Hi Sabrina,
I started menopause when I was 30 yrs. old after a total hysterectomy. Menopause was at first not too bad; I was being treated with hormone replacement. Then father passed away shortly after that, and the flood of memories came. I've been in therapy ever since. 30 yrs passed and the memories of horrendous abuse have surfaced. The memory work still ongoing, memories that have been stored in every muscle & tissue in my body. I am now learning how to love and cherish my lil ones and more. I find most friendships and family of old not being too healthy for me. I have changed so much that I need to look further for ways to relate to people that are searching for a better life...and a new way to live and love ourselves. It is in the past--it will never happen again.
Donnac
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Sabrina,
I am so sorry to hear that you are having such a rough time.
Unfortunately menopause can be a difficult time for some of us.
What you don't need is all of the flashbacks and flooding on top of
your menopause symptoms!
Someone once told me that life is like trying to hold a bunch of
ping pong balls under water....and when we are stressed by
circumstances, more ping pong balls appear that we have to try to
hold down. Enough stress, and those little stinkers pop to the
surface right and left. As you are dealing with menopause stresses,
the memories are popping up. If you can find something that helps
with that, perhaps it won't all be so overwhelming. ("Healthy Women"
helped me tremendously with my symptoms! You can get it at Walmart,
Walgreens..etc. It comes in a little flat box and you take one pill
a day like a vitamin...it's herbal)
Hang in there!!!
Marty
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Hi Sabrina,
I understand completely what you're going through. Actually, I was able to hold back nearly all of my memories and their related emotions until perimenopause hit in 2005. Things got so difficult, I had to sign myself in to a psychiatric hospital for a week...but that is where my healing truly began. Yoga, creative writing, hypnosis, massage, Reiki...I've been using all the healing tools I can and have made tremendous progress. Like you, I'm getting FLOODED with memories...stuff I really don't want to know (who would?) but I am hoping that this integration will, in the long run, help me to more fully embrace myself...my whole self so that I can lead a richer and more fulfilling life. We'll see. Right now I feel like something the cat dragged in. Books I have found tremendously helpful are Christine Northrup's "The Wisdom of Menopause", Kristi Boylon's "The Seven Sacred Rites of Menopause" and Susan Weed's "The Menopausal Years- The Wise Woman's Way". I hope this is of some help to you.. As a certified yoga instructor and hypnotist I'm hoping to work exclusively with women who are struggling with menopause and its oftentimes difficult healing energies. As they say, "it ain't no walk in the park!" Thinking of you and wishing you many, many nights of restful, healing sleep.
Blessings,
Lynda
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Sabrina,
We are all so different and the same in many ways. I'm hard on myself many days because I think that I of all people wonder why it is that things get to me. Though I can tell myself, even as it's welling up inside, that I have to find the route. Many times I think that I am one person that has learned enough in these last twenty years and no issue could possibly come up that I haven't already dealt with-- yet problems surface when my body is out of sorts. When my whole body/system is run down (though I don't deal with the hormone imbalance any more) even when the chemicals of my brain are off, the world gets to me again.
These new things are bothering you more because your body is out of sorts. A lot of us go through the up and down you talk about and for me it's being able to share that with others that helps me through. You are not alone and the new stuff (or old stuff coming up again) is just giving you a new insight to it. I know that many times the second or third time around I realized more about myself and how things did still affect my life. Some things have never left me in many ways and new things trigger me till I get a handle on it. Eat well, and take good care of your nutrition. That really will help you through these years.
LadyJ
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Dear Sabrina,
Being 65, I'm 20 yrs into "The Change" and frankly, I didn't notice all that much. But I did go on hormone replacement therapy-aka HRT from the git-go. (I know. Some people think it's awful. I think otherwise.) I'm still on it, and plan to stay on it until it is pried from my cold, stiff hands. & maybe that's why my own pet crises are less menopause-related than plain-old-vanilla LIFE related. There are some non-prescription supplements that are supposed to help (Black Cohosh? Sweet potatoes?) I hope other women will have some more useful thoughts for you.
Best wishes,
Lynn W.