Pausing With God

I love to hear how you are dealing or have dealt with your season of menopause.  Today we feature one, shall we say; who has advanced passed menopause.  Read on as Sally shares her story. The journey into womanhood was not a very easy or enjoyable one for me. From the time I "became a woman" as they used to call it, every month I found myself in severe pain.   My mother and family doctor assured me this was a natural process and things would even out for me - but they never did! At 19 years of age, I began seeing Obstetrician / Gynecologist (OB/GYN) doctors, each of them asked me to describe my symptoms.  I explained to them the best way I knew how; my pain was like “a knife shooting through my body".  They came to a conclusion and their diagnosis for me was merely a bad case of CRAMPS.   Believe it or not I had one doctor who refused to examine me because I wasn't married, ‘Talk about your caveman’.   Anyways, my problems went on until I was ...

THE LEGENDARY MENSTRUAL CYCLE IT STARTS AND ENDS WITH …a period, which is also known as menstruation. Our menstruation is a healthy and natural part of our life, which we experience in what are known as cycles.  These cycles are counted from the first day of 1 period to the first day of the next period.  An average menstrual cycle is 28 days long. Women normally have two ovaries that store and release eggs. Each ovary is about the size of a walnut, and one ovary is located on each side of the uterus. One ovary produces one egg each month, and this process starts a woman's monthly menstrual cycle. The majority of women not only have the task of enduring the menstrual cycle, but also the journey through menopause.  So now you are probably wondering what the Menstrual Cycle has in to do with Menopause.  For one both of them begin with three common letters: M-E-N.   But seriously…because Menopause has four stages, Premenopause, Perimenopause, Menopause and...

Take the Menopause Quiz (1) Menopause is defined as: A.  Two or more irregular periods after age 40 B.  The start of hot flashes C.  No menstrual period for 12 consecutive months D.  An increase in mood swings. CORRECT ANSWER IS C.  No menstrual period for 12 consecutive months.  Explanation: An absence of menstrual periods for 12 months. The menopausal transition starts with varying menstrual cycle length and ends with the final menstrual period. You will find that there is an insect who we have some things in common with - the butterfly.  Starting out as an egg; progressing as a newborn- eating, growing and spending a large amount of time on our belly.  We then transition into puberty and from there blossoming into an adult - the reproductive stage. For millions of women, one stage that we do not share with the butterfly is that when our reproductive stage comes to an end, we are faced with the challenges of having to deal with the sympto...

You ever have those hmm moments...well I had one the other day.  My thought was how we have become too familiar to things working at our beck and call?  When we push the button – we expect the power to come on, the key in the ignition – we expect the car to start.  How about that garbage disposal, flick the switch and we expect to hear that familiar whirring noise--right? Believe it or not, we have something in common with garbage disposals.  Both of us are susceptible to getting jammed, clogged or blocked.  When a disposal quits working, it doesn't always mean we need a new one.  We may want to take the time to troubleshoot and discover the solution that would restore this contraption back to its working state.                We are excited about continuing our journey into another year with you.   As always you have an open invitation to share your adventures, challenges and experiences -- n...

I could hear Charlie Brown yelling in my head as I was watching the news broadcast about the mayhem that happened on Black Friday.  “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?”    From the time of its first telecast and every year since December 9, 1965,   Charlie Brown has been yelling this from the rooftops.  Poor Charlie Brown, the materialism and commercialism of Christmas had him depressed.  (This treasured holiday special usually airs the first week of December,  but to be sure check your local listings).       Lucy encouraged Charlie Brown to get involved and direct the school play.  Though he was reluctant and struggled, he learns the true meaning of Christmas.  Who says we can’t learn from cartoons…there are so many opportunities available for us to help others get in the proper mood: How about doing a walk through the Yellow Pages and picking out a few people to send a card to ( DO NOT put yo...

Pausing With God 'HOT FLASH'               contest winner! Age Ain't Nothing BUT A Number                                                        I've been "HOT" since I was twelve. ..... Those 6 1/2 years of hormonal balance spanned from the beginning of my first pregnancy to the end of my last. Getting pregnant gave my body an opportunity to understand and attempt the balance it was supposed be in all along and to be perfectly honest I felt so very good pregnant that I made other pregnant moms sick. But things change and sometimes they change drastically ... I had a tubal when my last child was delivered and within a month or two I was experiencing   ALL   the symptoms that had started when I was a young teen. It didn't take long before the hot flashes and night sweats were accompanied by insom...

Age Ain't Nothing BUT A Number         (Part 1 of 2) I've been "HOT" since I was twelve. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to be vain or even funny, I'm actually talking "hot flashes." I've been experiencing them off and on in varying degrees of severity for 26 of the last 33 years. I was 12 when I had my first hot flash and like any child of 12, I had no idea what was going on. One minute I felt fine and the next I was hot and there was nothing I could do to cool myself off. Just as soon as it passed I was cold. It went off and on like this all day so I figured I was probably getting sick. That was just the beginning. They started happening pretty regular after that. I would be totally comfortable and suddenly find myself flushed and hot from head to toe. If it stayed long enough I'd start sweating profusely. It was as if someone else had control of my internal thermostat and was bumping it up and down as they pleased. Then we ...