the menopausal years

Leissa is newly retired, just sixty, and considering the tremendous changes that her body has already been through in the menopausal years, starting from her mid 30s, she is amazed that she is still standing, just, and wants every woman to know that 60 is not the new 40 and that menopause is a continuing process of degeneration – not something that starts and ends around 50 when your periods stop.

"Whoever said that 60 is the new 40 obviously hasn't reached that milestone yet or is hiding their real selves behind HRT, Prozac, a glossy wig, barrels of botox, multiple plastic surgeries, dental implants and a whole lot of joint pain they defiantly refuse to acknowledge," says Leissa. “The hormonal changes pre and post the date your periods cease govern a whole lot of body functions, not just your fertility.”

"Looking back, I was definitely on the downhill slide by my mid 30s but when you’re that age you don’t even think of old age," sighs Leissa. "Menopause was the first time when I really faced up to my ageing self and stopped all the nonsense I was doing to fool myself - hair dyes, miracle skin creams, vitamin therapy, etc."

"I started getting grey hairs, wrinkles and hearing loss in my 30s," says Leissa, "and by my 40s I lost the ability to read fine print; developed joint pains that made exercise difficult; developed a diminution in my ability to taste things; and suffered the lot of every ageing mom - partial incontinence due to weakening of the pelvic muscles after childbirth."

"At menopause in my early 50s my periods ceased but I also lost my libido,” says Leissa. “As well, I also dried up in the salivary gland department which caused gum problems and a few teeth to fall out; and another dry department was my eyes, which had become red and sore. It was really scary to face my ageing menopausal body – everything was going south."

"By my mid to late 50s, all of these problems magnified as menopause continued to change my body," says Leissa. "My hair thinned to wisps; my skin became much drier, age spots occurred, I bruised easily and really started to suffer in hot and cold weather; I developed black floaters in my eyes that scared the life out of me and I could no longer see in the dark."

"My hearing deteriorated so much that I could no longer hold a conversation without asking people to repeat themselves; I had several spontaneous wrist fractures; and finally my back teeth became such a problem that I decided to get them extracted and replaced with a plate."

"Apart from the teeth, eye floaters and the wrist fractures, none of these problems were bad enough for me to actually seek medical attention and intervention," says Leissa. "I just philosophically put everything down to the inevitability of old age, and because everything happened so slowly, you hardly notice it’s happening until the damage is so apparent that it hits you in the eye."

"So, don’t get sucked in by the airbrushed old ladies in the glossy magazines who claim that 60 is fabulous," laughs Leissa, "because it most certainly isn’t and they are either on HRT (and taking an enormous risk) or lying through their whitened false teeth and botoxed lips, desperately trying to hang on to their past glory days."

Read Leissa’s other story: old age sucks for women!