So clearly I am not a doctor, scientist or road scholar but I am a 53 year old who has been going through menopause and peri-menopause for about 8 years now, so I am going to share my experience with you and why I swear by essential oils.

We all know that menopause is basically shedding your youth and birthing old age, or shall we say, the ‘golden years’. I don’t know, but there is nothing ‘golden’ about this age for women! It’s more like the Devil Wears Prada disguised as a hot flash and highly irrational behavior! So why do some women have a worse time than others? I don’t know and I am not sure medical science has worked that gem out either but, in my very practical brain, I would say it could have something to do with how chemically abused your body is. This could be total crap but hear me out. Menopause is hormonal change in our bodies, its the decline of oestrogen and progesterone, (hormones) it’s the end of our reproductive cycle (thank goodness!) and it’s also the end of any hope of ever getting a good night’s sleep for the next 10 years! With this decrease in hormones, now remember hormones regulate our body systems to function they way they were designed, so with the decline in these hormones our systems are like “yeah, it’s party time! lets see how much crap we can put this body through now the police (hormones) have left the building (body). So begins the hot flashes, the prickling skin, no sex drive, crazy behavior, illness, nausea, headaches from hell, you know all the good things in life we look forward to! How could chemicals affect menopause, well most chemicals that women put on their bodies are hidden in their makeup, shampoo, perfumes, deodorants, all the things that make us feel pretty and human, and these chemical laden products are put directly onto our skin which then absorbs into our blood stream and away we go. Most of these chemicals are endocrine disruptors or, hormone disruptors, and AS IF our hormones aren’t being disrupted enough.

So to test my theory of overuse of chemicals in my own body I started to get rid of all petro chemically laden products that I put on me. Can I say I have noticed a difference in ‘crazy’, I have noticed a difference in the severity of some of my symptoms and if I ate better than I did I am sure I would notice even less symptoms. My biggest downfall is sugar and trying to get off sugar during menopause is a recipe for disaster, well for me it was anyway. Going through withdrawals AND menopause related illness was just not going to happen for me so what I have done is reduced my intake. and then the next step will be to exercise more. I live on a farm with huge wide open spaces and I don’t walk, that is the epitome of laziness I’m afraid. I have pups that need training so walking is about to begin.

Enter essential oils! Look to be perfectly honest I thought these things were just another way to con money out of me. I went into these things with a bad mindset and of course they didn’t work at the start. But as I got away from the people who ‘signed me up’, I started to explore essential oil use my way and what do you know, they worked very well. For emotional support they are amazing, they take the edge off when you feel like your are spiraling out of control, they will bring you to a place where you can gather your thoughts and start to breathe, they give you the opportunity to regroup before you lose your crap altogether. That has been my experience with them. Peppermint has been great with the nausea I experience and Frankincense has been really good keeping me on track when I have a busy day ahead. Now I know a lot of you would be saying, well I can go to the pharmacy and get something for all of that a lot cheaper than oils, yes you can, but you are in turn putting more chemicals in your body and that is what we are trying to avoid. There is so much to discuss here but I don’t want this article being too long, so more things on more posts to come.

Also, don’t feel crap about yourself, those voices in your head, stop listening to them. Women are amazing creatures, we bring forth life, we can survive the most horrific pain (childbirth), we can multi task, we are incredible.

If there are men reading this I am doing an article next about how you can be more supportive to your wives during menopause!

Have a great day everyone!

Categories: Life