Hello Menopause And Goodbye Pesky Periods
The joys of being freed from Premenstrual Dysphoria and other evils of the monthly cycle
1 January 2024 was the day I officially entered menopause. I thank the universe for giving me a date so easily imprinted on my memory.
It’s strange to think that menopause itself is a very specific occurrence which is actually defined by nothing happening at all. It simply marks the passing of twelve months since the last menstrual period — the medical definition of menopause.
It also marks the end of perimenopause, a drawn-out shit-show that has oozed like molten lava through every crack my life for the last six years. Finally, my level of the hormone oestrogen has dwindled to the point where it is no longer coursing through my body and wreaking havoc with its fluctuations.
I wouldn’t claim for a moment that menopause is unproblematic. Many women will name hot flushes as the menopause symptom that most affects them. I have these too, but as someone inclined to miss my body’s signals, having such an embodied and obvious experience is strangely validating. I’m already on to the low bone density risk after a couple of random fractures a few years ago alerted me to my genetic predisposition.
