Or, Mother of God Please Turn that Heat Down!
This summer has been a hot one, hotter than usual. I think. I mean I hear the outcries of those around me so they must be suffering too!
That’s one of the problems of menopause. You have to take a random check of those around you before announcing that you’re passing out from heat prostration or run the risk of having everyone stare as though you’ve grown a third eyeball. Having experienced that eyeball stare – I’d rather pass.
Even though I observe others suffering from high temperatures I’m pretty sure I am suffering more. I mean there are days when I think my face is actually melting. I run home at lunch in an effort to remain true to my diet, but also to reapply deodorant and body spray so I can stand myself until the end of the day! Does everyone have this problem? I think not.
Being a bit of a freak about cleanliness it never ceases to horrify me that I can step out of the shower and sweat profusely over the effort to dry myself off. That’s just not fair! True cleanliness is unachievable under those circumstances, and that knowledge haunts me! Throwing body splash on a sweat dried body is enough to make one gag! And running around sniffing ones pits for traces of yuck is just unacceptable!
All of this paranoia is just ruining one of my favorite times of year. Everything is tainted by the “but will I be fresh enough to stand next to anyone?” terrors. I mean I don’t want to just “not stink”, I want to smell fresh and lovely! Good luck with that!
And don’t tell me to buy super strength deodorant, I’ve tried them all. Even the maximum strength ones that you have to put on the night before. I still don’t feel as fresh as a daisy and I won’t be happy until I do!
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Read somewhere — or a lot of ‘somewheres’ that worrying/stress makes everything worse. Fresh as a daisy may be in your head — your body is going thru something like fading like a rose — which at your/my/others ages and conditions of menopause is no bad thing. Accept and try to stop worrying – stop worrying and try to accept. You are sweet as you are!!
I’m sure you’re right. But that old self-fulfilling prophecy gets me every time. The more sweaty I feel the more tense I get. I’m going to need a sure fire technique to destress rather than hyperstress. Any suggestions?
I don’t have a smell problem but as a person who never had a perspiration problem I now walk around with an almost constant coating of sweat and it is driving me crazy. Sometimes I feel like I want to scream. It’s been 4 months and I’m praying that it won’t last to long.
I’ll pray for you too! Mine comes and goes – but it has been around for a number of years. I used to be able to wear suits to work – now the jacket goes within minutes and is generally slung over the shoulder on the way out the door. I do have a few tricks – but don’t be fooled into thinking I have all the answers. Sometimes I run my hands under very cold water, or stick them in the freezer for a few minutes. I time the tasks that I know will make me break a sweat, e.g. I dry my hair over a 15 minute period – taking breaks in between sections, then I wait until I’m all cooled down to flat iron it. If not I fear I would work up enough of a sweat to carry me down the stairs and out the door – like a river down a waterfall only not as pretty!
Also, I don’t really have a smell problem – but there are days when things get heated – that I have felt less fresh than I would have liked. And once that happens it’s something you always worry about! You know how that goes.
Oh Robin, you made me laugh and recall something when you mentioned getting out of the shower and breaking a sweat trying to get dried off! We attended a family wedding at a resort in Mexico; we weren’t staying at the resort as we have a condo in a nearby town – so we brought our wedding clothes to change into at the resort after spending a day at the resort pool.
The prior arrangements we’d made to have access to another family member’s hotel room at the resort fell through, so we had to shower and change for the wedding in the public washroom area near the alligator pool (I kid you not!). These tiny bathrooms were like wet saunas. I used the entire stack of large hotel towels that were provided for the use of at least 20 hotel guests just trying to stem the stream of sweat coming off my husband! I wasn’t much better and my cocktail dress was a synthetic material so didn’t breathe. On top of being a sweaty mess, the electrical outlets in the public bathrooms were not hooked up so, no power meant no blow dried hair and no straightening iron. So, I was beet red and sweaty with limp hair. Thank goodness weddings are all about the bride and it doesn’t matter a damn what guests look like, cause John and I looked bad!
I’d go to see that movie! And you’re absolutely right – sweaty limp hair won’t effect the outcome of the wedding you’re attending! That reminds me that the single biggest new business pitch I’ve ever been in was also my worst hair day – ever! We arrived in town the night before and I made the mistake of using the hotel’s 5 1/2 watt hair dryer. So my hair dried into a big ball of frizz. Then, as we arrived at the client’s headquarters and had to unload the van a steamy drizzle had just begun. By the time my hair dried I looked like Bozo the clown. I kept trying to put my hair behind my ears – which I never do because my face is so wide – it didn’t matter because it kept popping out from behind my ears. It was a force unto itself. We landed that huge piece of business despite the fact that my hair made me look as though I’d escaped from an insane asylum. Clearly my hair hadn’t mattered at all. It might have gone differently if I had smelled bad though!
We are two ends of the “bad hair day spectrum” – from my flat, sweaty limp hair to your untamed ball o’ frizz! Congrats on staying focused and landing the new business regardless of the state of your tresses. That is impressive!
And as I always say “if things go perfectly you don’t have a story to tell”!
Hmmm, sometimes I would LIKE to have far fewer stories!! (grin)
You know, I’m a story teller by nature. And over the years I’ve taken some grief for “having a story for everything”. But lately I’m finding that those around me are telling all the stories and I’m the one listening. Maybe it’s because I have an outlet in writing now. Hard to say.
if you take 25-50 mg of zinc every day it won’t help the heat or the hot flashes but it will take care of the stink
body odor a sign of a pssible zinc deficiency and the people I know that had this problem who start taking zinc are really relieved – stress strips zinc from the body – hot flash=stress in my opinion
Hopefully you will save money on deodorant and body spray
Awesome advice. That’s the part that matters. I’ll definitely give zinc a try.
Awesome advice. That’s the part that matters most. I’ll definitely give zinc a try.