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REAL LIFE MENOPAUSE
TAKE A BREAK ISSUE 48 - 30 NOVEMBER 1995
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| Maureen lost control and lunged at her husband with a kitchen knife..... she knew she could kill him |
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Maureen Calcutt was preparing the evening meal when her husband appeared, still in his work overalls. He was asking her questions but she was too tired and hungry to think straight. `I don't know' she snapped. `Leave it until after dinner.'
Henry, a kitchen fitter, didn't understand why Maureen was being so snappy. He chuntered on. Maureen opened a cupboard. `I've got to shut him up' she thought.
The kitchen knives were hanging inside. She chose one with a long blade - and lunged at Henry's stomach. The blade bent. Maureen pulled back. `I mustn't break the knife,' she thought. `It was a present from my mother.'
Henry went out without a word. Maureen let the knife fall, then sank down at the table like a zombie. `It was all his fault,' she told herself. `He pushed me too far.'
Moments later Henry came back in. Maureen looked at his face and felt terrible at having lost control. `I'm so sorry,' she said.
They said no more about it. Least said, soonest mended was Henry's philosophy. Maureen, 51, of Mount Grace Road, Potters Bar, Herts, did not want to stir things up again.
`Thank God he had on woollies under his overalls,' she thought, `or I could have killed him.'
Next day she saw her GP. `You've got to help,' she said. `I almost stabbed my husband Henry.'
She told how she ranted and raved at her husband all the time. Hot flushes and night sweats were making her life a misery.
`Would you consider HRT?' said the GP.
`Will it stop the hot flushes and all this anger?' The GP nodded. `When can I begin?' said Maureen.
She started the hormone replacement therapy right away. Within days Maureen felt like her old self again. She and Henry took a break in Hamble, Hampshire. They felt happier than they had for ages.
Maureen's periods returned. `It's a small price to pay for peace of mind,' she thought. But after three months the bleeding got heavier - and she started having headaches.
The GP changed her prescription, then she developed other side effects. She needed antihistamines because her skin itched, and diuretics because of water retention. She soldiered on. Anything was better than raging at Henry.
Then the PMS began, Progesterone pessaries did not make much difference. She was back to square one.
Maureen walked into the local health shop. `Have you got anything for PMS?'
The assistant handed her a book. `A lot of people find this useful,' she said.
Maureen took it home to read it. There was a lot to take in and she found it hard to concentrate, feeling so low. Near the end was a section on menopause. HRT is often prescribed..... but if the problem can be handled by nutritional means, it seems to make far more sense to tackle it this way.
It gave a number for the Women's Nutritional Advisory Service. Maureen rang and set about following the diet recommended. She had to cut down on salt, wheat and sugar, and drank herbal tea to reduce her caffeine intake. They recommended vitamin E, evening primrose oil and multi-vitamins with minerals too.
It took two days for the withdrawal symptoms to start. The next four were hell. She craved cheese and chocolate. Above all, she missed her cups of tea - and she'd a splitting headache.
She rang Maryon Stewart at the WNAS. `I feel terrible,' she said.
`You've got to hang in there,' said Maryon. It will pass.'
It did. On day seven she woke up feeling fine. She finished her course of HRT, but never renewed the prescription. Her skin stopped itching, she lost weight and her ratiness vanished.
That was five years ago. Maureen paid the WNAS £65 for their advice but it was money well spent. She still keeps to the diet and spreads the word among friends. `HRT may be fine for some,' she says, `but it didn't suit me. Thank goodness I found a natural way to cope with the menopause.' |
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