Yep, menopause is inching closer, and I’m still evolving…..

This past week, I received my latest round of blood work. According to the practitioner who reviewed the results with me, “Your blood work looks great. On paper you look really healthy.” Great news indeed! However, there were a couple of things that had caught my eye before meeting with her. Here’s a snapshot of a couple of the items in my report:

What are these things and should I be concerned? As the trend lines illustrate, these hormonal indicators had been steady for quite some time before this huge spike. In a very matter of fact tone, she explained that’s just indicating that my ovaries have pretty much tapped out with hormone production. It means, any estrogen and progesterone (my BFF for almost two years now) in my body are coming from the progesterone tablets I’ve been taking or food sources. This might be one area where my plant-based lifestyle is doing me a solid. Soy and soy based products are common sources of protein for vegans and vegetarians. It also turns out that soy provides you with estrogen. Since June 2019, I have only been taking compounded progesterone tablets, so only guessing that the reason my estrogen level is hanging on is due to some of my frequent food choices.

Pro tip: Since estrogen dominance is something associated with certain cancers (i.e. breast cancer), always best to monitor your hormone levels with a healthcare provider before unnecessarily compensating with supplements.

Now, back to what I had just been told regarding my own body’s hormone production……..This time around, hearing that my body is inching closer to menopause wasn’t as much of a punch in the gut as two years ago. Still, it was definitely one of those moments where I felt like taking a pause. One of those moments where I wanted life to stand still. One of those moments where I thought maybe she’s wrong. One of those moments where I wanted to go back in time again. 

To go back in time. Well, initially it sounds very attractive to me. But, going back in time would mean reliving all of it; not just the fun parts. So I say, no thanks. I’m in a better place now. I’ve learned that you can simultaneously long for elements of your past, and be content or even happy with the present. The human capacity to heal and evolve is immense. To go back to the time when menopause was nowhere on my radar, would mean going back to a time when I hadn’t a clue how much growth was still ahead of me. I hadn’t a clue of how to take care of myself the way that I do now. I hadn’t a clue of how to get myself out of the dark places my mind sometimes tries to take me.

There have been many days over the past two years that I have felt grief and longing for the woman I feel I had to shed, in order to become the woman I strive to be. My evolution continues, and I AM SO HERE FOR IT!