Female? Born in the 1960s? Feeling Blue? Step This Way!

1-09pm

It also applies if you were born in the late 50s or early 70s. The number of conversations I have these days with women born in the 60s, who are having strange bouts of ‘lowness’, is increasing. When I say ‘lowness’, I mean they are feeling blue – they don’t want to actually say ‘depressed’ but for no apparent reason, they get this uneasy sensation of being less than happy! Melancholy. Maybe a bit snappish. Tearful. Emotional. Irritated. Whatever malady it is, it’s out of character for them and they can’t figure out why!

I remember what happened about half a dozen or more years ago. I had begun to feel the above symptoms. In fact they were worse than what I’ve mentioned. At times, I was radically down in the dumps with thoughts such as “now would be a good time to drive off a cliff” becoming more common. It was completely abnormal for me and I wondered if it didn’t have something to do with my changing hormones.  Prior to going to the doctor, I popped by the blood pathology clinic and had a ‘menopausal screen’ done. Then I booked an appointment and went to see my gynaecologist. I asked him what my hormone levels were like and he simply said, ‘consistent with perimenopause.’ I questioned him about my mood swings. He replied it was very common in women prior to or during menopause. In fact he said, the most common medication he prescribes for women in their forties (apart from HRT) is antidepressants. I was shocked! Wow.

Black cohosh plant

That bad eh? But it cemented in my mind that reducing levels of oestrogen greatly effects our sense of well-being. With my Mom having had breast cancer, I couldn’t go onto HRT. Someone suggested I look at Black Cohosh.  This is a plant that is said to assist with the symptoms of peri-menopause. I scanned the shelves of local pharmacies and found a 40mg option, which I began taking. To my surprise and delight, it worked.  I got my spark back.  Some years passed.  About a year or more ago, I started getting the most HECTIC palpitations. They were at their worst right after I had gone to bed. Lying on my stomach, head on my pillow, just dozing off and suddenly my heart would be pounding furiously. One night it was really bad – it was beyond palpitations.  It was so disconcerting. I visited my GP the next day who did an ECG and said my heart was fine.

Shortly after that, my regular 40mg pill of Black Cohosh was out of stock, so I picked up the next option, which happened to be 80mg of Black Cohosh. Literally overnight, the palpitations stopped.  This stuff was amazing for me!  I waxed lyrical to my circle of friends about it. Some tried it and it absolutely didn’t work for them. The next time I went to the gynae, I marched in with my bottle of Black Cohosh with me and told him my story. He said it was fine for me to take it.

I have continued to read up on the pros and cons of the key ingredient: Black Cohosh. I’ve quizzed Doctors about it too. The main issue about it is that there is very little, if any, research on the long term use of Black Cohosh. I’ve now been using it in some form for about 7 or 8 years.  It works for me but not necessarily for everyone.

But the main reason for this blog is to bring to your attention that if you are finding yourself uncharacteristically miserable, it most probably is as a result of changing hormones.  There are many over the counter options,  – the one I use is R100 for 30 tablets. R100 well spent!

Keep healthy – keep happy!

John 14:1 – Jesus says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in Me.”

It’s great having my brother, Julian here for the weekend. Maybe one day I’ll get my sister, Anne, down from Joburg! We will go for a walk this afternoon, Mike will hit some golf balls and we’ll have dinner out somewhere tonight. One thing I did remember to do today…. I bought Denny Soup! For each tin of Denny Soup purchased this month, Denny will give 40c to Food Aid SA. I’ve done my bit…

God bless you loads!

In His Grip,

Helga xx 🙂