Some of my friends would describe what they were going through: changing their pj’s and bedding in the middle of the night, losing sleep.  One woman showed me a picture of all her sisters and explained that each one of them divorced when they went through their changes.  I would see my friends suddenly turn red and get sweaty, fanning themselves with anything on hand.  But you can not really empathize until you reach it yourself.   Now I can empathize. 
What a learning experience this has been.  I have learned that estrogen is the sex hormone regulating the parts of the body that make us female.  It is produced in the ovaries.

During menopause the ovaries gradually stop producing estrogen.  This loss of estrogen is what leaves us with hot flashes and night sweats (loss of sleep, dry eyes, memory problems, etc.

Menopause may come through other means.  The most common of which is the removal of the ovaries.  Even though hysterectomies were about as common as tonsillectomies and are the second most common major operation that women undergo, thousands of woman never spoke about it and many didn’t understand it.  I had no idea that removal of the ovaries meant that a woman would enter menopause immediately and abruptly and that the symptoms of hot flashes and night sweats etc. could be much more severe than with natural menopause.  Women suffered in silence.  No more!  Now we go with groups of woman to see Menopause the Musical.

While being the most highly educated generation of women of all time, there is still a lot to learn about this time in our lives.  Well, then there is the confusing decision as to whether to take hormone therapy.  The research is still unclear and estrogen therapy is a controversial issue.  As a child of the 60’s, I personally did not like the idea of disturbing what mother nature had bequeathed us.  But who could have imagined that I would be breaking out with acne at this age.
In my quest for “natural” remedies, I have found a new product, Verita Hot Flash spray.  I keep it on hand when I wear my hot robe, dry my hair and drink coffee at the same time. 

I guess I will have to make more smart choices…