I can not tell you how absolutely livid I am that it was the right decision to not clear out the little bin of period supplies in the closet.
Yes, I got my fucking period. Again. I am fifty-seven years old! This bullshit should have been over and done years ago! I'm on hormone therapy! Shut this damned system DOWN!
At least, when I was at the grocery store last weekend, I noticed that Ben & Jerry's was buy-one-get-one free, so I have ice cream* in the house. Although, side gripe, I thought I'd try the Coffee Toffee Bar Crunch again, which I stopped getting because it was never as good as Coffee Heath Bar Crunch used to be, and wow I will never get that again. I did finish it, it's still good ice cream, but there was hardly any toffee, and the coffee flavor was there but so wimpy. More like someone with a cup of espresso walked past the ice cream maker while it was running than that it was added to the mix. Deeply unimpressed. I'm going to go to Coldstone Creamery this weekend and get the good stuff.
*We have plenty of other treats in the house, but for some reason ice cream is what I want in this situation. I used to call Ben & Jerry's my three-dollar therapy, if you were wondering how long ago that started.
Anyway, back to the main gripe: fucking period. I feel cruddy and "off" and just generally annoyed. And if the gynecologist wants to do another tissue biopsy, I may get the costly painkillers this time, because that hurt so much I still flinch to think about it. Or if she wants to do something else, I will ask her about the expected pain level relative to that, because that was the absolute limit of what I can take. I am a wimp, or as I like to tell friends, "I am a delicate flower." (One of my friends likes the phrase so much she uses it about herself now.)
In another FFS moment that probably isn't related, I've started to get leg cramps, specifically at night or in the early hours of the morning. I'll turn over in bed and something in one or the other lower leg (or both! once it was both) goes from startled what-was-that twang to really agonizing pain in very short order. Pointing and/or flexing the toes doesn't reliably help; what helps is trying to massage the muscles, though doing that without setting the other leg off isn't always possible. It's been joyful, as you can imagine. What a way to wake up. I understand that potassium can help with that, and the internet tells me bananas and orange juice both have it, so I'm going to try to get back in the daily smoothie habit. Please let it help!
In a final moment of optimism, I will be happy to have Monday off work.
Feeling cruddy wasn't in my plans for the weekend, but hopefully I won't feel this way the whole time.
Do you have a long weekend? Any plans, or just gleeful sloth?
I’m so sorry this happened to you! I had no idea it was a thing, especially after reading the other post where you said you got it after 2-3 years!! Something similar happened to my mom, she swore she was finally going into menopause until her uterus said, “you thought, b*tch!” ðŸ˜. About the cramps, what helped my mom was to take more walks regularly, because not only she would also get woken up by awful leg cramps, but she was also started getting them randomly throughout the day. Last time she got one, her toes were so stiff and looked like they were throwing gang signs in the pasta aisle. I’m a new reader so I’m not entirely aware of your condition but I hope the smoothies and maybe some stretching help you out 💗. Cramps are the worst.
ReplyDeleteYes, they are, thank you. It really does feel like my reproductive system hates me. Like, "oh, you didn't use me? well, I have to do something!"
DeleteI'll try to do some walking, see if that helps. It's worth a try at least!
I had no idea that a period could go away and then come back. YUCK! Mine completely disappeared at 50 and never returned. The biopsy sounds awful. My boyfriend gets leg cramps and he keeps those small packages of mustard around. When he gets one, he quickly squeezes the mustard into his mouth. That somehow disrupts the cramp. It's weird but it works. Unfortunately, he doesn't like mustard as much as I do. :)
ReplyDeleteMustard!! That's fascinating. I wonder who first thought to try that? Maybe it's just giving your body a jolt and something completely different to focus on.
DeleteOH NO. This happened to a friend of mine (although she was younger, she hadn't had her period in a few years, so menopause) and it was a fibroid. She also said the biopsy was the most painful thing ever. Why don't they give the good painkillers automatically? You just know if it was men and they were up in a guy's junk they would get all the good drugs. Fucking patriarchy.
ReplyDeleteOh, sooo many things in women's medicine would be different if they were for men. Mammograms to start!
