In my mid twenties I was in a BSF group led by a woman in her 50's. It's the first time I can remember hearing a woman talk about hot flashes. I think she was experiencing one during one of our fellowships. My thought at the time was that she was being a little over dramatic. Whats the big deal I thought? So you get hot. We all get hot, you know like out in the sun while working in the yard, hanging out at the pool, in a hot kitchen, etc. I don't have contact wither her, don't even remember her name but to her and any other woman I labeled as wimpy and over dramatic about menopausal hot flashes, my deepest and sincerest apologies. I totally misunderstood.
I thought a hot flash was just being hot. I did not know it was really about an internal thermostat malfunction. Being hot is one thing but all of the sudden having the thermostat flung to 98 degrees by the hormone fairy is something else. But even that doesn't explain it. Its the fact that just about the time you figure out how to deal with it by stripping off layers of clothing and sitting in front of a fan, another hormone fairy comes along and drops the thermostat to 48. Now you are barely dressed and hovering in front of a fan when it feels like a Northeastern is blowing in. You scramble to find a sweater, hat, socks, blanket and a hot cup of tea when fairy number one comes back and kicks the thermostat up to 98 again. So you are back to removing layers, looking for a fan, a cold slushy drink etc, etc.
So it's not about "being hot," per say, its about the weariness of being in the middle of the hormone fairies thermostat war. It's the exhaustion of keeping up with the constant change of body temperature and never knowing when it's going to happen. It interrupts sleep, work and leisure, screaming for attention. It's not painful but like a mosquito buzzing in your ear, it's just so 'drive you crazy' annoying. And someday those young twenty somethings I work with are going to understand that I am not being over dramatic either!
No comments:
Post a Comment