Less Alcohol ~ JUNE 2021 ~ One Day At A Time

Hi : - )

My goal is 16-20 AF days per month.
Diary Style.


Friday June 11 - AF - I have been experiencing legs cramps in the night for 3+months and Thursday night it kept waking me up. Friday was a very tired day operating on fumes. A drink might have been nice, but I resisted.
Saturday June 12 - 2 1/4 drinks. Census plus my yard/garden, I put in a good day. Sunday will be the same script.
Saturday June 11 - AF, reluctantly, but I had drinks only yesterday. Census work and yard work on a very hot day made me want to have a bit of the Gin Smash. I had an AF beer, and I am not a beer drinker.

Rolling Total - 8AF days out of 13 days.

@Womona

Yikes. Really glad that I have been out the other end of all of that Meno stuff.
Technically you will go from Perio to full on once you haven't had menses for 12 months.
And then the fun (really not fun) begins.

I tried to tough it out, but really couldn't function. It was pretty much to the day of the 12th month passing with no menses when it came on like a vengeance.
Ditto to everything that @lmlmrn said.

I went crying into the health food store because I refused any kind of pharmaceuticals that the doc suggested.
In the 60s and 70 they just put women on the hormone replacement when they hit 50. Some women say that they didn't go through Meno because of this (they did, it was masked), but disastrous health effects resulted from the drugs.

Anyway, the health food lady (who had already been through this and was very empathetic) got me to try Estroven and told me that it would take about 7 days because it is herbs not chemicals.
I stayed on it for 2 years. I seriously could not have gone to work or anything, I was a sweat drenched mess getting the flashes every minute or two. The Estroven brought it down to around 7 of them a day. Night sweats were terrible, but they also got much better.

2 years I guess that it lasted, narry a hot flash or anything since then, my hormones evened out and I have lost all of the weight that I put on during perio.

Argh, I might have nightmares about this just remembering it now. Really glad that it is behind me.

Not trying to scare you. It will be quite a while yet until you go into the full-fledged thing.
Of course it is different for everyone. My sister is an old hippie, she managed to go through it without anything, let the flashes wash over her "like an O" she said. I was inspired by her to try it with nothing. Nopey-Nope.

There are lots of great herbs and herb mixtures out there that really help. Some people have to stay away from coffee and wine.

@dawnbgethealthy - Thank you for the pics of the beers ... I need to try sans alcohol beer ... never had one.

@Womona - Yep what they said. I too did not go on the hormone treatments because playing bunco with older ladies that were in their 60s and 70s trying to wean off said hormones were going through the sweats and all the symptoms. They said it was worst than the original symptoms but the doc wanted them to get off the hormone treatments so they were splitting pills in half, using patches, etc. Plus my mom and sister had breast cancer and the risk was too high. So when I hit that stage I asked my doc what she did ... Estroven Nighttime, Calcium 1200, D3 2000. The extra Calcium was key. The Estrogen helped I used it for about 6 months. Plus DON'T drink RED wine ... it is a killer and kicks the night sweats into high gear! I am a survivor

Went to my sister's in the afternoon to wash clothes since my washer is broken and did not partake in her orange cosmos or wine that she offered! DH & the wine drove me crazy last night. He ended up drinking 2 bottles by himself (I took only 1 sip to taste the French Chablis from his glass). It was very good but I was determined to stick to my no more than 2 nights in a row goal. Plus I have a very challenging week ahead! DH on the other hand was not looking forward to working this week and went overboard.

Oh my youngest son was offered a job double his current salary with a signing bonus ... they sought him out. He is 27 years old with an Economics major and Math minor degree from LSU plus a Finance Masters from UT, his current company put him through accelerated training program since he was doing well plus he just took his 3rd & final test for the Certified Financial Analyst (CFA) and has 4 yrs work experience. The market is hot right now and all that education paid off. His and his wife's cars are falling apart over 200k miles and neither are safe for long trips ... finally he said he was going shopping for a new car (ONE not two ... he is still managing his cash flow with the new house). His wife said who will drive the new car and he said "you of course". I'm really proud of all 3 of my kiddos ... the other 2 (28 and 30 years old) were laid off during the pandemic last year and within 3 months found new jobs with promotions and raises. It was rough having 3 in college out of state at the same time but I'm glad that DH & I managed to do it with no student loans. They are all financially stable which is one of the reasons I could retire early and I'm hoping that DH will retire this year as well.

June accountability: 6/30 days AF
Alcohol: 7 days (19 drinks)
Goal: Limit 1-2 glasses per day; 12-16 AF days per month. Aim to drink no more than 2 nights in a row.

6/1 - AF
6/2 - 2 wine
6/3 - 5 … 1 beer + 3 wine + 1 Benedictine @ New Orleans
6/4 - 4 … 3 wine + 1 Whiskey Diet Coke @ New Orleans
6/5 - 4 … 1 whiskey sour + 3 wine @ Wedding in Natchez
6/6 - 2 wine
6/7 - AF
6/8 - AF
6/9 - AF
6/10 - AF
6/11 - 1 wine @ 1 year anniversary party for goddaughter
6/12 - 1 wine
6/13 - AF
6/14 -
6/15 -
6/16 - @ Book Club
6/17 - @ ZTA Sisters Unwine'd @ Unwine’d Wine & Cheese Lounge
6/18 - @ Another celebration for DD. Fiesta planned in 2020 before her wedding that had to be postponed. The 9 couples (friends of my son in law’s mom) hosting are insisting on a party to celebrate their wedding as well as an excuse to party and get together after a year of the pandemic.

Lilylady3k wrote: »

globalhiker wrote: »

Congrats @Lilylady3k - for your son landing a great job and for raising smart young ones....you did your mom job right . Mine are ages 28,29,30, working, independent and happy. Now I wait for weddings and babies .

Your kids are about my kids ages! Congrats on getting your kids well on their way as well! Yes I feel good that they are independent and responsible adults. We had weddings 2018, 2019, 2020 and then anniversary party in 2021 for the 2020 wedding. Looks like my first grandchild is on the way toward end of 2021 or earlier 2022.

Oh how exciting!!!

Womona wrote: »

@lmlmrn @MissMay @dawnbgethealthy wait what now??????? I thought hot flashes and night sweats happened DURING a the change, not AFTER we were all done!!!!!!! Well, that explains the two friends I have that are in a constant state of sweaty dampness.

I did not sign up for this! 😡

Well, good news, weight is down two pounds and I was AF last night!

For me, yes, during the change. Nothing whatsoever after. Mind you, I lost weight and lowered blood pressure after the change, so perhaps if I hadn't I might have continued with the flashes and stuff.
I have heard of some people who continue with the flashes, like forever, but mostly they are not fit/active people eating healthy diets. Some of my friends who are out the other side also have never had any more flashes.

Like @Lilylady3k and I both said, look into some Estroven for when it begins.

@nvaldes323 I used to do the same...just START and GO because you can totally do this.....and good luck!