The journey into my 40s and start of my peri-menopause...
Having come through childhood, puberty and the delightful teenage years with their unavoidable highs and lows, pregnancy, and the various hormonal changes, strains and stresses that they involve, I had thought that now that my children were sleeping through the night and slightly easier to handle my life would get back to normal. "Ha" think again. My body had something else in mind for me, as is usually the case when one feels like one is back on an even keel.
Having suffered a collapsed disc in my lower back around two years ago, I opted to have a steroid injection when the disabling pain became too much (to give you an idea, I had to roll slowly out of bed each morning on to the floor and roll around on my back for a few minutes before I could even stand up straight). Amongst the words of wisdom my consultant offered, he briefly mentioned "the injection might make your periods a bit wacky for a short while" but I didn't really pay that any attention at the time, given the severity of the pain I was suffering this seemed like a miraculous quick fix (albeit I was prepared for the benefits to be temporary, whilst my back in effect mended itself).
I checked into hospital early morning, when I would normally be just waking up. A short time later I was going into the operating room (the procedure is done using an x-ray for precision and as you have to be perfectly still I was given a general anaesthetic). Afterwards, I had what felt like the best sleep I had had in years (bearing in mind my kids were only just sleeping through the night and I calculated I had had around 7 years of broken sleep), I was told I could go home. I would note here I really wish I had milked the moment and stayed and rested in hospital a little longer!
The very same day I felt the benefits of the injection and the following week I felt something akin to elation at getting my full mobility back - even the restful parts of a basic yoga class had become agony because lying on my back felt like someone stabbing me with a sharp instrument. With hindsight, I probably didn't heed the advice to "rest and take it easy" over the next few weeks and some yoga/pilates classes resulted in some all too familiar lower back aches and pain. Once I had got into a better routine of gentle yoga each morning and after a month or so slightly more difficult exercise classes, I felt like a new woman, still with some aches and pains but nothing like what I had suffered prior to the steroid injection.
Unfortunately, one of the major downsides I found (which none of my friends who'd had similar procedures had mentioned) was that my menstrual cycle became completely erratic. When I say erratic, I am talking about periods which lengthened from my usual 5 days to around 10 days and on the odd occasion even longer. Some months following I had two periods in one month and just felt completely wiped out and sapped of energy. Not pleasant to say the least but I have to say my husband was a real sweetheart at this time - incredibly supportive and understanding, constantly reminding me how immobilised I had been and how much pain I had endured over the last couple of years with my lower back problems.
Finally, after around six month of having the procedure, my cycle returned to normal, although my back ache was returning. I was adamant I would not go back to how I had been, so started researching how to strengthen my back with exercise and also improving my diet to include more calcium and other nutrients beneficial to bones and muscles generally.
(TO BE CONTINUED... WORK IN PROGRESS!)
Useful links:
https://www.healthline.com/health/natural-remedies-for-perimenopause
Having come through childhood, puberty and the delightful teenage years with their unavoidable highs and lows, pregnancy, and the various hormonal changes, strains and stresses that they involve, I had thought that now that my children were sleeping through the night and slightly easier to handle my life would get back to normal. "Ha" think again. My body had something else in mind for me, as is usually the case when one feels like one is back on an even keel.
Having suffered a collapsed disc in my lower back around two years ago, I opted to have a steroid injection when the disabling pain became too much (to give you an idea, I had to roll slowly out of bed each morning on to the floor and roll around on my back for a few minutes before I could even stand up straight). Amongst the words of wisdom my consultant offered, he briefly mentioned "the injection might make your periods a bit wacky for a short while" but I didn't really pay that any attention at the time, given the severity of the pain I was suffering this seemed like a miraculous quick fix (albeit I was prepared for the benefits to be temporary, whilst my back in effect mended itself).
I checked into hospital early morning, when I would normally be just waking up. A short time later I was going into the operating room (the procedure is done using an x-ray for precision and as you have to be perfectly still I was given a general anaesthetic). Afterwards, I had what felt like the best sleep I had had in years (bearing in mind my kids were only just sleeping through the night and I calculated I had had around 7 years of broken sleep), I was told I could go home. I would note here I really wish I had milked the moment and stayed and rested in hospital a little longer!
The very same day I felt the benefits of the injection and the following week I felt something akin to elation at getting my full mobility back - even the restful parts of a basic yoga class had become agony because lying on my back felt like someone stabbing me with a sharp instrument. With hindsight, I probably didn't heed the advice to "rest and take it easy" over the next few weeks and some yoga/pilates classes resulted in some all too familiar lower back aches and pain. Once I had got into a better routine of gentle yoga each morning and after a month or so slightly more difficult exercise classes, I felt like a new woman, still with some aches and pains but nothing like what I had suffered prior to the steroid injection.
Unfortunately, one of the major downsides I found (which none of my friends who'd had similar procedures had mentioned) was that my menstrual cycle became completely erratic. When I say erratic, I am talking about periods which lengthened from my usual 5 days to around 10 days and on the odd occasion even longer. Some months following I had two periods in one month and just felt completely wiped out and sapped of energy. Not pleasant to say the least but I have to say my husband was a real sweetheart at this time - incredibly supportive and understanding, constantly reminding me how immobilised I had been and how much pain I had endured over the last couple of years with my lower back problems.
Finally, after around six month of having the procedure, my cycle returned to normal, although my back ache was returning. I was adamant I would not go back to how I had been, so started researching how to strengthen my back with exercise and also improving my diet to include more calcium and other nutrients beneficial to bones and muscles generally.
(TO BE CONTINUED... WORK IN PROGRESS!)
Useful links:
https://www.healthline.com/health/natural-remedies-for-perimenopause
