…MENOPAUSE SHOWED ME SHEGE! 🤣🤣
Husbands can read too. It will help you to understand your wife better during those seasons of life and help you know what to do too.
Let me share with you my menopause experience and journey . what happened to me, why they happened and how to control them. As you read, you will understand the meaning of those pictures.
Let me also say ahead that not every menopausal woman experiences all that happened to me, some may not even have any of those symptoms except one or two. So it’s not compulsory you have all of them.
Unnnn, Menopause showed me shege oooo 🤣🤣🤣. Ah, I thought I will die. Let me explain.
Firstly what is Menopause. Menopause is that natural part of biological ageing that occurs in women between the ages of 45 and 55. Menopause is caused by the loss of ovarian follicular function and a decline in circulating blood oestrogen levels. The menopausal transition can be gradual, usually beginning with changes in the menstrual cycle. This is when at that of 40 upwards ,your menstrual cycle begins to fluctuate. It’s called premenopause.
Mine started very early. By my 40th birthday I was already in full menopause. And the first set of signs I started having was this terrible fatigue, this weakness from inside as if there was no strength in me. Me Adetutu that is normally full of energy. I can do 10 things together, who born them, you can’t stop me. But suddenly to get up in the morning became an issue. I will be having this heat from inside. I naturally sweat, but this one will be like I was put in oven o. During harmattan, everyone is shivering. But I must put on the fan overnight.
Below are all that I experienced within the first 5 to 6 years of menopause:
1. Severe HOT FLASHES: Heat from inside out.
2. FAINTING SPELLS : I will be preaching in church and my eyes will go dark, people will not know why I’m holding the altar. They will think it’s anointing 😂😂😂.
3. Severe HEADACHE from morning till night: I had this headache everyday for 2 years.
4. INSOMNIA : I just wouldn’t be able to sleep.
5. SLEEP APNEA: I’ll just stop breathing while sleeping and so jerk up gasping for breath.
6. LOSS OF APPETITE and inability to decide what to eat.
7. UNEXPLAINABLE WEIGHT GAIN, especially around the midriff. I wasn’t eating, yet my tummy was getting bigger.
8. FORGETTING THINGS.: in fact, I frustrated the children with this one, because I could even forget that I was holding the car keys 🤣🤣.
9. VERTIGO: I am lying down yet the whole room is spinning.
10. SEVERE, ALMOST PARALYSING WEAKNESS and tiredness. To get up in the morning was a big issue. Me, Adetutu was getting to church late! Ah! It is well o.
11. SEVERE PAINS IN ALL MY JOINTS: knees, ankles, wrists, shoulders, neck, waste, hips. That picture of my two knees was the one I took at a time, when suddenly one of my knees swelled up becoming twice the size of the other, and I couldn’t leave the house for 4 days.
12. VAGINA DRYNESS: So I Couldn’t have sex without lubricant. In fact there was a time I couldn’t have sex at all. I just was not interested..
13. Intermittent MOODINESS and lethargy. Loss of interest in everything generally.
14. My beautiful nails just started getting weak and brittle, they were crumbling and breaking 😭😭. But thank God, they are back now. That’s them in that picture. Full, strong and long again! 💃💃💃.
The first 6 years was traumatic for me. I can’t even explain how I was able to go through all that and still meet up with all my schedules and meetings and counselling and invitations. There were times, by the time I get home from my meetings and preaching engagement, I will be in so much pain, I wouldn’t be able to get out of the car. There were times my knees will just lock up all by themselves, I wouldn’t be able to bend them for minutes 🤣🤣. All I can say is that I am standing here today because Grace upheld me.
A lot of people except my family didn’t know what I was going through. And you can imagine how it would have affected them too. That’s why you must marry a good Man o who knows what he’s doing. And You must pray for good children too and train them well because of that season. You will need them:
Heritage is not just my Son, he’s an Angel sent from God to me.
He and His Dad were always around me and on my case. Guarding me from unnecessary stress. Doing many things I should have done for me. Giving me moral and spiritual support. The girls were often in school, so they kept calling, chatting, checking up on me. Calling their brother to plan how to reduce my stress.
