by Bina Pattel, Age 51, London UK
What are hot flushes, who gets them and why?
I was out there looking for something – anything to take away what I thought was the worst thing ever, and to top it all off, they just didn’t stop.
My hot flushes have been around for about 3 years now. At first, I was convinced they would be gone in a few months; I noticed how much I reacted to them and this made it worse. Well, they are still around and how I react to them has changed for sure.
Stripping off my clothes and creating a drama got a bit boring as they were happening a lot and my laundry room was full of washing! Now I have accepted them as a part of my life. Wearing layers and never covering my neck with a scarf helps, especially on public transport.
I went to the GP who told me that HRT (hormone replacement therapy) is given in the form of a pill to suppress the hot flushes. However, once I stopped taking them, the hot flushes would come back. The GP thought there was no point as she felt I was “managing” them well. I could not understand why any woman would want to delay something like this for a later date – better out than in, I say!
So the extent of my understanding was: we get hot flushes when our menstrual cycle stops and we go into the menopausal cycle. No more ovulation and bleeding every month. This can happen at any time, but generally in a woman’s late 40’s and over. But none of the above really got to the deeper meaning for me.
I wanted to get an understanding as to why these hot flushes were getting worse and weren’t going away!
So I remained open, and with the clarity and understanding I got from attending the Esoteric Developer’s Women’s Group – a monthly forum that made sense, I learned that: How I live as a woman on a daily basis DOES have an impact on my body. Well, this was revelation for me, to say the least.
Let’s rewind and laser this: THE WORD ‘WOMAN’ USED TO MAKE ME CRINGE.
I just preferred the last 3 letters and to hang out like I was a man. I remember being in meetings with a short skirt on and 400+ men. This was the norm for me… I Wanted To Prove That A Woman Can Do What A Man Can Do. This was the goal and this was the drive. Ugly but true. At no point did I ever consider that my periods were getting very heavy and painful because my body was out of its natural rhythm. I carried on seeking solutions to keep going but without changing anything on the inside.
Words like STOP, REST, AND TAKE TIME OUT were for women who wanted to pamper and pander – definitely not for me.
Fast forward to 2008 – I had a tumour and hysterectomy. Even my surgeon emphasized I needed to stop now and really get some deep rest. But little did he know it would take over a year out of my life and that the pain was going to get worse until I really got to the Truth of why this happened. And no-one warned me about these super Hot Hot flushes.
To top it all off, my mum told me the other day (she is 73) that she still gets hot flushes. No surprise there, as my earlier years were just the same as hers – you keep working and never stop, you just work even more and keep pushing.
SO WHAT HAS CHANGED?
Although conventional medicine can tell us what is happening in the body during a hot flush, it has not really presented the deeper answer as to why women get hot flushes. However, I feel I can say that I know without any doubt why my hot flushes continue based on how I have lived my life and the effects that has had on my body. The understandings of esoteric medicine and my personal life experiences have re-awakened this inner knowing.
The way I lived my life in total disregard to my body and myself as a woman is the core reason. Living a very trashy life, not listening to my feelings and numbing myself with alcohol, lots of sugary foods, working hard with very little sleep, was the extent of my neglect of my body.
Today I can see clearly that the hot flushes are there for my body to come back into a natural balance from all the past un-natural way of living.
I had too much motion/activity inside my body and now the adjustment with stillness is needed; I appreciate this.
When a hot flush comes on now (usually every few hours) I don’t react but instead have an understanding why they come on, and this has made a huge difference. In fact, they really don’t bother me and I talk openly about them, as my face and neck are usually dripping – you would have to be Blind Freddy to not see it !
This blog may not be for you but if you know any young woman who is “on the go” so to speak, and keeps herself in a lot of motion and not stopping, then send this to her.
My tip for any woman is take time out daily to Stop. Truly stop. Make it a part of your daily routine so that you can begin to develop a connection with your body. Your body will always tell you what is really going on. This way you can feel and if you go with the feeling, you just can’t go wrong.
In Truth, we all have a natural rhythm and flow in our bodies. For me, it took a lot of pain to eventually stop and get to what now feels like a really great way to live every day and be free of pain.
This leads me to my next blog – The Full Moon cycle. Watch this space!