DeleteAtrophal shedding, I was tentatively told at 65. But yeah, it got me several biopsies because endometrial cancer can hide like ovarian. Absolutely do take painkillers before they do one, and I'm so sorry you're having to deal with this.
ReplyDeleteI am on 2 estrogen blockers and have to take them until my estrogen levels are low enough on their own. I checked my estrogen level last summer and it was still not low enough to stop. I'm 56 f-ing years old. One of the blockers is a monthly injection in the abdomen for which I get the added pleasure of paying a 10% copay to the tune of $435. Fortunately that does get us to our OOP quicker.
ReplyDeleteAll this to say, I feel your pain. The only good thing about all of this is that I have not had a period for 2 years. Because of the estrogen blockers. If I were still getting my period at this age, I'd be incandescent with rage.
Yeah, "incandescent with rage" is a good way to put it. I hate that you're dealing with this too; none of us should have to. The human body can be a miracle or it can be absolute bullshit, and this is the second one.
DeleteUGH on the total BS and pain, and glad you’re talking to your doctor about it.
ReplyDeleteCold Stone order - coffee ice cream, heath bar, caramel swirl, a little chocolate swirl (not too much), nuts. Heaven. You can do it at home with Haggen Das (sp) coffee ice cream, buy the rest, make it yourself. I think the ice cream quality is better this way than Cold Stone, but it’s a lot of work. Enjoy.
Mmm, a little caramel swirl would be delicious! I haven't had Haagen Daz in a long time, but the way I feel right now, having the nice person at Coldstone do the work suits me fine. It's so good.
DeleteNOOOOOO WTF. I am outraged on your behalf. And you are not a wimp, women's pain is just under treated by the medical system (Fucking patriarchy indeed). I have been madly craving ice cream lately. I love your description of the wimpy coffee flavour.
ReplyDeleteI feel very betrayed by my body right now. How dare it. The ice cream is helping, with my mood if not my physical health.
DeleteThat is unmitigated bullshit.
ReplyDeleteDo talk to your doctor--and strenuously!--because my mother was still having regular periods at almost SEVENTY. That's 70. She never, ever went through menopause, and finally ended things with a hysterectomy. She actually had a pregnancy test at age 62. She prided herself on never complaining to a doctor about anything, and until I took over her medicals, she put up with a lot of ineptitude.
I've never gone to a Coldstone Creamery. I am very partial to Haagen-Dazs Rocky Road, but I don't eat much of it, and never, ever before bed.
Oh, your poor mother. Yes, she should have gotten help long before that. As you can tell, I don't have any of that stoic nature at all.
DeleteYeah, my mom had her periods into her 60s. So did her older sister. I am NOT excited about this prospect.
ReplyDeleteI hope you will be the exception! A lot of my health traits come from my father's side and not my mother's, so who knows. Genetics can be weird.
DeleteOh man. This is not what I wanted to hear. I am so over periods. I also had a hysterectomy a few years ago and while I'm partially relieved it didn't come to that, also... periods are so annoying. I'm not having kids anymore. I DO NOT NEED THESE PARTS TO FUNCTION IN THIS WAY.
ReplyDeleteThe mustard for leg cramps is new to me. Fascinating.
I find magnesium really helps me with restless legs. People also swear by a bar of Ivory soap in the bottom of the bed. I used to have major issues with leg cramps/restless legs at night, but think magnesium has all but cured that for me.
I already take magnesium, so I am holding out hope for potassium. Speaking of which, time to make a smoothie.
DeleteEGADS. You're 57 and still having periods??? That's bad enough, but I'm reading the other comments here. 70????? That's so, so wrong. Are your periods at least winding down? Becoming extremely irregular??? I hope there's an end in sight.
ReplyDeleteI get those leg cramps too- no solutions so far.
Not regularly, thank god, but once last summer and now again. I am ticked off at my body.
DeleteThis should be illegal. Getting your period at 57 is NOT OKAY. Your body needs a swift talking to.
ReplyDeleteThe leg cramps must be so miserable! The mustard trick is... interesting. I don't know if I could do that!
I really do feel betrayed by my body. I have also been lecturing it: "Give up! No babies! That ship sailed years if not decades ago! Give up!"
Delete