Author: hormonesontherun

*****As a disclaimer, although the blogs are quite often written in the first person, this is not my story! And although I am a recently retired Registered Nurse / Educator, the information provided is not to be taken as medical advice. I love to write and have a warped sense of humor to accompany my stories. (Just ask my former students) . Being somewhat aged, my friends and I have gone through the perils of perimenopause as well as menopause. There have also been many conversations with other women who have provided their own input. Quite often younger women ask all kinds of questions and are really looking answers. My goal is to provide a different approach to those questions and complaints experienced by women, no matter their age. Unfortunately, most of these women think they are alone in their craziness and sweats and middle of the nights wide-awakedness. You are not alone and not crazy.

On or Around Age 40…. Or – Following COVID

You wash your hair – “Hmmm, it feels thinner” “Do I need a different shampoo?” “Is that my hair I see circling the drain?”

Towel hair dry – “There does seem to be less hair”. “Hair is coming out in clumps!” Gasp “My hair is disappearing!”

Closer examination in the mirror – “Agggghhh! My hairline is getting higher! My hair is getting thinner!” “I look like my grandfather!” “Now what’s happening!” “There is skin visible!” “I absolutely can’t deal with this!”

ACTION PLAN:

Start experimenting with hair loss prevention shampoos. Try one after the other with no significant improvement. Spoiler Alert! Or you can skip the experimentation and go right to https://hairmax.com/products
Experiment with vitamins and herbal supplements.
Start noticing a “beard” – Promptly STOP all vitamins and supplements
Ask friends what shampoo they use as well as any vitamins or supplements they take. Try each of those.
Appointment with Dr. “Well, you’re getting to be that age. We’ll do some blood work.”

When your hormones decide to run off and leave you, another “natural” consequence is hair loss. Thinner hair – drier hair (it’s dry everywhere else so what did you expect? – dull hair. The most obvious medical culprit could be a thyroid disorder. So a broad array of thyroid blood work is done. All normal. Fortunately your GP was smart enough to order a hormone panel and those levels are low. Hormone Replacement Therapy decision time. Or Up your intake of natural estrogens and see if that works. Or just ride it out. You’ll either look like my second grade teacher who had a bald spot on the back of her head or you’ll get used to thin hair. Or your hormones will settle down, your body will adapt and your hair will be hair. (Except now grey or white or blue!)

For me the hair thinning started around age 50. This of course was accompanied by that matronly look and weight gain. Having thin, fine hair to begin with made this even more depressing. I was getting OLD! I did all of the above actions and it got better. But none of the shampoos lived up to their claims. And I just got older. (But I did take off the weight and became an avid cyclist).Fast forward to age 67!

October 2020 – Costco had a sale on a HairMax LaserBand 82 – ComfortFlex which also included Density Stimul8 Shampoo and Density Exhilar8 conditioner. HTTPS://HAIRMAX.COM/PRODUCTS

It was expensive, but it was Costco – if it didn’t work in 3 months I could take it back. I read the reviews, it sounded good and I went for it. Within 3 weeks even my hairdresser was commenting on how my hair seemed to be thicker. I agreed.

Then December 9, 2020 COVID 19 struck. I ended up critically ill, hospitalized with ARDS, COVID pneumonia, Sepsis and Cytokine Storm, and almost died. It’s pretty bad when the dr. meets you for the first time in the ER, says you need to be intubated, you say No and she says then I don’t know if I can save you. But save me they did.

One of the weirder symptoms of Covid is that at 3 am – throughout the world – women (and men) who have have or had COVID wake up drenched in sweat – entire body, hair, pajamas, all sheets and pillows. And of course the first thought is, “This is just like menopause. Please don’t tell me I’m going through this again!” But it’s just a quirk of COVID. On a bright note, men get it too and the thought actually occurs to them that perhaps this is what menopause feels like. Good time to encourage them read HTTPS://HORMONESONTHERUN.COM

