The joys of the sandwich generation, I suppose.
53 and the last eight years of perimenopause has exacerbated all of my existing health issues (IBS, anxiety, depression, adhd, endometriosis, adenomyosis and joint hyper mobility syndrome) to the point my body no longer feels my own and I really don’t think it ever will again.
Then there are elderly parents and in-laws to cope with . Mother in law having sadly passed away a few years ago, FIL not looking after himself, collapsing last year and not being found for 3 days then needing a life saving op. Throw in the fact my dear mum is now in advanced Alzheimer’s having suffered for the last 8 years (I very much struggle to see my lovely mum succumb to such an evil disease). I’ve been trying to help my (very difficult to deal with father) cope with the changes in their lives and to add insult to injury dad is currently on the 2 week cancer pathway (which is turning into a month so far), he is very much going to pieces and we’ve (Dsis and I) have got to hold him up even more so now.
I also have two young adult dc still at home, both with asd (higher functioning but still with challenges) and needing help navigating their worlds into adulthood/work life etc and life just gets harder and harder.
Why does it have to come all at once? I had all of my health and mental health issues manageable in my 30’s and then everything comes at once.
And having no money which makes life even harder. I’d love to see a menopause specialist because the NHS have not been overly helpful with my perimenopause and existing health issues, especially the hormonal ones. My endo gynaecologist isn’t interested in hrt or menopause so I been seeing a menopause specialist at the hospital who is struggling to help with the best hormone regime for my endo/adeno without exacerbating that (tried patches, tablets, gels etc but they all make the pelvic pain worse). I’ve tried endless antidepressants but they all make the gut issues worse. Next week, I am about to start CBT for the umpteenth time because that’s all the NHS can offer, even though my mental health is terrible and I can barely function these days. I will go in with an open mind but the company who provides the service has mainly one star reviews on Trustpilot and my therapist is a young guy who looks about 20 but I’ll try not to hold that against him as he may be wonderful 🤞
Other than eating as well as I can, keeping my weight down, exercising, sleeping as much as I can, not smoking or drinking alcohol (I never have done either), I don’t know how else to get myself through all of this and the longer it all goes on the less confidence I have that it will get better.
Does it get better?