Heidi Rae Coaching - Why Do We Exercise

Beauties!!

I am SOO happy to report that my hot flashes are all but gonzo. The volcano seems to be under control. I am also happy to report that I am sleeping better. I am still having some pretty significant muscle and joint aches, but am dealing with those. Exercise, Epson Salt baths nightly, stretching, and wintergreen rub nightly.

Speaking of exercise:

Do you exercise to punish yourself, to burn the extra calories you had with your snack, or to reward your body??

I'm genuinely curious!

I can honestly say that I exercise to stay sane. I also exercise to reward my body, to thank my body for sitting all day! I thank my body for lifting, bending, sitting for hours on end... for moving, for being connected to my brain... for protecting me, for functioning!

I really try to be mindful and present while I am moving my body. I internally thank every single body part while I move - my feet as they step, my ankles and knees for bending, my hips for holding it all together, my arms for swaying, my hands for holding on, my ribs for allowing my lungs to expand, my lungs for expanding, my veins and arteries for taking my blood and oxygen throughout my entire body, my skin for protecting all of it. my cellulite for holding that fat that keeps me warm!!

There was a time when I didn't do this (until I was paralyzed). I would exercise to punish myself for eating too much. I would exercise to not be fat, or to be less fat. I would exercise to try to make myself prettier or less ugly. Then I realized our bodies are freaking amazing!! They put up with what we put in them (that includes thoughts).

I feel that the more self aware I am, the better I am at thanking my body and my mind. The more I do that, the more I am sincerely grateful for my body and my mind.

XOXOXO

 

Heidi Rae Coaching - 13 Days on HRT

Beauties!

I am on day 13. This is where I'm at:

* Three hot flashes in thirteen days. PRAISE!

* Dryness, therefore pain, is all but gone. Again, PRAISE!

* I don't have any breast pain but, thanks to my village, I've been warned that might come later.

* My muscle and joint pain is pretty significant. I know this can be a side effect of my HRT. I take a hot bath each night. I'm on a heating pad all day. I stretch throughout the day. I am still exercising because it's important for my mental health. When it's really bad, I take some Ibuprofen. If you have any other suggestions, I'd LOVE them!

* As far as my hair and skin, I haven't experienced anything one way or another.

* No major fluctuation in weight.

* My mood is the same: Sassy

* My additional heart palpatations have subsided. I feel like I only experience what I always have due to my cardiac condition.

* I am sleeping better, for sure.

 

Heidi Rae Coaching - My HRT Side Effects

Beauties,

I have now been wearing an Estradiol patch for 11 days. I switch, again, tomorrow.

The pros, for me, far outweigh the cons! But, there are a couple of things that I am experiencing. I want to be completely transparent with my journey through menopause and hormone replacement therapy!

First of all, my doctor was very honest with me regarding my HRT. He started me with a lower dose, knowing that we can increase it if necessary. I feel like it's a great dose for me. There are some known side effects when females have too much estrogen:

* Weight gain, especially around hips and waist

* Heavy or light periods

* Fibroids in the uterus

* Fibrocystic breast lumps

* Fatigue

* Low sex drive

* Low mood or anxiety

**I think it's important to be aware of these. I am not experiencing too much estrogen, personally.

I am experiencing some more-than-usual back and neck and muscle pain. *Note: I've had three back surgeries, so I have constant back pain at a pretty high level. Because of the chronic pain, I just don't notice it as much. However, it's noticeable lately. I also have above-average (more than usual) muscle pain throughout my body. My workouts are consistent with what they always are. Tylenol and Ibuprofen can help with these pains.

After doing some research, I am not alone. These are possible side effects with Estradiol. Others include runny nose or congestion, darkening of skin on face, and unwanted hair growth. I'm not experiencing these.

Other noted side effects of taking estrogen:

* Headaches

* Breast pain or tenderness

* Nausea

* Mood changes (depression)

* Leg cramps

* Mild rash or itching

* Diarrhea

I'm not experiencing any of those.

