Menopause

47 and I've been on the patch for four months now. Not posting for advice, genuinely just curious whether anyone else notices a real difference between patch and gel in terms of the flushes. I switched from gel in the summer because I was paranoid about whether I was applying it right, whether the dog was licking my arm, whether my husband was absorbing it somehow (I know, I know 😂). The patch felt more... reliable? But I'm still getting flushes, especially 3am-ish, and I don't know if that's just where I am in the process or whether gel might have suited me better. I've started writing down flush times and rough severity because I was getting muddled about whether things were actually improving or I was just having a better week. So far the data is extremely unglamorous. Also trying to track caffeine and the odd glass of wine because both seem suspicious but I can't quite catch them in the act. Not asking anyone to tell me what to do, just, you know. Curious what other people's patch vs gel experience has actually felt like. x

I want to write this down while I still remember it because I usually only notice the bad days. This week I did three evening walks. Not long ones, maybe fifteen minutes each, just round the block after dinner before I sat back down in front of the television. I wasn't expecting anything from it. I'd read something here a while back, someone mentioned it helped with the post-dinner slump, and I thought fine, it's free, I'll try it. And the evenings were just... calmer. I don't want to make big claims because I've been here before where I think I've cracked something and then Thursday happens and it all falls apart. But I slept a bit better on two of the nights and I didn't have that wired-tired thing where I'm exhausted but my brain won't stop. I'm writing it down here so I can look back at it when I inevitably forget. The other thing I did was actually cook a proper dinner on Sunday and portion some of it out for two other nights. Nothing fancy, just a traybake with chicken and whatever vegetables needed using up. It meant on Tuesday when I got in late from visiting my mum I didn't just stand in the kitchen eating crackers over the sink, which is what normally happens. I'm 58 and I've spent a lot of years either dieting properly or not at all and I'm so tired of both of those things. I'm not trying to lose weight this time, I'm just trying to feel less like I'm running on empty by Wednesday. These two small things didn't fix anything but they made the week slightly more manageable and that feels worth noting. That's all really. Just wanted to say it somewhere x

ok so I have officially tried everything. not really but it feels like it this week alone I have: eaten porridge with protein powder in it (texture of wallpaper paste, 0/10), done a 10 minute walk after dinner in the rain because apparently that's A Thing now, stared at an instagram reel telling me to "eat like your hormones are watching" which I think means no fun ever, and spent 45 minutes reading about seed cycling which I still don't fully understand the walk was actually fine. I will admit that. I didn't want to go and then I went and I didn't hate it. that's as close to a wellness win as I'm getting this month the porridge though. I persevered for four days. four days of beige sludge before I admitted defeat and went back to toast. except now I feel guilty about the toast because apparently bread is basically poison after 45 and I'm 50 so presumably I should be composting myself the thing that gets me is the sheer volume of conflicting information. one person says eat more protein, another says cut carbs, another says cut carbs but only certain carbs, someone else says fasting, someone else says never fast, it's hormonal chaos. I just want to not crash at 3pm and maybe fit back into my work trousers. that's the whole brief. it's not complicated I'm genuinely trying to find one or two things that are doable for normal life, not a full personality overhaul. if anyone has cracked the afternoon energy thing without spending a fortune or becoming a different person I am all ears. sending solidarity to everyone else drowning in the instagram noise x