Summer – where did it go?
Today is 31st August. Which means tomorrow is 1st September! Which basically means that summer is over. It wasn’t quite ‘blink and you miss it’ but all the things I wanted to do, well, I didn’t do them!
HRT, Smarties and why I saw a private specialist
My theme for August was to do one thing. I’m not sure I quite managed that. The weather was very nice (until it wasn’t!) and I wanted to make the most of it. I’m perimenopausal at the moment. I’ve been on HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) for 10 weeks and it’s as effective as me eating Smarties every day…
HRT, so I’m led to believe, can be amazing when it’s the right one for you. What I’ve been taking is not the right one for me. Despite my GP calling it a ‘magic pill’. And yes, you read that right.
I didn’t really want to go back to my GP and so I saw a private menopause specialist GP last week and it was amazing. I know I’m fortunate that I can afford it, but I had a whole hour, we talked about all my symptoms, how I feel and what my HRT options are. Interestingly, she wasn’t a fan of the HRT I’ve been taking and I’ve decided, after a conversation where I felt respected and my concerns were allayed, to change from a patch (combined estrogen and progesterone) to a progesterone tablet and pump estrogen. I just need to go back to my GP and get them to agree to prescribe this.
My one thing this August: my health
And in a way, this has been my one thing this month – my health. I had intended to focus on my sleep (it hasn’t improved, but my sleep hygiene is better) and at the start of the month I definitely felt less overwhelmed, because I was focusing on one thing.
Looking ahead to September
As we look to September, I’m in the middle of a ‘become a menopause trainer’ course, I’m pivoting my business, redesigning my website and pulling something together for October, which is Menopause Awareness month. And I’m doing this with my trusty weekly planner.
The planner’s back and here’s why
As the start of a new school year is upon us, I’m embracing the chaos that is about to descend! I have a lot I want to do but my priority is my health. And hopefully, by tweaking my HRT, I can have the energy and drive to embrace my planner and what’s coming up. I’m someone who loves a to-do list. I find I feel less overwhelmed when I do a mind dump, it gets everything out of my head, it goes onto paper and I can come up with a realistic plan of when to do what.
Taking it one day at a time
I’m taking the lessons of the summer and my ‘just one thing’ into the autumn. I’m also taking my planner, which I paused over the summer, as there’s a lot going on and I need to make sure I don’t forget anything. There are some weeks where I will focus on one thing and there will be others where I’ll focus on many, many more. I’ll do this listening to my body, putting my sleep first and ultimately doing my best to navigate a full-time job, growing a business and being perimenopausal, and I’ll take it one day at a time.