Julie I looked it up.
It's this: Clear Blue Menopause Stage Indicator~

It works with urine, is a stick, pretty much like a pregnancy test stick.
It measures FSH.
It tells where you are in menopause: peri, late peri or post menopause.

One kit is around $20 and has 5 FSH test sticks. You measure over 10 days with those to get your indication of where you're likely at.

Great info, especially if you don't know where you are concerning menopause!

It doesn't tell how you're oestrogen, progesterone levels are though. But if you test to be peri or post menopausal you can know what else is going on in your body (all the stuff I posted earlier will be happening in various degrees) so you can choose to take steps.

Thank you, Julie!

And I've been there too, twice over the years! Not a clue as to why. I was totally blocked from the site, but somehow managed to contact someone who then sorted me out again.
First time it happened I was lucky enough to have another member's contact details so I could ask them to tell a mod.

In any case, glad you're back!

Thanks, Julie!

OT --- The Great Wall of China.
30x40cm Acrylics

After many hours of painting, lots of tweaking, re-doing, correcting, tons of fine detail, and glazing it's done!

Right, so I gather from your reply to me that you don't understand.
You think you have changed, are now a high value woman with the way you're behaving. I'm sorry to say, but you're not.
You do not understand how man function, they're not the same as women. I've explained a few times and you still stick to being demanding, wanting him to function like a woman instead of a man.

But alas... your choice. I guess we don't learn until we're ready for it. But don't be shocked if your dating life isn't going to get any better as there's a phrase for women who are and behave like you:
High maintenance.

In case you don't know, that's the opposite of a high value woman... The High Value woman is very attractive, the high maintenance one not so much.

In any case, good luck.

Don't think I mentioned it yet, another thing that is related to menopause:

- dental issues

I had noticed that one myself when I became peri-menopausal. Suddenly my teeth seemed to be falling apart in my mouth. Teeth breaking, root canals, tooth inflammation without any reason, and so on. All that in spite of me taking calcium & magnesium since I was 38-40ish.

The inflammation cost me my tooth, had to have it pulled.

Cost me a fortune in spite of good dental insurance. But the cost exceeded coverage of the year so I had to pay for any additional cost myself.

I told / asked my dentist that I suspected it had to do with menopause and she basically discarded it.
It seems to have stabilised the last 2 years, thank goodness!

When I heard Marie Claire Haver mention dental issues I finally had the confirmation.

Thanks Stormy, great you're adding sources for info to it!
I'll check them out too!

More work done today, and I did the 2 layers of glazing to change the values.
It did get quite dark, have to get used to that.
It will get a wee bit lighter again when I add some white indications of the stones.

Also the bright Indian yellow will go lots lighter and softer once I do the indication of stones with white on it. To see the difference look at the 2 upward sections of the wall, 1 on the left still bright yellow, the other not. The only difference is that I painted the white lines for stones on the one and not yet on the other!

I also added the 3 windows on the tower that's just to the right off the centre.

In any case, not done yet. But I am close to finishing it now.

Oh that's great, Julie!

I have seen a home test online on a site that also sells hormonal creams. It works with saliva.
I just checked, it costs E62,95 (USD is almost the same as Euros).

Apparently it is very accurate.

It's fast and flashy and upbeat, and at first glance I'd say quite good.

However, on second glance it's vague. "short dating fun"... what does that mean? It seems to imply sex...
There's no indication whatsoever about anything more long term. Maybe you don't want that at this point in your life, which is okay of course.
But maybe elaborate a little bit more.
Do you want to take the lady out and do and see things, activities?
Or do you want to maybe take her to dinner and then expect/demand to have sex with her for dessert?

You see what I mean (I hope)? It's too vague. Your intentions are not clear...

Not sure if you read my post as you seem to ignore it completely.
What you're saying here in your post might be true, and would indeed work if he was a woman...
You don't seem to understand men and that's where you go wrong.

You may have told him all kinds of things you enjoy in conversation/chat, and a woman could derive a great plan from that. A man, however, not so much.
You have to be concrete. He clearly asked a question: Where do you want to go?
Why can't you give him a clear, concrete answer?

If you feel it isn't rocket-science, it also isn't rocket-science to simply answer his question.
Be concrete, that's what a man needs, that how a man's brain works and can process things.
So give him 3 options, then tell him to pick which one it's going to be.
Concrete, don't try to make him into your girlfriend by expecting him to function the same way a woman would!!

You want a man, then treat him like a man, and he will treat you like a woman.
Isn't that what you want?
And he IS treating you like a woman as he is asking you what you want, which means he wants to please you.
Stop being difficult, be concrete and answer the question. Then a man can process it and do his "job" ----> make you happy!
It's as simple as that.

Reacher seems to be getting worse by the episode, hihi.

Jack Ryan is great!


