For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for February 18, 2023

yikes

And here begins what will be Elly Patterson’s first mention of her menopause that she will suffer with for the next 21 years. 21 years of bothering everyone else.

I had hot flashes and sleepless nights a few times a year starting in my early 30s.

I read ahead, this is when Elly gets annoying for the next month

I remember going through that. My doctor wanted to put me on HRT, but I declined. The hot flashes weren’t severe enough to really bother me. As for mood swings, well, I put up with everyone else’s moods. I decided they could just deal with mine for a change.

Oh you know a hot flush (not flash, a flash is a little thing, a flush is what really happens!) when you have one. You feel like you suddenly walked into a sauna. They’re uncomfortable but usually not unbearable. Then there are the good old night sweats. Again not unbearable but I have heard of women who woke up with soaked pillowcases and sheets. The best thing is the cessation of that lovely wonderful time of the month. Now that’s nice!

I had a hysterectomy in 1986 and went on HRT—no problem…until my doctor began cutting me back. Now I’m down to half of the smallest pill 6 times a week. And I have hot flushes every 3-4 hours, sometimes so strong that I’ll sit naked under a ceiling fan … in a 65 degree room. BTW, I’m 78 years old. Not looking forward to summer!

When my mother hit the Big M, I knew nothing. I only knew that my sweet, loving mother would sometimes pull a Jekyll & Hyde. It was scary & confusing. When the Big M hit me, I decided to be transparent with my daughters, giving them information as it was happening so that they’d know why…although I wasn’t hit with anger; it hit me with depression, which I could keep a handle on. This way they wouldn’t be afraid of it happening to them as I was.

I had instant menopause by having all “my works” removed. I’m now using Estrogel to keep from suffering the “M” symptoms. I feel so much better and SANER! :D

Absolutely!!!

About time. Another Patterfoob springing forth from Elly’s womb would rip apart the Space-Time Continuum, leading to a chain reaction which would destroy the entire universe… although the damage might just be contained to our own galaxy… if we’re lucky..

Remember Archie from All in the Family…..”Edith…….!”

Menopause isn’t funny, and it can carry on for years and years. I’m 68 and I still get the occasional hot flash.

The big M is followed by the big D

Shouldn’t it be called womenopause?

LOL…. but, on the bright side, no more toddlers to sap the energy you no longer have.

40s seems kind of young for that.

i used to comment on an elder person’s birthday that they were not getting older, just more polished with use. then i had a 95yoa woman respond: “sonny, we call that erosion.”

It starts with peri-menopause. I had that for 10 years. I’m estrogen dominate and only have had flushes once in a blue moon. Now I’m full into menopause and still no hot flashes.

My mother told me that she started menopause at age 55. She never had hot flashes or mood swings, just the cessation of the monthly curse. So I thought I would be spared, too. I guess I got my father’s genes instead of mom’s because I had hot flashes for 10 years. And they started up again after my breast cancer surgery two years ago.

Let’s just pause for a meno…

For me I do not think had any issues not even hot flashes. when time came and I stopped my body celebrated.

If Helly Patterson bothers everyone else, then she’s been menopausal since the day after she married John, so how do Mike, Liz, and April even exist!?

How about Elizabeth’s big M: Menarche?

The real problem is that Ellie has two teenagers and a toddler, which in and of themselves make for sleepless nights….