I'd been to the eye doctor and he said that I had "young eyes." He said I might not ever need reading glasses.
That cockiness waned that evening.
I was teaching a glass from six to nine p.m. As I stood in front of the class, wearing a blue and gray wool sweater over a camisole, I felt a heater ignite inside of me.
Suddenly, sweat was dripping down my forehead, plastering my bangs against my skin. I surreptitiously reached up and wiped at the sweat.
I pushed up my sleeves to bare my forearms.
But I wanted to rip my sweater off and stand before the class in only my camisole.
Why was I suddenly so hot?
This entire winter, my thermostat has been running high. In bed at night, I sleep in a t-shirt and shorts while my husband is bundled in flannel sleep pants and a long sleeved shirt. Often I kick the covers off, or simply stick my feet out from under the covers, but I hadn't had an actual hot flash before.
I suspected I might be having them the week before, but I was sick, so I couldn't tell if I had a fever or hot flashes.
On Tuesday night, I had no doubt as I suffered through three hot flashes while standing in front of the class.
I had to teach the next morning, and remember the hot flashes from the night before, I wore a sleeveless blue dress, tights and a cardigan. I wore a scarf too, which was easy to unwrap and throw over my chair. But I didn't think it through. Because when I got too hot, I felt too self conscious to take off my cardigan. I just thought the students would judge me for wearing a sleeveless dress when the temperature was in the 20s outside.
By the last class that day, I simply said, "I'm too hot," and I pulled off my cardigan. No one commented on my bare arms.
Nor did they say anything about the way my bangs started to wave as they got wet from my sweaty forehead.
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| Here' a picture of me and 2-year-old Regan. No more babies for me now that menopause has hit. Well, I wasn't going to have more anyway. |
Although, in one class, when they were talking about age, they asked how old I was, and I told them, 51.
Their mouths dropped open, and one girl exclaimed, "I would have guessed 39 at the most."
Well, she's getting an A, but I still might not confide in them.
8 comments:
Oh, boy! Been there! Welcome to the club. I say make a hot flash joke about it and move on. And definitely give that girl an A, maybe an Aplus. You do look marvelous by the way, very youthful, your skin still has that glowy moist look. And I'm not talking about the sweat!
I'm almost sixty two, and went through early menopause when I was forty two; since Mark and I met so late in life—when I was thirty nine—we were only able to have the one child before the Mword hit. Luckily he's a whole house full of kids of wonderful.
Sim, Thanks for the woman-power support. Guess, I'll just live with it. And from what I've seen of Russell, you got lucky with the one. Tell him to let us know if he needs an actress. I'll send Grace his way. Her new headshots will be ready soon.
I have been getting hot flashes for two years now. I get the anxiety first and then the heat from my head to my arms. I've been sick this past week, and the hot flashes are tenfold...I can tell the difference between them and a fever. sometimes I get a reprieve of a few months. But that usually means I get my "friend" too. It's a lose lose situation.
Lucia, Two years! Yikes. Maybe they'll end soon.
I "think" I read once that we simply become a lot more sensitive to snaked changes in temperature. For some reason that made it easier for me to accept. I have clocks in different living areas of our apt that show temperature. And sure enough if the temperature hits 70f for whatever reason I'm the first one to know it. Smile.
Also I heard that your actual body temperature spikes at specific intervals during the day. When I worked in a office, every day about 3-3:30 sure enough I would over heat. I also over heat about 3-3:30 am sweat then proceed to freeze to death. Ha!
Well these are stories I tell myself.
Cheers to looking fabulous and too young for hot flashes.
Just Me, Thanks. I'll look for a pattern. Maybe it will make me feel better about it.
You look fab Paulita. Luckily I did not go through the HOT flushes as you describe, just got them in bed ,but nothing like my friends went or are going through.
Poor you to have the sweat dripping , hope this does not happen too often,
Anne, Thanks for your commiseration. I hope they pass quickly too.
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