Jan 16, 2018
The ladies had good night’s sleep and it makes all the difference. They are both in a good place! Julia’s not happy with the fact that she’s been coming home from work too late to see her daughter before bedtime, but hopefully that won’t last. Sarah’s college son has now started classes and has touched base via Facetime. She had a nightmare that her son had been stolen from her by aliens - literally snatched from her arms - so that’s a clue to her state of mind over her son leaving home… Julia’s looking at the college packing lists for fun, even though her daughter has just started Kindergarten. Julia recounts a memory of moving in to her dorm at LMU - and the Italy’s Little Kitchen, where Julia worked as a hostess for 2 years in college. They had a smoking section back then and she got a 30% discount on pizza - score! Sarah talks about what it cost when she went to college $40K for 4 years at a private school, which now costs about $70K per year now! UGH Julia’s hoping that she’s done with menopause by the time her kid is ready for college.
The ladies wonder when how long their menopauses will last? Sarah’s back on her period - and it was a big shock - and she’s annoyed that she’s had to stock up on tampons and pads! Expensive and they are taxed - how is that fair????
Bible Study: Chapter 6 Foods and Supplements to Support the Change
Julia has started taking the Fish Oil for her Omega 3s and got her husband to read the chapter on heart health and statins specifically and it has made him want to talk more with his doctor. Julia also started taking Calcium/Magnesium/Vitamin D supplements and EmergenC to get vitamin C and B12s, but no Coenzyme Q10 yet. Sarah found hers at Costco. Better price! Sarah feels it would be helpful to find an herbalist who could help her navigate all the supplements that Dr. Northrup recommends and find out what would be best for her body. Makes Julia want to go back to her Gyno - and get some questions answered. She feels the chapter empowered her to do that.
The chapter being about food, Julia focused on soy snacks. Edamame and soy milk have appealed to Sarah, Julia has wanted to try roasted soy nuts. Sarah wondered about an herb Dr. Northrup mentioned called Joyful Change. The name alone is good! And may be helpful for hot flashes, so it deserves some exploration. Sarah needs to schedule her cardiologist follow-up…
Flax seed - Dr. Northrup talks about buying Golden Flax grown in a special region in the Northern Dakotas to give it more Omega 3s - but we say, um that makes it harder to achieve the goal of at least getting some damn flax in our diets at all - so hey, what if we just get the kind we can buy at our local grocery store and call it a day?
Julia noticed that Dr. Northrup talked about Yin and Yang, and traditional Chinese medicine, and imbalance, and in the book she talks about how “excess heat” which is too much Yang, leads to hot flashes and dryness of the skin, eyes, hair and vagina - and Julia said her eyes have been very, very dry ever since having a baby. She uses eye drops often, but she feels it has been getting worse. Other things that can add to excess yang include hot beverages, like coffee (one of our favorite things) and spicy foods, which we found fascinating. We bemoaned the often-repeated prohibitions against drinking alcohol, eating fried foods, etc. found in the book.
Sarah has slowed down on wine, but has found giving up on coffee has been much harder. Julia suggests adding decaf, but Sarah thinks this is a bad idea, especially for her husband… Sarah wonders whether there is an equivalent physical change at midlife for men? Sarah tells the story of a nice older lady in the neighborhood who likes to talk and needed someone to listen to her. She talked about online dating for the elderly - and explained how all the men want is sex. According to this nice old lady, if the men say they want to be very romantic, that means they want a lot of sex. Again, according to the nice old lady, all the men say they can do “everything”, because they have Viagra, but in reality they can’t do much. One of her neighbors - a nice old man - told this nice old lady that he wanted to cuddle. When she asked - what do you mean by “cuddle?” He said - “I want to touch your body,” but she declined. So he offered another lady down the street $45 to cuddle with him instead. Julia’s glad to hear that sex is still out there for the future. And they realize that there will always be a reason to stay fit. Plus we crack ourselves up thinking about a Peyton Place happening in a retirement home! So apparently after menopause, there will be lots of sex in our future. And we continue to laugh as we imagine a sci-fi story with characters named “Coenzyme Q 10”, “Paraguard T380A” and a villain named “Omega Three”.
How Hot Was Your Flash? Sarah had none this week and slept well except for the nightmare about her son being stolen by aliens. Julia had two - she thinks - but because they’re so rare, she’s not 100% sure. Hers are very low-key; no sweat involved. We feel the book gives great advice about making these changes - just start with one thing at a time. Julia, by the way, can do a plank for 1 minute!