Navigeren door de perimenopauze met homeopathie

This was me—a total mess—until I discovered remedies that worked, like salt (yep, salt melts ice). That may help you, too! Lace your boots up, ladies, and be determined to thrive. This perimenopause trip requires some deft skating, some deep breathing, some weightlifting, and some surrendering, but there is hope, and I found it in the form of homeopathy.

Given I’m a homeopath, you’d think I would have figured it out sooner, but you know, being human and all, we sometimes need the pain of the lesson. Perimenopause somehow managed to sneak up on me. I had never had any real issues with my periods, and I’d always taken good care of myself. I ate well (with plenty of protein to maintain muscle mass, a key as we age), did breathwork, meditation, and regular Pilates since I was 30 (not to mention four kids, which equated to plenty of extra ‘weightlifting’). Yet perimenopause still kicked my butt and left me wondering why?

I eventually realized that stress was playing a massive role in my slip sliding highs and lows since, for me, the timing of my transition coincided with the world going mad and my business (our sole family income) being locked down! None of which helped, of course, because if you have constantly high cortisol levels (the stress hormone), it wreaks havoc on your total hormonal picture and your emotional resilience!

This meant I couldn’t put the blame solely on perimenopause, which I did at first—rookie error. Understanding the impact of cortisol gave me some hope; since I’d resolved the negatives of high cortisol before, I could do it again. Knowing that fact lifted me a little.

I’m still in the thick of perimenopause, but thanks to homeopathy, I’m much better at figurative ice skating & melting the ice as it forms – which is just as well – because my menopause just got pushed back another 12 months!

I’m 53 as I write this, and I just got my period again, which I wasn’t necessarily expecting. My last period was 82 days ago, and before that, when I skipped my first period ever, I got as far as 170 days before I bled again. Technically speaking, you are not considered to be in menopause until you’ve missed your period for 12 consecutive months. That’s 365 days without a period – so I almost got to the halfway mark the first time my periods stopped.

Now I’m back to day one and counting, oh my.

Missing periods is a new experience for me; ever since first menstruating at 14, my cycle has been like clockwork, only ever pausing for pregnancy and breastfeeding babies…. Other than those times, it was always 27-29 days. At 51 or so, I hit 33 days and thought, OMG, am I pregnant? (You can imagine that feeling, right?) When your rhythm is suddenly unpredictable, AND your libido starts ghosting you, well, suffice it to say my inner dialogue was, “WTF?”  Is this it?  Will life ever be the same again?

Yep, I drank the cool aid of panic and propaganda, believing all the negative narratives. Propaganda like this gem – “your vagina dries up, then it’s all over” – I was determined to prove somehow it all wrong!

What I’ve figured out so far on this journey is this… it’s a game of surrender. Perimenopause is a trip, ladies, a trip indeed! It’s like taking one of those mystery flights … where are we going?  Well, it’s called menopause, but you don’t know what it will look like or feel like until you get there!

cue night sweats