Why Perimenopause Rips a Big One - My Current Life

My personal synopsis of why Perimenopause Rips a Big One!

I wanted to put this out there because no one ever talks about this crap. Had someone mentioned how terrible this could be, I might have been better prepared and would have been less anxious about what was happening. I've done a lot of Googling and visited with my long-time Gyno a few times about this issue. I have been assured by him, and I do trust him by the way, there is nothing abnormal such as fibroids, cancer, structural issues, endometriosis, etc... This has all checked out. For this reason I am playing the waiting game to see if I can actually go into menopause naturally or hang up my hat and cave to the seemingly impending hysterectomy.

Let me start by saying I am 50 years old and have had perimenopausal symptoms for several years now. I could deal better with the issues that are occurring when I was a few years younger. However, things started to take a drastic turn when I was 48 years old. I had three jacked up menstrual cycles several months apart. In November 2015, I had a period that lasted 6 weeks straight, no relenting. Then it was somewhat back to normal except I skipped a month somewhere between November 2015 and May 2016. In May 2016, I had a 4 week straight period and then back to normal again except again skipping a whole month until the doozy finally hit on November 8th, 2016. The hubster and I were dining at a favorite restaurant. As we were waiting on the check, I felt it. I needed to leave in a hurry and tied my jacket around my waist as I was hurrying out. Hubby stayed behind and paid the bill while I waited in the truck. This began the decent into HELL.

Here are the symptoms that I have noticed that often fail to get mentioned due to embarrassment or TMI.

1. Large amount of blood loss, my #1 complaint. This makes it really hard to plan anything, or to have sex. There are times when I have been afraid to go to work or have been at work or out eating and had to leave. Some days its predictable but about the time it seems to be slowing down or coming to a halt, I get slammed again.
       To explain this further, my options mentioned by long-time Gyneo to control this were:
          a. D&C with endometrial ablation
          b. Birth control, nope not at 50!
          c. Hysterectomy, not really what I want to do

 I chose the first option on December 28th, 2016. It did not work for me. Well, I guess I should say had I not had the ablation, I probably would be dead by now. While it slowed the bleeding considerably, here has not been a day since November 8th, 2016 that I have not bled. It is now July 12, 2017. To sum that up further, that is 8 month and 4 days of bleeding. Fun stuff. I understand my mom had the same type of issue at 49, according to my step-father. She is not here to ask as she passed away from a heart attack the same year.

2. #1 which lead to Anemia  

3. Terrible and I can't stress terrible enough, all over the body muscle cramping. This is my #2 complaint. I also have EDS which is probably not helping this situation. Several times my neck and shoulders have gripped so badly that they don't release for weeks and last time it was right at 30 days before any relief.

4. Loss of libido

5. Occasional dizziness and loss of balance. A little scary when it comes out of nowhere and for no apparent reason.

6. Numbness and tingling in arms, hands, lower legs and feet. This happens sporadically and is a signal to me that I am becoming anemic again and need to get back on the iron supplements for a while.

7. Increase in blood pressure

8. Occasional heart palpitations but I also have HCM so that is probably not helping me in this area.

9. Worsening allergies. I had surgery in July 2016 for allergic fungal sinusitis. You can read about that here: AFS

10. More frequent headaches


What I have not experienced yet are some of the more traditional perimenopausal symptoms:

1. Hot flashes

2. Night sweats

I'll keep updating this as I can remember other symptoms or as new ones arise. Hang in there ladies, it must get better right????????????

Weekend Pallet Project - Vertical Pallet Pot Planter

I used some left over turquoise blue outdoor spray paint to lightly spray the front surface of the pallet.

The pots are just standard plastic pots that some other plants came in.

I used metal strapping from a load of shop trusses to attach the pots to the pallet. If the metal strapping is too wide, you can use wire cutters to cut the strapping length-wise. Run the strapping through the bottom drain hole and attach to pallet boards.

After planting, many herbs such as Italian parsley, German Thyme, Lavender, Spearmint, Peppermint. Also some multi-color Purslane:

From Drab to Fab - Plastic Window Box Makeover

My old plastic window box planter needs some TLC. I had cilantro growing here but noe the cilantro has gravitated into my general front planting beds, so I decided to re-purpose it.


I dumped out the old potting soil, scrubbed the inside and outside with a SOS pad, let it dry and painted with outdoor plastic paint.

Once dry, I positioned the planter onto a pallet using cut two by fours slid in between the pallet slats.

Cucumbers are sprouting and will climb up the pallet for support!!

New Man Cave Construction Project - Doing it Ourselves

Hubby and I are weekend DIY'ers. We choose to DIY on everything we can to save money. Hubby has the talent, plus he needs something to do. Here are our first efforts at our new man cave.

We finally settled on a 40 x 40 slab. The Cave will be 30 ft across and 40 ft deep.  Cave runs East/West. There will be a 10 ft overhang on the north side.

For informational purposes, the total cost of  the concrete in Oklahoma for this project was $12,600.00. This includes the 40 x 40 slab and 920 sf of flat work which is the approach that was poured connecting our driveway to the man cave slab.

First section of back wall - East side of cave

Full wall complete

Making some progress

One window, east wall

Got two more windows and a door In - Hubby praying for a break

An example of how the 2 x 4's are attached to the concrete.
Notice we have plumbing as well!

Up With the Trusses and Braced. It took 5 good men on a
Memorial Day about 4 hours to complete adding the trusses.

Makings of a bathroom

Latest Completion June 11, 2017, OSB going up!

Weekend of 06/17/2017, got the top ends enclosed. Next week will work on decking the roof:

A Saturday Before Vacation Project - New Dry Creek Bed April 29th,2017

When we moved into our house, there was a deep ditch or creek at the back of the property on the east side that wrapped around all the way to the south side of our property. We were told several things by several people. That this was a creek that had dried up, that it was made by kids riding their dirt bikes and that it was a hollowed out ditch so that people could burn their trash. I suspect all the above. As we have cleaned the property and dug into the earth, here are some interesting finds that now rest upon hubby's shelf in our study. Notice the old Coke bottle in the back? I suspect the blue jars may be Vick's Vapor Rub??

As of today, this is what that ditch became. Now to add more plantings and then it will be complete.

The concrete that will later become our shop in the second photo, now covers the other half of the creek.