I guess I’m nearing that time of life when I can be doing nothing at all, sitting in an air conditioned room when all of a sudden I’m dripping with sweat and feel like I’m in the middle of a furnace. Yes, early menopause, along with hot flashes, mood swings and other unmentionable female issues.

Night time is the absolute worst. I’m drenched half the time and have to change pajamas in the middle of the night. I already have trouble sleeping because of the chronic pain I have so this is just added reason to mess up my sleep. But who’s complaining?

The moodiness is unreal. I’m happy and laughing one second and then I’m snapping my husband’s head off the next. I did talk to my doctor about this because I thought I was losing it for sure, but after doing an assessment, he assured me that I’m as semi-normal as I was before.

As for the hot flashes besides not wearing flannel pajamas and keeping the blankets off, at night, dressing in layers so I can remove a light jacket over my shirt, and avoiding heavy clothing especially UGG boots and leather jackets can help me handle them a little better. I really can’t take any supplements or prescription medications unless things get totally out of hand.

I’m just learning to deal with it. So if you see a half dressed woman, with a battery powered fan in the freezer section of Publix, mumbling to herself about how hot it is, cut her some slack, k?