A Personal Journey Through Menopause

I’m 52 and now experiencing the joys of menopause. Oh, what fun!! I felt so driven to tell you about my personal experience with ‘the journey of menopause’, as I believe sharing our stories empowers us as women through situations like this – it’s nice to know that we are not alone.

I’m not normally one for blogging, but I felt so driven to tell you about my personal experience with ‘the journey of menopause’ that I have decided to do so. 

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tracey and yes, I work for Xtend-Life as your International Customer Relations Manager. 

I realise you will be thinking that of course, I am biased to Xtend-Life and their products and you would be right! I’ve worked for Xtend-Life for just over five years; my bias to this company comes from the privileged position of seeing first-hand how we, as a company work. The thought, research and genuine care that go into sourcing the best quality ingredients, the time taken to blend the very best formulations ensuring that our products work in synergy with each other is impressive. Quite frankly, yes we could manufacture our products much cheaper by using inferior ingredients but the philosophy of Warren and the team is that “Only the best will do”. The continual drive to provide better service across the board never ceases to amaze me. I am proud that I am part of a team that makes products that you, our customers, will love. So, I make no apology for my bias. Now that I have hopefully assured you of my sincerity – here’s my story.

Feeling the heat

I’m 52 and now experiencing the joys of menopause. Oh, what fun!! About 2 years ago I experienced my first hot flash. They are also known as hot flush, depending on where you live in the world. Some of us use quirky names such as ‘power surge’, ‘personal summer’ ‘human heat wave’ but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter what it’s called the feeling is still the same! 

I used to get one every now and then and it didn’t bother me too much, they were bearable. Time marches on though doesn’t it – all too quickly as we get older! I guess menopause crept up on me. It didn’t have an impact on my day to day life until about 12 weeks ago when menopause hit me like a train! My hot flashes became severe and more and more frequent. This happened so fast I didn’t realise the detrimental effect it was having on me.

Menopause is obviously a natural part of a woman’s life and I think at times we believe that ‘we just have to get on with it and ride the wave’. That wave can continue for years! Menopause can affect women in many different ways. The symptoms I have are not like my sisters. Women may have the same X chromosome but our experiences can be poles apart!

How do you describe a hot flash to someone that has never had one? I’ve likened it to a volcano within your body. My ‘volcano’ starts just above my knees and within seconds this incredible, intense heat drives itself to the top of my head. The heat is so intense sometimes I think I am going to internally combust! These hot flashes were coming hard and fast so many times a day I lost count. It was starting to have an impact on everything I did. 

Sleepless nights

The biggest and most detrimental impact was in my sleep. I just couldn’t have a good night’s, restful sleep. I would lie on top of the covers and then under the covers– changing every few minutes while going from being so hot and then so cold very quickly. On top of that, I had, what my husband and I refer to as ‘walkie feet’ or commonly known as restless legs. This was just as bad. Not only was I now throwing the blankets and duvets off every few minutes (on top of my husband) I was then waving my feet around like a windmill. The only way to try and compensate the ‘walkie feet’ was to get out of bed and stand on the cold floor. During this time New Zealand was in the middle of winter and here I am, outside on the patio (when it’s -3 degrees Celsius or 26 Fahrenheit) pacing up and down and dripping in sweat! I’m hoping the neighbors are not light sleepers! There’s always a silver lining so I just kept telling myself I was getting my ‘step count’ up to the required 10,000 per day! 

Jokes aside ladies, only grabbing 3 hours of sleep on average a night really starts causing problems in other aspects of your life.

Strung out, exhausted and irritable

Our daily routine is that my hubby and I get up at 5.20am and go for a 7km walk with our dog.  By the time I did eventually fall into an exhausted sleep, it wasn’t long before the alarm went off and I just couldn’t get out of bed. Because of this, our exercise went out the window! My concentration was affected and my performance at work was becoming very difficult to maintain! I knew that I was struggling with my memory and I believe this was brought on by sleep deprivation. On top of dealing with that, my moods were as unpredictable as the weather. The hot flashes made me sweat and feel so very prickly and my glasses fogged up due to the heat that came off my face (which was very embarrassing when I was in meetings). I felt out of control and became more and more irritable from the discomfort of the heat, unbalanced hormones and sleep deprivation. My husband and I have been married for 31 happy years but I was starting to think we wouldn’t make it to the 32nd! He is a very patient man but boy my moods tested it to the limit.

There is some truth behind the story that a mechanic never tends to maintain his own car, a decorator never gets around to decorating his own house. I too fell guilty of not taking the advice that my team offer to our customers every day of the week. I needed Hormone-Support for Her and I needed it fast! Once I realised this, I had three bottles sitting on my desk that morning!

Relief at last

We have amazing feedback from customers all around the world. This incredible product is formulated to relieve symptoms of both PMS and menopause as well as support a natural libido and sexual desire - a bonus ladies, (but I’ll leave that to you if you choose to tell your partner that or not). Most importantly Hormone-Support for Her supports a healthy hormone balance and does this by naturally working with your body.

When I started taking Hormone-Support for Her I started noticing a difference after three weeks. The hot flashes were still there but certainly not as often. I was so excited at the thought of not being in a big puddle of sweat all day, so I persevered. 

Readdressing the balance

Then, disappointingly every time I took it, I started feeling nauseous, had chronic stomach pains and very bad diarrhea.  I thought I had built up intolerance to an ingredient as I have a fairly sensitive stomach.  I was so upset and stopped taking them.  The hot flashes returned.  So, I talked to some of the team here and we devised a plan to reintroduce it at one capsule a day.  Unfortunately the diarrhea persevered, but I am pretty stubborn (just ask my hubby!)  so I persevered too!  I swim a couple of times a week at a public pool, so that was definitely off the agenda as I couldn't trust my body and certainly didn't want to create an 'unscheduled clean of the pool' if you get my drift!
 
The diarrhoea, headaches and stomach cramps started reducing, so with great anticipation I increased the dose to two per day and then three.  

All of the unpleasant symptoms stopped!  On further research all of the things I was experiencing can be caused by an imbalance of female hormones.  I now believe that as Hormone-Support for Her was working; my body was re-balancing my hormones, causing these short term side effects.  

Support your hormones naturally

Ladies, the best news is that I haven't had a hot flash for weeks! I feel invigorated and alive because I am sleeping so well. Better still I can snuggle down into bed! So comfy!

My memory seems to be working well, but I still go through all four of my children’s names before I get to the right one– but who doesn’t right? Thankfully, my work performance has improved too. I no longer feel like I need to rip someone’s head off as the mood swings have stopped. I now have more energy, so exercise has recommenced and we all know that exercise produces endorphins! A double win!

Taking a natural supplement doesn’t produce instant results, unlike some pharmaceutical drugs. Supplements work with your body naturally so give it time to see results. I for one, am so pleased I persevered– I feel liberated and in control again. 

I encourage you to give Hormone-Support for Her a go. 

Working synergistically with Hormone-Support for Her, we also have a range of products which can benefit the aging process

If my story resonates with you, I would love to hear your story too – perhaps you would like to share it in the comments below.I believe sharing our stories empowers us as women through situations like this – it’s nice to know that we are not alone.

In good health,

Tracey

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