I have had TWO hot flashes in the last eleven days. I was having them absolutely constantly prior. Personally, I feel that the libido issue had to do with the pain that I was experiencing which I also feel was due to the dryness. The dryness has cleared up since I started my HRT, which has in-turn helped my other issues significantly. My sleep is slowly getting better as well.

Carry on.

 

Heidi Rae Coaching - Update

Beauties,

Now that I am somewhat human again, I want to take a step back to talk about what to expect when you're expecting menopause!

The result of declining estrogen in the body can include:

Hot flashes (about 75% of menopausal women experience them)

Night sweats

Mood changes

Sleep problems

Vaginal dryness

Depression or increased depression if you already have depression

THIS COULD BE A YEAR OR MORE. (Heidi OUT)

Average age of menopause: 51 (can vary between 45-55)

After a hysterectomy (me), when you still have your ovaries, or one ovary, or part of an ovary, (me), you can plan on that age range.

Do your best to avoid:

Alcohol or caffeine

Spicy food

Stress

Being somewhere hot

I read these. I rolled my eyes, as you might have guessed. First of all, taking away my Diet Coke also cause depression, so... Second, avoiding stress is comical to me. Like, FUNNY. Third, don't go somewhere hot. I am not sure that we can live as eskimos for twelve months.

For me, the idea is doing my best. I experienced all of this, but is much better now that I am on my patches. The key for me has been getting with my doctor as soon as I realized I had serious issues. Now, I am on a hormone patch.

UPDATE:

This morning, I switched out my patch again. I am on my third patch. I feel 99% better since starting my hormone replacement therapy! I have not had a hot flash in three days. My dryness is 90% better. I am sleeping better!

 

Heidi Rae Coaching - My Part in This M-Show

Beauties,

I know enough to know that I have to do all I can to feel good! My Hormone Replacement Therapy is helping SO MUCH. I am so grateful for that. I will obviously continue to do that as prescribed.

There are things that are imperative for my health. As you know, I call them my vitals. They are just as critical, if not more so, now than ever before. My personal vitals include:

Moving my body (I commit to myself to 30 minutes of exercise a day. A lot of days is more than that, but 30 minutes is my "floor")

Eating food that makes my body feel good! Greasy food, heavy food, sugary food is not super entertaining to my body. I find that fruit, veges, chicken noodle soup, toast, and salad after salad feel really good to my body.

Drinking my Diet Coke & then my water (seriously) Diet Coke makes me happy. I have my Diet Coke in the morning and then drink my water with my electrolyte packets.

Mindfulness. This has become essential. It's crazy how important mindfulness is to our bodies and minds. I make myself do it every single night, where I am just present and in the moment. I check in with my entire body, even do chakra meditation. LOVE

Finally, sun or UV rays. This is critical for me. When the weather permits, I make sure to sit outside for at least 20 minutes a day in the sun. In the winter, I go to a UV tanning bed twice a week for 10 minutes. It's so important for me!

I also make sure that I get my potassium and magnesium. Those are essential for my broken brain. I always suggest talking to your doctor. No matter what you're feeling, you are NEVER alone!!

PS... I had not one hot flash yesterday!!!

 

Heidi Rae Coaching - Update on My HRT

Beauties,

I applied my first Estradiol Patch on Friday. They have to be applied somewhere on the trunk of the body. I replace mine on Fridays and Tuesdays. So, I replaced mine this morning. The first patch was applied to my lower back... you know, like a tramp stamp! Today's was applied to my left collarbone. You know, moving it around... making it spicy!!

These patches can take four to six weeks to really know the full effects and whether or not the dose needs to increase or decrease, if a different form of HRT is necessary, etc. However, I have thoughts after just a few days:

I only had TWO hot flashes yesterday. TWO!!! I was literally having 10+ daily/nightly

Heart palpitations are noticeable. NOTE: I also have a heart condition which causes me to have palpitations. Therefore, it's hard to know which is causing them. They are doable, though!

