perimenopause

Here's what I wrote in January

Having drama in my head about perimenopause. My period came early and with a vengeance. I get itchy palms that are so bad, it wakes me up. I can't sleep 3 or 4 nights out of 7. I wonder if going through IVF brought on early menopause. I don't know if hormone replacement is a good thing or not, and I don't know if it will "fix" my symptoms. Also have high cholesterol now. Still breastfeeding Marchling. Haha, saying that out loud is scary, and also, I wouldn't want to tell a doctor b/c it's so uncommon. Running a marathon in March because I thought it would help dry up my milk and facilitate weaning, given the many long runs and early morning training sessions. Geez.

And like reconsidering if a repetitive activity like running is really the best thing for my body. Like I am starting to feel like the accumulation of pounding is taking its toll on my joints and muscles. The development is somewhat limited. I'm not sure if I could motivate myself to lift weights alone if it weren't for supporting some other goal.

And here's what I experienced in my last menstrual cycle (June)

I don't think I ovulated. I can usually feel the process of ovulation. During perimenopause, the ovulation seems like it's delayed about a week from whatever my period tracker says. I think it's always been that way, but ever since my egg retrieval, I can feel when I ovulate really badly from my right side. Sometimes I don't really feel the left one, but this last cycle I really couldn't feel it, and the hormones that usually ebb and flow seemed like they weren't even flowing. 

Then when it came to my period, the blood was brown for the first few days and the last few days. I have never seen anything like that in my life. Since my pregnancy, my periods have been really intense. Like a lot of red blood for a whole day and then the period is nearly done. But the blood has always come out red. I feel like it was definitely an anovulatory cycle.

The good news is that I had a Dexa Scan and Mammogram on Friday, May 23rd. The breast scan came back normal and the bone density scan came back normal also. I'm having an appointment with a dermatologist today. I don't know what to expect because I really wanted help with a skin tag but this dermatologist said specifically that they don't deal with skin tags. So I guess it will be another cancer screening. I requested a referral for a colonoscopy but I haven't got the paperwork yet so maybe it wasn't approved. I will follow up. 

I've had my new glasses for more than a month. They messaged me on June 5th to let me know that they were ready. I enjoy the new prescription and the bifocals. I had absolutely no problem adjusting to them. I guess my old glasses prescription was so out of date that it was a relief for my brain to have one that was more correct. Albert went to his pediatrician appointment on June 17th and he was 37th percentile for height and 32nd percentile for weight. The doctor asked if he could brush his teeth twice per day.

Now that I've done my health gauntlet, it's hard to believe that I was so scared. I mean yes, doctors don't listen and they don't always do what you ask, but it wasn't really that bad. Yes it was a pain to schedule everything and required being on hold for sometimes 45 minutes.