I can’t count the number of times that Heritage will come into my room , hold my hand and just pray for me. Same with His Dad too.
He sends unserious clients away without batting any eyelid 🤣🤣🤣.
His sisters were mostly at school, so he was the one around often with me and His Dad.
My husband First suspended sex for a while. It’s good to marry a man with sense o 🙈😂😂. Who doesn’t think with his scrotums. He helped me and gave me time to balance out.
I’m telling you, it was a season I won’t forget in a hurry.
Then the psychological trauma of not knowing on time what was going on. I first thought I have developed a terminal sickness. I thought I had a brain tumour or blood sickness. I wasn’t afraid of death, I knew I can’t die, but I wanted to know what was wrong with me!!! My husband kept telling me I was fine, it was age and hormonal changes, but I didn’t believe him😂.
It was when I called my elder sister in UK and told her that the devil wants to kill me that she now explained to me that it’s menopause. That was the first time I had peace. Because being a fellow woman, she has gone through most of the same symptoms. She was also the one who explained to me the possible reasons why my own was that severe:
Be careful of the following dangerous life style as a lady. I lived like that when I was younger and they complicated the menopause season for me:
1. I don’t take water. I can eat without drinking water. I can go a whole day without water.
2. I lived a very stressed life. For a greater part of my 30s, I don’t sleep for more than 4 hours per day. I work myself to the bone always and never rested enough.
3. I hardly take fruits or vegetables.
All these bad habits that I thought were okay also contributed to the severity of my own symptoms. So my sister told me I had to develop a totally new life style and regiment if I want the symptoms to reduce and balance out. Then I also read up on it.
So, I’ll advise that you as a woman that you shouldn’t wait till you have reached menopause before you start doing the following. Once you get to your middle or late 30s, start doing them or increase your doing of them:
LIFESTYLE FOR A MENOPAUSAL WOMAN:
1. Take More water. Plenty water, At least 3 litres daily. You can measure it through the day. But stay very hydrated.
2. Don’t be headstrong like me, get supplements and of these good supplements. Well woman, omega H3, etc
3. Take more vegetables and fruits: just make them a daily part of your diet. I just finished eating guavas now. Reduce your food portions and take less carbs too.
4. Get those good seeds: Sesame seeds , Flax seeds, Sunflower seeds, Chia seeds, etc. Add them to your water and pap etc. Cinnamon too if you don’t mind the taste. They help with the bloating, are good antioxidants, and hormonal balance too.
5. Your 8 hours sleep daily must not be compromised again. Minimum of 7 hours. That’s the cause of the headache. From the moment I started deliberately sleeping for long. The headaches stopped.
6. Do light exercises like walking as often as you can. Some jogging, cardio exercises etc. To help with the joint pains and also keep your heart strong and increase blood circulation.
7. Avoid everything and situation that can rile you up and get you Angry. Learn to ignore troublesome people.
8. In case you have started having pains during or after sex. Then get artificial lubricant. After a while, you may not need it again.
9. Reduce all types of sugars. Those soft drinks, juices etc. Reduce them or stop totally. Take green tea more or just water. If you will take soft drinks etc, let it be very seldomly.
10. Speak the word to your body like crazy. This one really helped me o. Ah, I started speaking the word of God to my body and commanding it to fall in line.
In the last two years, it’s been way better. I’m stronger, most of the symptoms have disappeared. I’m back to Bedmatics full time again 🤣🤣. The aches comes intermittently when I stress myself too much. But in all, I’m feeling more like myself again!
I wished someone had prepared me for it and told me many of those things before hand. I think it would have been easier for me. So I’m just using this post to share my experience and also to help other women out there who are either going through it or will still go through it.
I’m sure Other women too who have different experiences and used different methods, the Doctors, dieticians etc who will read this will also contribute and tell us other things we can do to prepare for this season of life as a woman. Please contribute oooo. 😁❤️🌹.
I hope I’ve helped a bit.
Love always.
Adetutu osofowora (TUSKY)