I was still pretty sick when discharged, did not really improve, and became what is known as a Long Hauler – a condition now named Post Acute Sequelae of SARS – Cov-2 Infection. There are millions of people throughout the world who are suffering from PASC. The sad thing about PASC is because most of the “work-ups” come back with normal or negative results, people are written off as suffering from anxiety or depression. (Sounds alot like the response women get when they report their symptoms of “the Change”) Even worse, they’re told it’s nothing that diet and exercise won’t cure.,

As an aside, although grateful to know the test results are normal – the suffering is very real. In my case I have had severe breathing difficulties and for 8 months my life has centered around different types of breathing treatments throughout the day. There were and are also liver issues; swelling of the arms and legs; shortness of breath; right sided heart failure; abdominal distention; blurred vision; exhaustion; tremors; loss of taste or metallic taste; hypersensitive sense of smell and a lingering odor of cigarettes where there are none; shingles; paresthesias in the leg; foot cramps; nightmares; insomnia and night sweats at 3 am. And I’m one of the lucky ones. There are way worse conditions people are dealing with – and no medical treatment known. Fortunately at the point my hair was falling out, I found a couple of Post Covid Support Groups and realized that we all had many of the exact same strange symptoms. What a relief to know I wasn’t crazy and to be able to chat with people all over the world who were as bad, if not worse, than I was.

3 MONTHS POST COVID – The Hair Falls Out

Just as I thought I was getting better, my hair started coming out by the handful. My hair was dead. Handfuls would come out in the shower, when I combed it, when I blew it dry, even if I just touched it. To say I was devastated would be an understatement. I reminded myself I should be grateful I was alive, that this wasn’t from chemo, and I should just deal with it. But this was the “straw that broke the camel’s back”. I just couldn’t believe that after all of this, my hair would fall out. As if what I was going through every single day wasn’t enough, now I was going to be bald? I would look in the mirror and cry.

What a relief it was to learn that tons of women and men were experiencing it. The hair loss occurred 3 months after COVID (no matter how bad or mild your COVID was), lasted 6 weeks, had the same description of coming out by the handful, was dry, brittle and just plain dead. It also created a bond of just how devastating a blow it was to morale.

The condition is known as Telogen Effluvium and lasted 3 months in my case. It’s attributed to stress or a traumatic event which drives the hair follicle into a resting – dead – phase. Nothing happens until it falls out and finally “wakes back up” which can take up to 6 months. I ended up getting a hair piece to supplement what was left of my hair.

BUT I wasn’t giving up!

I had my trusty HairMax LaserBand 82 system and used it faithfully. A few weeks ago I decided to add the Density Acceler8 Hair Booster and Nutrients and then the RSN8 Pro Scalp Infusion. I figured if there were more products to add I’d be remiss not to add them. QWithin a week I was noticing a difference. Fine baby hair was appearing where the bald areas were. My hair feels thicker, looks thicker and is actually getting longer. When I run the scalp infusion serum through my hair I look like Cousin It. My hair is getting that much thicker. I am also taking the HairMax Hair, Skin and Nails vitamins. The best part is that this growth is all occurring post Telogen Effluvium. Normal menopausal hair doesn’t go through that growth stoppage; it just thins.

I can only imagine how fabulous my my hair will look once the HairMax products are working on “normal” menopausal hair and not COVID hair. My hair looks GREAT especially after adding the additional leave in conditioner and night serum.

So Please – Don’t let hormones run off with your hair. You have a new Action Plan. Go with it.

https://hairmax.com/products

Menopause

Am I Losing My Mind?

June 17, 2014June 17, 2014 hormonesontherun

Who is That Person in the Photo and What Did She Do with MY BODY?

(A somewhat humorous look at the time period around menopause)

Introduction:

Have you noticed that it’s never looking in the mirror where we get shocked into realizing we have become someone else (read as OLD), but in a photograph? Just like that, we just go from thinking “I look really good for someone my age” to “WHOA! Who is that? Do I REALLY look that (Select the word that fits) FAT, WRINKLED, LUMPY, MIDDLE AGED”? UGH! Who is that old bat? Could it be me? No it must be a bad picture. Oh geeze, I look like that in all of the pictures. Oh dear, I had no idea I was so matronly. I may never be seen in public again. HELP!!!!!!!!!!! Why is this happening to me?

