(Hormonal) Fire and Fog

A new report has surfaced, although I have yet to find its source except for a dozen online news services and some of them seem to be quoting one another, that what women have reported for years is true -- heading into menopause fries your brain, at least temporarily.  They found that the shifting hormones and associated biochemical imbalances mess with memory and  concentration.  Testing of women having various levels of hot flashes proved it.  Like I really needed some study to tell me this.

I started perimenopause in 2008 and what a wild ride that was.  Irregular periods started to kick in along with some hot flashes that may have contributed to global warming.  But of all the things I lost, I missed my mind the most.  There's a blog entry written during that time to that effect.  Couldn't focus enough to do the simplest of tasks and my memory was a such a serious example of Swiss cheese that even I wondered in moments of clarity if it wasn't something very serious.  A battery of medical tests later with no clear-cut answers, I was left to fend for myself.  Yeah, that was a less than enjoyable year and a half.

I didn't know what was happening to me, but was later told by a fellow female that many go through it, but that it's not officially recognized by the medical profession.  Well, maybe not by the male side of the profession that, until recently, didn't openly acknowledge that shifting hormone levels in middle-age men is a medical problem as well.  Well, duh -- mess with any biochemistry of the human body and of course there are going to be issues.  It's the body's way of telling you there's something wrong.

It's vindicating to be told that perimenopausal/menopausal brain fog it isn't all a mental health issue.  It's also reassuring to to be told that, once the ovaries officially go belly-up in terms of reproductive duties (that's making eggs, for those who need the explanation) and the body either adapts to the hormonal changes or has them replenished through HRT that the memory and concentration abilities should return to normal.  I found this to be the case, although I still lose track of where I put things 30 seconds after I put them down.  That's a lifelong problem, however, and will never improve.

I wish someone would have told me at the time I was going through it what it was, that it would get better and how to deal with it until then.  They say that to acknowledge there is a problem is the first step toward recovery.  Perhaps now that someone has done the testing, done the math and reported their findings that things will be better for the next woman whose brain fogs over like London in the morning.