Unmasking menopause’s sneaky symptoms

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Take off your sunglasses and look for menopause symptoms!

Hello, fabulous!

Today, let's try to demystify the journey that is menopause because, trust me, understanding it even during a hectic life, is like discovering a treasure map that rewards you beyond belief.

It will keep you in the driver’s seat of your life.

Imagine you're around 35 years of age, navigating through life, and suddenly, your periods decide to take a short cut. So they seem to either depart or arrive more frequently than usual. Seems normal, right?

Hold on – there's more to this story.

You might be in your 40’s..

You've got some possible symptoms – maybe a bit random, a bit quirky. Saying waking up in the middle of the night. Tingling hands, feet, elbows, perhaps. Maybe the corners of your mouth seem more moist than ususal.

You might think they're just part of life's usual craziness. And not necessarily realizing they may be tiny signs of menopause is appearing.

But guess what?

Your brain and body are trying to tell you something important [yes menopause first starts in the brain and then communicates to the body!], through its own secret language conveyed by these sometimes sneaky, random symptoms.

If you pick up this random set of symptoms (maybe the symptoms are few and far apart, maybe not) - remember life is busy and you are possibly going to dismiss these signs as ‘just one of those things’ or ‘strange. Or ‘I’ll look into that symptom when I have more time’ or….you get the picture!

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Keep a look out for random symptoms - they could mean menopause. Here’s what to do next

In fact it could be pre menopausal changes in your body that are being signalled by these random symptoms - that is where estrogen production is adjusting. Remember that estrogen is one of the key hormones involved throughout your life, and one that dramatically reduces during the lead up to and into menopause .

It’s a bit of a deal that you do your best to recognize these symptoms or changes and although they may appear random and separate and independant of each other, these symptoms are really what I call stealth symptoms, actually telling you that you may be on the menopause journey.

So What To Do?

Firstly, don’t panic!

Remember, its nature. Natural. Biology. All part of being born in a female body.

And here's also where your superpower move comes in – track your symptoms.

Write down, withou any judgment or emotion, what you are experiencing - psychologically, feeling wise and physically in your body.

Remember don’t judge. Just remain curious and diligent in noting down the symptoms.

Tracking may appear to be a task not worth doing especially for someone with a hectic schedule – however, nothing could be further from the truth.

You do not have to track symptoms for long. Write down for say a week what the symptom is, how it makes you feel, how long it lasts, how strong it is and when it appears. Ensure you have a date and time for each entry.

Even 5 days of logging symptoms is very helpful. It will give you data and starts to give you a better picture of your symptoms and their regularity.

I found tracking my symptoms for two weeks a few years ago very helpful. It took the guess work out of what I thougth I was feeling - things I thought were all encompassing, soon passed as symptoms while other symptoms I felt were fleeting seemed to increase.

Writing down whatever symptom you experience, in the structure I gave you above, is one of the biggests gifts you can give yourself. It is also one of the biggests moves toward you taking control of your own journey!

Remember any random symptoms is your own body signalling that you are shifting - maybe into a new phase in your body and your body’s biology. Symptoms that may be saying you are in early stages or peri (before) menopause or menopause itself.

Whatever you write down, make sure at some point you take the information to your primary health care provider. But remember, be prepared for your discussion with this person. They may surprise you in their response/s - both positively or negatively in how they may react to your information!

So remember, no matter what you notice as a symptom - don’t freak out! Do not judge. Remain curious. Gathering information about yourself, such as your physical, psychological symptoms is the path to a longer term solution.

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Don’t freak out! Instead Journal any random symptoms - its a game changer for you - you may be in or may be starting menopause!

So if you are not sure tracking in a journal is for you…hear me out:

Yes. I know. Tracking is for project manager types!

Yes I get you but hear me out…

Daily tracking of symptoms will take you less than 5 minutes.

Your Tracker Structure: Each day note down the date. List main symptoms. Severity (high, medium, low).

Make daily journal tracking of your menopause symptoms. It wont take long before this information helps you see patterns and the most bothersome symptoms you want to tackle the most. This will help you focus your efforts. Something welcomed if you are unsure what to tackle first.

