For the last few years, I have been noticing more and more pathologisation of the menopause. Either anecdotally, in the media, or from ‘professionals’, the message seems as clear as day: menopause is some awful process that women need various kinds of emotional and medical support with. About three years post-menopause, I was working at a university and they launched a menopause support network complete with an MS Teams community and events. I found this absolutely hilarious until I went to an event and came away equally baffled and depressed: why were all these women so desperate and unhappy? I have been post-menopausal for a decade now, so I feel that I know enough about it to tell you that it’s joyful! Not having to deal with periods is brilliant and liberating. I might get one mild hot flush a month (if that), but otherwise there are only two downsides. The
Women talk a lot about the menopause lately, which is good, I guess. However, I am noticing a distinct pathologising of a biological process which doesn’t need to be much more than ‘now you can’t naturally have a baby’. And ‘hurrah, no more periods to deal with!’ I went into menopause when I was 39 or 40, so I’ve been menopausal for nigh on a decade. After the initial shock of mortality, I can’t say I have experienced any particular issues as a part of menopause. Aside from the cessation of my periods, I have never had any of the symptoms listed on the NHS page for menopause. (Or, to be more specific, I’ve never had them as a consequence of menopause.) I suppose the biggest symptom I have had, is a general feeling of gratitude to be rid of something which was always superfluous to requirements: I have never needed
On this week’s edition of Tank’s Continuing Dietary Adventures, I have good news to report. I mentioned back in September that I had started a strict ketogenic diet, as my HbA1c result still had not improved. I made the switch to keto on August 21st and by 1st September, my long-term (i.e. over a year) achilles tendinpathy had resolved itself. I can now run, jump, do the boingy-boingy exercise, and so forth, with no issues whatsoever. Unexpected win one for the ketogenic diet! (I haven’t actually had my blood glucose tested again, but I assume that’s fine now.) Another unexpected positive result relates to my neutrophils (a type of white blood cell). These have been on a downward spiral since at least 2015 when they were 1.8; by August 2023, they were down to 1.25 (the reference range is: 2 – 7.5 x 10^9/L). I just had them retested and they
I got some blood tests taken again to see if I had managed to improve my fasting glucose and HbA1c since my last test. Despite not having eaten a single grain of wheat, rice, oats, rye, amaranth, etc. for about nine months, neither metric had improved. I was still at the top end of a healthy range and was advised by the (private) doctor interpreting the results that I might be on my way to developing diabetes. The GP at my surgery just told me that I should lose weight and exercise more, which shows you how useless the NHS is, since I work out 4 times a week and am 171cm tall and weigh 54kg FFS. Anyway, this made me decide to follow a ketogenic diet: high fat, low carb, moderate protein. I am back on cronometer weighing my every ingredient which is annoying as hell, but is helping as I