6d ago
50 and I had a hysterectomy with oophorectomy in March and I genuinely did not know what I was walking into. Nobody warned me that menopause wouldn't ease in gradually. It just... arrived. Like overnight. The hot flashes started in the hospital recovery room. I am not exaggerating. Everybody I talk to outside of spaces like this has a menopause story that goes "oh I started noticing things around 51, 52..." and I'm sitting there nodding along but my experience has nothing to do with that. There was a before and there was an after and the line between them was a surgery date. I have an appointment with a specialist next month and I've been putting together questions because I do not want to walk in there and forget everything the second she starts talking. Stuff like: what do I need to tell her about the timeline, does it matter that symptoms started so fast, what's different about my situation versus someone going through this naturally. I keep adding things to the list on my phone at 3am when I can't sleep, which is honestly when I do my best anxious admin. Food has been weird too. My appetite was off for weeks post-surgery and I'm only now getting back to eating real meals. Soft, easy things. Eggs a lot. Soup. Whatever doesn't feel like a project. Anyone else had to basically build a whole new reference point because the standard timeline just doesn't apply to you?