Saturday, January 9, 2010

of menopause and migraines

the other day, while discussing my migraines,a friend of mine attempted to convince me to try something called BioIdentical Hormones. BHRT for short, these substances are supposed to be superior to more traditional hormone replacement therapies, which shouldn't be difficult, since that's basically the ingestion of the equine version of only one kind of estrogen synthesized from the urine of pregnant mares.

but you don't understand, i said, when she finally paused to take a breath. i don't want to replace my hormones. i want them to go away.

why on earth would you want that? she practically shrieked.

it wasn't even 8 AM when we had this conversation and im not sure i was adequately coherent. but even if i didn't have migraines linked to my own hormones (i can't even begin to imagine what migraines linked to hormones OTHER than mine might be like) i don't believe in trying to replace what nature is clearly intent on taking away. when i went through labor without so much as a bullet to bite on (four times), i didn't always completely understand what was happening inside me, but i knew i could trust my body to do what a hundred million years of evolution designed it to do.

the way to do that, i found, was to keep breathing and to stay out of the way. i don't see myself as "toughing out" anything...i see myself as surrendering to the process.

you're going to feel like shit, my friend said.

as i almost said to the nice man i went to see about my foot, we'll see about that.;)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I will never take hormones at menopause, I could not even tolerate birth control pills. The no meds birth though? I was asking for an epidural during my 8th month of pregnancy and then only had one child because I couldn't fathom pregnancy and laboring again. I'm a big fat baby : )

rose AKA Walk in the Woods - she/her said...

I'm with ya syster!

Patrice said...

"Bioidentical hormones" are no different -- just more expensive and custom made. It's marketing B.S.

And I agree... giving women hormones is treating menopause like a disease. There's nothing wrong. Why would we need to take drugs to counteract it?

Martha@A Sense of Humor is Essential said...

Amen to Patrice and you too, GA! I am so OVER natural aging processes being defined as Disease. Mother Nature provides herbs to help us cope with the insomnia and hot flashes, mood swings if needed. It so not a big deal, bioidentical hormones sound really scary, like military intelligence.