You are giving yourself a gift of self love and acknowledgment. That’s because what you find out by collecting this information about is valuable to you and the quality of life you lead. You may want to read - Menopause Red Flags: Escape the Negative Loop for a Smoother Journey [Blog07] for more information on how random symptoms conspire together

The information you collect about your daily symptoms using a simple tracker, begins to build your story – slowly as you keep a journal of your daily symptoms, no matter how small or random, builds into real information that is very useful to you.

Why is Menopause Journal Tracking useful to me?

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Journaling symptoms to determine if you are in menopause is essential for a smoother journey into this phase

Once you understand what may be going on, you are armed with information about your own body. You are always your own expert on all things You, no matter what anyone says!

Add a bit of information to your own knowledge about yourself, through your daily Journal Tracker, makes it even more powerful when talking to other people about what may be going on with your body.

For example, imagine going to your health care practitioner appointment armed with information about your symptoms (you may not even know you are in menopause at this stage! Just that you have random, inexplicable symptoms) that you have experienced, say over the past few days or weeks. Hard for a medical professional to outright dismiss you without some investigation (yes they exist).

The information you have collected in your Menopause Tracker Journal will definitely be helpful to your medical practitioner if they don’t dismiss the information out of hand. They will appreciate you bringing data with you and it helps fast track finding out what might be going on for you and in your body, mind, emotions.

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Surprise even the most dismissive health care profession with your Menopause symptom data you collect for yourself - its easy and takes less than 5 minutes a day.

If it turns out to be menopause. Your have solved whats going on! You can then start to consider menopause relief through natural therapies or treaments like hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or not, and maybe natural is more your thing or maybe a combo of natural and prescription.

Know this…

Whatever you decide to do is cool.

You are in charge.

The people you surround yourself with are there to serve you.

Never forget that!

The key is that you start thinking about managing menopause so that it doesnt manage you.

Womens health is the name of the game here!

How does a Symptom Tracker Help Me Be In Control?

By revealing secrets and helping you join the dots on what could appear random symptoms when in fact they are stealth symptoms all created by your body as part your menopause journey.

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Learn the secrets your body is trying to tell you - it might just be menopause.

Let’s dive a little more into this.

You can use the information you put into your Menopause Tracker Journal (within the first week) by carefully and quickly noting down symptoms, when they arrive, what their impact is on you (body, emotion, mental), how you feel, what you ate, how long the symptoms last and more.

The information in your Menopause Tracker Journal gives you incredible insights about you for you and whoever else you decide to allow you to help in your menopause journey.

For instance, the journal information will provide you with:

• insight into any patterns in your symptoms – so you get to answers and relief faster

• lets you ask the right questions of your health care professional to understand if you are in menopause (note that not all professionals are as clued in as we would like due, partly to lack of their menopause training - so choose wisely), and

• For further investigation [maybe its not menopause]

• Puts you in the driver's seat of your menopause journey which in turn builds more confidence, a sense of empowerment.

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Get in the drivers seat of your life - learn if your random symptoms could be your menopause journey calling.

Use what you learn:

• For your own contemplation (dare we say celebration!)

• For a relief (you are not going mad!)

So please.

Pay attention. Tracking counts.

Your Health, A Women’s Health Is Important.

The quicker you confirm your understanding if you are in menopause and accept where you are for yourself (the key words here are ‘Accept’ and ‘You’), the quicker you will see you’re in a transformational stage of your life and this brings, believe it or not, huge opportunity to look at who you are and what you want to do next.

Just do it – track your symptoms😊

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DISCLAIMER: This blog is not intended to provide assessment, diagnosis, treatment, or medical advice; it also does not constitute provision of healthcare services. The content provided in this blog is for informational and educational purposes only. Please consult with a physician or healthcare professional regarding any medical or mental health-related diagnosis or treatment. No information in this blog should ever be considered as a substitute for advice from a healthcare professional. The author of this blog shall bear no liability for any damages, loss, injury, or liability whatsoever suffered as a result of your reliance on the information contained in this blog

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