When we look in the mirror we see what we expect to see. When we see ourselves in a photo, at first glance we see how we really look. While these massive changes occur during menopause, the preceding years are fraught with bodily changes that may sometimes be subtle, but more often are full frontal assaults. That time period is referred to as perimenopause.

My goal is to answer those questions that no one ever seems to discuss.(This is where the disclaimer comes in that I am absolutely nobody and these observations are ones I have made as part of the aging process, so take them with a grain of salt). So why don’t women talk about what really happens as part of THE CHANGE? I guess if you talk about it then it must happen, so better keep it mum. Instead, let’s just let a woman think she is LOSING HER MIND as well as control over her body. What a relief to find someone who is of a certain age who responds to your cry for help with “ You must be going through perimenopause! Why honey ALL women are awake at 2am when they reach your/our age! Next time you are awake in the middle of the night feel free to call any of your friends. They will be wide awake and happy to chat.

No you are NOT NUTS. Repeat after me “I am not nuts. My body is not betraying me”. (Well yes it is, but it’s all part of a natural cycle). This is why God is a man.” (Oh sorry, that slipped in there – you do not have to repeat that part)

Coming Next: Let’s take a trip down boo boo memory lane.

Menopause

Menstrual Memories AKA “The Curse”

June 17, 2014June 23, 2023 hormonesontherun

Phase 1:

Why is it that there are so many names associated with the menstrual cycle? Cute little sayings like “The curse…the blessing… the curse ( again), the change…the end” are the words we learned to describe “Your period” as a girl growing up. And then we really had no idea what anyone was talking about. It took living though each phase in order to fully understand the meaning behind them.

If you were born prior to the 1970’s, the onset of your menstrual cycle was “The event not to be discussed”. Oh of course we all had some vague idea of what it entailed, but none of us ever thought we would ever really get it. (At least not in elementary school! It was something that happened when you got old). Our mother’s would only refer to it as “Menstruation” and tell us it would happen someday. “We will talk about it SOMEDAY” But there was always some unlucky girl who was wearing a white dress (Why was it always white?) who got her period while at school and ended up with the evidence smeared all over the back of her dress. Oh the humiliation from her classmates pointing and snickering, but no one actually telling the poor girl. Everyone in school knew that “(Fill in the blank) got her period!” And each girl then promptly went home to check and make sure it hadn’t happened to her. All we knew for sure was that it was red, gross, smelly, painful, and resulted in the wearing of that belt and the pad with the long straps on each end. We also KNEW that everyone could tell when a girl had her period because of the resultant waddle from that thick wad. EWWWW! No one ever explained anything so that we could actually understand it. As for counting the days in between, who knew? It showed up when it felt like it, usually in the middle of class and never when the girl was wearing navy blue or black.

Ah, that’s what they meant by the phrase “the curse”.

Fortunately as time went on, the big thick pad was replaced by a variety of menstrual supplies (“boo-boo accoutrements”).

Unfortunately, no matter how well prepared we thought we were, somehow it still managed to get in the way of life. No matter how regular you were, if you were going away on vacation it would show up. If you made plans to wear a bathing suit, it would show up. If you had a “hot date”, it would show up. If you wore white, it showed up. And if you worked with a group of women, you all ended up being on the same cycle. Go figure. You remember how it was. But you accepted it as a fact of life and moved on. You learned the signs of its imminent arrival. You learned ALL about PMS. (But DON’T EVER let a male say “It must be the wrong time of the month”. Not if he wants to live.) You learned exactly how many boo boo accoutrements were needed to make it though a day of work. You thought you knew your body. You had it under control.

Until you hit your late 30’s.

HAH! Coming next – the late 30’s / 40’s and the beginning of perimenopause.

Menopause

“Perimenopause – What The Heck Is That?”

June 17, 2014June 17, 2014 hormonesontherun

People are always telling me “I wish someone had told me that!” “Why didn’t my doctor tell me to expect that as I get older?” “You mean having panic attacks in the middle of the night is normal?” “”Women need to know what to expect as they pass age 35 and start heading into the “decreasing hormones” phase of their lives.

