Update....and many thanks

Body: 

I wanted to thank everyone who suggested using flaxseed to alleviate (or prevent?) hot flashes. I usually only get them during the last week of my cycle (or during the usual 'pms' time---before) so I wasn't sure, right away, if it was working or not.

If my body follows the "calender" this time---this is the week. I haven't had ANY hot flashes yet and I do feel the menstrual migraine/cluster headache, but it's mild and kind of 'in the background' for now. (This also lets me know that this IS the time I would be getting the hot flashes.) I DO believe this is working for me!! Even though I am still pretty regular with my cycle, I do have times where I skip periods or where I don't get one for 60 some days, etc. (I'm fortunate to still be able to use the calender to kind of predict what's going on.) I'm trying hard to think of this all as a natural process and believe that 'crazy-pause' may not be as scary as I've always thought.

Normally I would be miserable and/or in bed with this headache (it's not that I don't have it---and it may become worse) but for now it's not so bad---which is really nice! I don't feel as dragged out and crabby as usual, either. And the extra fiber is like a gift from heaven!!~smile~

Unless something not-so-good happens in the next week to ten days, just this small suggestion has made SUCH a difference for me!

Thank you so much...I also checked out Susan Weed's site and will be reading there often. It's a bit overwhelming at first---all the women there seem to know so much more than I do and it's hard to take it all in right away.

I don't post (or respond to posts) as often as I'd like to, although I read here every day. Typing is hard for me (painful) and I just wanted to share that this is the reason--not because I am selfish or just don't care about others. I remember you all in my prayers and think of you often---just this short time I've "known" you has changed my life for the better.

Peace,
S&G

S&G, so glad you are finding flax promising. I did not get the real hotties till after my last cycle, then, oh, my, momma, did they come. Night sweats, too. Throw the blanket off, put the blanket on...my poor sweet husband suffered it all with me. A few days or a week on flax seed and all was right with that. Hopefully, you will have your hotties managed before they can assemble and organize against you in earnest. Lovely, lovely helpers in nature if only we can find and use and share them.

If you have all over body pain, try a green supplement. Mine is in a jar, looks horrid mixed in juice, tastes less than horrid but not delicious...oh, but it really, really evens out the body and soothes the aches. I think it balances us out really well. It helped me find my joy. Pain is a real robber of joy.

love, Kit

Hi Kit

Tell me more about this green supplement! Do you make it yourself, or buy it? If so, where?

For Kit and Snug, this business of making blanket decisions in the middle of the night sucks, doesn't it? By the time you decide whether you are hot or cold, or thirsty, or need a wee, you are so wide awake that getting back to sleep is the challenge, and by that time hot has indeed changed to cold, or vice versa!

I have some hints, thought up during the night while I was tossing and turning.

1 Just accept that I am wide awake, and not worry (about anything). Eventually, I just wake up in the morning and realise that I did indeed get back to sleep. Not worrying about how hard it is to get back to sleep is always a good start for relaxing back into slumber.

2 Writing other worries down in your bedside notepad while you are tossing and turning is a useful strategy, so you don't have to worry about remembering what to worry about it in the morning.

3 Toss *and* turn. Don't just toss. An elderly friend of mine recently tossed and tossed, and ended up rolling out of bed and damaging two vertebrae when she hit the bedroom floor. I am praying for her recovery, as she is a very active 80 year old woman, and is not ready to stop being active.

4 My other solution is to see if I can stir DH and make love with him. At least he takes a while to wake sufficiently to realise that it is not just a dream, so that gives me the opportunity to take my time. Works every time, no matter how far I can wake him! Off to sleep like a baby afterwards, for both of us!

Cheers

Louise