16 Jun
44 and had a full hysterectomy eight months ago and can I just say... nothing I read prepared me for this. All the menopause content out there is about the gradual thing, the years of irregular cycles, the slow creep. I went to sleep one person and woke up someone else. Hot flashes started in the hospital. In the actual hospital. I didn't even have time to google what was happening before it was already happening. I've been keeping notes on my phone because my follow-up is next month and I genuinely cannot hold it all in my head. Sleep is the big one right now. I'll fall asleep fine and then boom, 2am, soaked, wide awake, heart going. I started writing down the time it happens and roughly how bad and whether I'd eaten protein that day because someone in another group mentioned it and honestly I'll try anything at this point. No conclusions yet. Just data. The thing I keep bumping up against is that I don't fit the story. I'm not perimenopausal, I'm not 'going through the change' in the way people picture it. It was surgical. It was sudden. And when I try to explain that to people who mean well, their eyes kind of glaze over because the script they have doesn't match what I'm describing. Anyone else feel like they're living in a category that doesn't have a name yet? And if you've been through a surgical menopause follow-up, what did you actually ask your doctor? I have a list forming but I feel like I'm missing something obvious.