So I have taken the challenge and am starting this blog. Hopefully it will make people laugh even as they lament the changes taking place in their bodies.

Menopause

What Happened To My Wife? (AKA The Attila the Hun Stage)

June 14, 2014June 17, 2014 hormonesontherun

Who is that Crazed Woman and What Did You Do with My Previously Wonderful Wife? (AKA The Attila the Hun Stage)

Accoutrements…check. Scheduled breaks… check. Giant nighttime boo boo pad… check. It’s all good. Well not good, but under control.

“ I’m good, but why is it that everyone else is so annoying?”

“What is the matter with those people? They are SO getting on my nerves! I do believe I am going to rip that person’s face right off. Just how stupid are people these days? If that person doesn’t shut up I am going to leap over the table and strangle them. Whoa, I can feel the anger rushing up my body and through my face. I think my head may blow off. Geeze, do you think the rest of the people in this room can see the redness as it progresses up my face? Is somebody going to say something to me about it? Why won’t that stupid person shut up? I don’t know if I can talk without yelling.” Okay, okay, let’s try it. Take a deep breath, modulate your tone of voice. Hold on to the rage. You can so do this.

Well maybe you can, maybe you can’t.

And so it goes throughout the day. Life never used to be this exhausting. People never used to be this annoying. And when you get home the stupidity doesn’t stop. The buttons that your children used to be able to push without getting a rise out of you are now on/off switches. One sentence and the switch flips to scream phase. Tasks you routinely did for years around the house become major burdens. “I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY you can’t pick up your shoes, put away your dirty dishes, feed the pets, empty the litter box, do the laundry, hang up your clothes…”(You fill in the blank)

You are turning into Attila the Hun; out for the kill. You don’t even recognize yourself.

Your family becomes very confused and spends inordinate amounts of time looking for their real mommy / wife. Where did she go? Who is this crazed lunatic that seems to be occupying her body? Everyone feels like they are treading on eggshells, including you. “What is happening?”

And then come the palpitations. “What the heck! Am I having a heart attack? I’m not old enough to have a heart attack. Oh brother, I think I’m going to pass out. When did Thumper the bunny rabbit take up residence in my chest? And why does it get worse when I roll over onto my left side at night? Man, I can feel my heart beating out of my chest. Lub dub, lub dub, lublublublublubdub. PAUSE.. Why is it so irregular? Am I dead yet?”

Off you go to the cardiologist, convinced your demise is imminent. He, of course it’s a HE, never suspects it has anything to do with your “hormones on the run” and says you have palpitations. He may or may not prescribe medication. You now add yearly cardiologist visits to your calendar. Pretty soon your address book will list more specialist’s phone numbers than friends. Disclaimer: It is always better to be embarrassed and healthy, than keep symptoms to yourself and accidentally die from a real illness. So do go see the cardiologist if you develop Thumper.

Somewhere in all of this you will also find yourself waking up at 2am EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. You will be awake from 2 to 4ish and fall back into a sound sleep just in time to hear your alarm go off. It won’t matter how tired you are, how hard you worked the day before, or what time you went to bed; you will wake up bright eyed and bushy tailed at 2am. DO NOT try to fall back to sleep. DO NOT count sheep unless you want to practice high numbered math. Go ahead and get up and read a book. Or, if you have girlfriends your age, go ahead and text them. THEY WILL BE AWAKE. ALL women in this age group are awake during those hours. Ours is not to question why, but to accept it as fact. It is a sisterhood.

Due to the resultant sleep deprivation, your crabbiness will only increase. Not to mention you will look like “Patootie-cakes”. (You can fill in your own derogatory self description) Looking tired and run down will just cause you to feel OLD and DEPRESSED.

You may feel you have fallen in a dark, black hole. (“Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get out!”)You will think you are NUTS. “What is wrong with me? I have a great husband, great kids, and a great life. Why am I so depressed?” You will cry at the drop of a hat. That will make you even more angry and frustrated with yourself. “WHAT the heck is WRONG WITH ME?”

But wait, there’s more! “MORE? Are you kidding?”