I don't yet feel much of a difference with dryness and discomfort. Hoping that will come with time.

Beauties,

I applied my first Estradiol Patch on Friday. They have to be applied somewhere on the trunk of the body. I replace mine on Fridays and Tuesdays. So, I replaced mine this morning. The first patch was applied to my lower back... you know, like a tramp stamp! Today's was applied to my left collarbone. You know, moving it around... making it spicy!!

These patches can take four to six weeks to really know the full effects and whether or not the dose needs to increase or decrease, if a different form of HRT is necessary, etc. However, I have thoughts after just a few days:

I only had TWO hot flashes yesterday. TWO!!! I was literally having 10+ daily/nightly

Heart palpitations are noticeable. NOTE: I also have a heart condition which causes me to have palpitations. Therefore, it's hard to know which is causing them. They are doable, though!

Those were really the only issues that I was having with my symptoms, and that is the update on where we are with them!!

Tomorrow, I'll talk about things I'm learning about these darn hormones. I'll also talk this week about what I'm doing in my life to help alleviate symptoms... besides HRT.

Heidi Rae Coaching - My Menopause Symptoms - The TMI Ones

Beauties,

If you are not into TMI, exit now!! Like, go. Run. I am about to tell you about more symptoms of my menopause. Not because I love sharing ultra personal things, but because they aren't talked about and that made me think there was something seriously wrong with me!!!

It was an all-of-a-sudden experience for me with painful sex and vaginal dryness. It came out of nowhere and it was frightening for me. I was really concerned that something was wrong.. did I have an infection? Is there something suddenly anatomically wrong with me? What is going on? I cried and cried. I had just had my first hot flash within 24 hours of this experience, but I didn't immediately put the two/three things together. It wasn't until my next hot flash that I googled menopause and realized that painful sex and vaginal dryness are also symptoms. I was emotionally and mentally relieved.

I don't know if menopause also caused me to have a lower sex-drive, or if it was fear that it was going to be painful again. Thankfully, I have an incredible partner who I tell EVERYthing to (poor guy) and so we have worked through it together. For me, I do think it's probably a mixture of fear of the pain (which I think is completely linked to the vaginal dryness) AND a slightly lower libido due to menopause.

Thankfully, I have not experienced a drastic drop in self confidence (big menopause side effect). I would imagine that a lower self-confidence would just add to the symptoms I'm already experiencing.

One symptom is hard enough. When they start multiplying, it can be (was for me) overwhelming, scary, frustrating, confusing, maddening... YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

Tomorrow, I'll tell you some of the things that I'm doing that are helping with my symptoms and give you an update on my HRT.

 

Heidi Rae Coaching - Menopause & My Symptoms

Beauties!

I'm going to talk about what made me realize we had a problem all up in here! I have always been a girl who is cold. Like, all the time. I have always slept in sweats with socks, heavy blankets tucked all up around my face. Super sexy, I know! At work, I have a space heater that is on no matter what month of the year it is AND a heating pad on my back. All day, every day.

It all started with being at work, sitting (literally sedentary). OR at the gym, directly under the fan whilst drinking ice cold Diet Coke (obviously). OR in bed with no covers on and the heating pad off... and all of a sudden, outta no where BOOM! My core body temperature would jump to the point of me looking around to see if I'd just been swallowed up by some hilltop volcano that was spewing fire and ash throughout my extremities. I am not exaggerating. The term, "hot flash," does no justice to the intense flow of lava going through my veins.

I googled, "What can I do when having a hot flash?" Would you like to know what it said?! I'm going to tell you! "Imagine you are laying in a cold place." Allow me to provide my internal response to that very solid advice... WHAT IN THE ACTUAL HELL?! This had to have been a man, or a woman, who has never experienced these horrific "flashes." You want me to "imagine that it's cold??" I tried it, by the way. It DID.NOT.WORK.

