just a part of passing through the years for me, which makes sense when one considers the constants transitions throughout our lives no matter what age. But I do think I am on the brink of reaching the “thick of it”, so to speak.

I did some online research on perimenopause and it finally dawned on me that what I was reading and what I am starting to experience is exactly what is commonly referred to as menopause. It’s just been renamed a bit more appropriately than in the past. Here I’d been thinking this was yet another catch phrase stage for women to experience. I can only use as my excuse the fact that my brain function isn’t so great these days, one of those actual symptoms of perimenopause.

I was in the library yesterday and decided to have a closer look at the selection of books on menopause and perimenopause. I found numerous copies available of Is it hot in here? Or is it me?, a Dummy’s guide and then I saw The Wisdom of Menopause by Christiane Northrup, M.D. I’ve been running across Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom for a number of years at bookshops and libraries. I bought a pretty straightforward book many years ago about women’s health that I really like called Understanding Your Body by Felicia Stewart and others. It’s not perfect but I still refer to it from time to time for basic information even though it’s now over twenty years old. It hasn’t been updated so I’ve been on the lookout for something more up-to-date for a while now. The Northrup book always looked from the outside like it might be something to consider, but it never looked like quite what I wanted when I scanned the pages. I never read the book. Anyway, I noticed a number of recommendations for her book on menopause in my online travels so I decided to borrow the library copy.

Last night I decided I’d start reading about the wisdom of menopause, according to Christiane Northrup. It started out well enough by her statement that she’d waited to write this book until she’d experienced it herself. That seemed quite reasonable to me, but it seemed to quickly go downhill from there. I found a review of the book on this blog that probably covers it a bit more succinctly than I would. Yes, there is some useful information in the book. But the garbage one has to wade through to find it simply isn’t worth it. Apparently her first book had some equally appalling notions, including the idea that a woman’s repeated miscarriages were caused by doubts about having a child and/or not wanting it enough.  I won’t be reading anything further from this particular doctor and I can’t believe that such irresponsible information is influencing so many women.

I’ll be on the lookout for alternate titles on the subject as I continue my journey towards menopause. Meanwhile, I am still waiting for that period to begin.