It Was Time To Act
"Over the course of almost a decade, I was gradually administered a range of medications to treat perimenopause symptoms including antidepressants, sedative drugs, antibiotics, analgesics, and other drugs for urinary incontinence, all of which have side effects. One day, I said “enough”, and I chose to be free and to feel like myself again. HRT resolved my symptoms very quickly"?
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As a consequence of the side effects and persistent symptoms, she chose to replace what she was losing: her hormones which resolved the symptoms and improved her quality of life substantially. In this case she was found the strength to act, but many other women sadly suffer the boiling frog syndrome.
The boiling frog is an apologue describing a frog being slowly boiled alive until it is too late to jump out.
If you throw a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will jump out, but if you place a frog into a pot of cold water and turn the heat up slowly, it will float there quite peacefully.?As the water gradually heats up, the frog will go into a tranquil stupor before long he is boiled to death.
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This well-known apologue illustrates my point perfectly. It is around the age of 40 when some women can start to experience gradual signs and symptoms. Symptoms which come and go, can be unnoticeable or recognised and ignored. If these signals are more persistent and bothersome enough, these can be incorrectly attributed to stress or other causes rather than to hormonal decline. Therefore, supplements or other measures are gradually incorporated to our arsenal, without recognising our behaviour or making the correct diagnosis.
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If one of the symptoms worsens, then we look for medical attention; for example, if we feel excessively depressed, we end up taking an antidepressant; if our sleep is disrupted and our quality of life is affected, we may end up taking a hypnotic drug; if we feel anxious, an anxiolytic drug might be prescribed. Urinary infections are not rare, neither is joint pain for which we may be adding antibiotics and pain killers….and the list continues.
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Within a few years we may be taking 5-8 medications continuously and some others temporally. It’s vital to understand that while medications have a therapeutic effect, they can also have a secondary or unexpected effect, many of which lead to unnecessary tests and days off work. ?
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There are other conditions associated with several years of hormone decline, such as hypertension, osteopenia, incontinence and prolapse…. please don’t wait and let the water heat up.