These hot flashes, that for me occur morning and night, have increased anxiety as well. When they come on, and I cannot cool my core down immediately, I find myself panicking. I am in an actual panic, which probably intensifies the hot flash. This is not the best cycle ever invented.

Ice packs help. Stripping down naked helps, but is not recommended at the gym whilst on the treadmill evidently. Also not recommended whilst at work in a public office, it seems. Running cold water on my hands helps. Being present also seems to help me - thinking about my senses, going through them, and reminding myself that it will go away.

The hot flashes, and accompanying anxiety, has been my most common and constant symptom. But, I have others and that's up tomorrow! PREPARE YOURSELF for TMI.

 

Heidi Rae Coaching - Menopause & HRT

Beauties!

I started HRT on Friday. (patch)

What is hormone replacement therapy?

HRT is used to boost your hormone levels. Whether you use it or not should be discussed with you and your doctor. Estrogen and progesterone are hormones that are produced by a woman's ovaries. ESTROGEN: thickens the lining of your uterus, influences how your body uses calcium, helps maintain healthy cholesterol, keeps your vagina healthy, helps prevent osteoporosis. PROGESTERONE: regulates blood pressure, improves mood and sleep.

Types of HRT:

- Pills

- Creams

- Vaginal Ring

- Vaginal Tablet

- Patch

- Spray

HRT Side Effects (not a complete list):

- If you still have your uterus, you can have irregular spotting

- Breast tenderness

- Mood swings

- Fluid retention

- Headaches

- Skin discoloration

- Increased breast density

- Skin irritation under estrogen patches

I will address my experience with my HRT patch as I wear it. My doctor recommended that we try my patch, and the dosage, for four to six weeks before adjusting it.

Possible Risks of HRT (information copied from the Cleveland Clinic website):

- If you still have your uterus & are taking progestic along with estrogen: increased risk of endometrial cancer

- Increased risk of blood clots and stroke

- Increased risk of gallbladder/gallstone problems

- Increased risk of dementia if HRT is started after midlife

- Increased risk of breast cancer with long-term use

Personally, the benefits of HRT outweighed the risks that were discussed with me. Again, that was a personal decision.

 

Heidi Rae Coaching - Menopause: My Back Story & Symptoms (Common & Personal)

Beauties!

My backstory:

I have given birth four times. Prior to having babies, I had very hard periods. They were painful and heavy. When I had my fourth baby, my tubes were tied during my c-section. My periods continued to be heavy & painful. Because of the amount of bleeding, I had a vaginal ablation when I was 33. That did not work. I then had a hysterectomy shortly after. Only a portion of one of my ovaries was left.

I feel that I mourned the end of my ability to have babies then and there. I did not have any desire to have more babies, however having that ability physically taken away ... I felt that it required a grieving period. One of the symptoms of menopause is "feeling a loss of self." I feel that I went through that 13 years ago and am not experiencing that in present time.

Common Menopause Symptoms:

- Anxiety

- Changes in mood (low mood or irritability)

- Changes in skin conditions (dryness, increase in oiliness, onset of adult acne)

- Difficulty sleeping

- Discomfort during sex

- Hair loss or thinning

- Headaches or migraines

- Hot flashes (short, sudden feelings of heat, usually in the face, neck and chest)

- Increase in facial hair

- Joint stiffness, aches and pains

- Loss of self-confidence

- Night sweats

- Palpitations

- Problems with memory, concentration and brain fog

- Recurrent urinary tract infections

- Urge and stress incontinence (wetting pants)

- Reduced sex drive (this could be due to painful sex)

- Tinnitus (hearing things that have no physical source)

- Vaginal dryness and pain

My current symptoms:

Everything checked is a present symptom of mine.

NOTE: I have had a double cardiac ablation, therefore palpitations are not super awesome because I don't actually know the direct source.

NOTE: I have had a stroke, therefore problems with memory, concentration, and the presence of brain fog is always a concern.