I’ve been on and off HRT like a teenager on a rollercoaster. Slapping an oestrogen-loaded patch in the direction of my right buttock over this past year, I’ve approached HRT like a new lover. Vigorous enthusiasm at first, thanks to feeling generally more alive, you know, down “there”, I’ve even rediscovered the desire to masturbate! Dusting off my vibrator one morning, I could have high-fived the mirror in celebration. Two whole orgasms in a month instead of the recent none whatsoever. Not all women experience a surge in their sex drive while on HRT, but bearing in mind I used to have a razz on my vibrator daily – regular orgasms have health benefits, such as improved skin and stress release – my orgasm hiatus came as a shock. In menopause, my sex drive plummeted to nonexistent.
As with all new lovers, the shiny excitement begins to dull after a while, and soon enough, you find yourself staring at the mirror, wondering where you went. My HRT dose, it turned out, was far too high, and so, after a few weeks, when water retention began to make me look, and feel, like an overstretched sausage, bloated and annoyed at having gained circa 10lb in a month, I shoved the sticky little dots to the back of the drawer. “There must be an alternative,” I wailed down the phone to an American friend whose medicine cabinet is so well stocked she could set up her own A&E. Well, yes and no, was the conclusion we drew after an hour of debating natural hormones over synthetic.
Off HRT for a while, I tackled the bloat with Epsom salts from Sea Magik. I added a couple of cups to my bath, and after about 20 minutes, a feeling of calm washed over me. I don’t usually have baths, so one could argue it was the warm water that soothed away the day; however, I took an Epsom salt bath every third day in the run-up to my 50th birthday and felt far less bloated for it. If you like a whiff of scent while you soak, check out Margaret Dabbs, one of my favourite go-to brands, for relaxing lavender bath salts. And pamper yourself with the foot cream and lotion – a treat for dry, cracked heels.
Of course, sleep, good food, exercise and a doctor’s prescription are just what the menopause practitioner ordered, but it can take a while to get the hormones and lifestyle balance correct. Hence, my blowing up like a sausage served at a greasy-spoon cafe – wrong dose, wrong meds (the doc didn’t prescribe progesterone, which, allegedly, is essential while on an increased dose of oestrogen). Yikes, but at least the regular long baths finally rid my bum of the unsightly, impossible-to-remove glue stains that HRT patches leave on your ass for ever, infinitum.
Eating well should be an easy fix but life’s never that simple. It’s all good and well, telling a middle-aged woman to eat plenty of greens and up her protein intake; but the reality is teenagers arguing, parents needing attention, and multiple work demands, not to mention keeping spending within overdraft limits – all this can throw us off track. Telling a woman with a lot on her plate to add extra protein to her literal plate is a recipe for disaster.
I used to be hopeless at taking supplements, but now I can feel my body needs more than hummus and rice cakes washed down with coffee – I sense a tiredness and my hair is thinning. So I’ve started taking a fantastic supplement called Prime Fifty Menopause Support. I’ve also added the brand’s skin, hair and nails supplements because my nails often flake back to the nailbed, which hurts.
After my four-week HRT detox, I returned to the doctor, who put me on a lower dose of HRT and a nightly dose of progesterone. This, the Epsom salts and the supplements, plus my latest discovery, the Fine Bedding Company smart temperature pillow, are all helping. These finds are from QVC’S Menopause Your Way destination, where women experiencing menopause, whether taking HRT or not, can check out solutions to ease their symptoms.
Managing signs of menopause, it turns out, is an ever-changing juggling act. Still, at least it’s one we can control. Unlike unruly teens.
For advice from more leading experts on how to navigate your menopause, alongside curated products specially designed to ease your symptoms, discover Menopause Your Way at QVC