OT - Fool Me Once - 2024 (brand new!) - IMDB rating 7,1
1 season

A woman just buried her husband after he was murdered right in front of her, when she sees him in her home on her nanny cam, cuddling their daughter.
She gets suspicious and starts to investigate.

So far it's really good!

A few things I forgot:

- sleeping problems
- hair loss

The sleeping problems is also what should be addressed first and foremost as during sleep your body recovers and restores etc.
So with sleep deprivation you cannot really get back to your former glory.

Without any supplements to balance my hormones I have trouble falling asleep. Once asleep I'm fine but not being able to fall asleep for 1,5 - 2 hrs even though I was so tired doesn't help.
This supplement I take (mix of all kinds of herbs and stuff) helps.

Linseed oil is a good one to balance hormones! That's in that supplement I used to take as well. But you can also take 1 Tbl spoon linseed oil a day. It's less than 3 dollars a bottle and last you quite long.

I currently have started HRT myself. I use both oestrogen and progesterone creams. Only a small bit of oestrogen as otherwise I get super hyper! Oestrogen excites the brain, progesterone calms the brain.
So I think -NOT sure- that low progesterone may be a factor in the not sleeping.

Dr Lee who wrote a book about all this ages ago and made this Progesterall cream also claimed that was all you needed: progesterone. (I don't know for women without uterus though).
But since oestrogen is highly anti-inflammatory and does lots of things in the body, I do use a bit of that cream as well.

I do use more progesterone cream though than oestrogen.
I've only recently started with this.

Océane thank you!

Great to have more sources. More needs to be known about this as opposed to it being a hush-hush subject.

Michelle, you're very welcome!!

It's such a shame so little is known about this and so little money is allocated to research and help concerning this.
It's as this former gynaecologist said: If men had this, it would be a world crisis! Billions would be spent on research and help.

But... there IS a lot you can do and there are professional people who can help you.

John Gray (author of "Men are from Mars...") knows a lot about this, has written books on it but also on his website. Tons of interviews of him on YouTube and in many he also addresses the issue.

You can also look up Mary Claire Haver's website and/or interviews on YouTube. She's an absolute expert, (former) gynaecologist who researched all the ins and outs to a T when she herself became menopausal and realised she didn't know a thing about it.

Here's one great interview of her:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQqcnYcKx68&list=PLgEri0xc8yS9tKTUUS3aWG-3rrvUi7-bs&index=1

Since I'm post-menopausal I take an interest in finding out more about all the things that change in your body due to a decrease in female hormones but also dip in testosterone.
The latter we also need a bit to not lose muscle mass.

What I've learnt so far is that there are an unbelievably amount of problems that are all related to this and most people don't even know about the depth of this!

Most know the hot flashes, night sweats, mood changes and weight gain.
That's where most people's knowledge ends concerning menopause.

Thing is, I haven't got night sweats, nor mood changes, no real hot flashes either. I've put on a bit of weight over the years, but that is not all due to menopause.
What I'm trying to say is, not every woman has these well-known symptoms!
My version of a hot flash is a mild warm wave, as I call it. And I don't always have them either as I use supplement to balance my hormones.

What else is all related to menopause, and ladies, these issues do NOT STOP once you are post-menopausal!!
That's another thing, many women seem to thing that once they're post-menopause the problems stop. THEY DON"T STOP!!! Maybe you won't notice it so much, but it'll continue until you make your transition, UNLESS you do something about it!

Remember this if you think you have none of the following: you may not have severe issues, but certain things you may be unaware of, like your insulin resistance, cholesterol levels, bone density and so on. So don't disregard it too soon! Maybe have these things checked out so you know for sure!

Let's start with the well-known things, I will continue with the rest:
- hot flashes
- night sweats
- mood changes
- weight gain (belly fat you cannot shift which is dangerous!)
- recurring Urinary Tract Infections
- incontinence
- having to get up to urinate several times a night
- Inner ear changes causing
------Vertigo
------Tinnitus
------ possibly ear infection that won't go (I had that in mid August and it still hasn't fully subsided in spite of antibiotics, both eardrops and oral)
- High cholesterol
- High insulin resistance (leading to diabetics)
- Increased risk of Cardio-vascular disease
- blood sugar dips and insatiable hunger
- low or no sexdrive
- aches & pains (joints, muscles, ligaments)
- vaginal dryness
- rather fast and incredibly loss of muscle mass, even if you still work out the same way you did before
- changes in gut (microbiome)

This list is not complete, I cannot find my notes, grmble...

In any case, much of these issues have to do with lowering of oestrogen. You need this as it's very anti-inflammatory.
The dip in this hormone causes the tissues of the pelvic floor to get thinner which causes problems like UTIs, bladder control issues, vaginal dryness etc.
This can be resolved by using intravaginal oestrogen!!

The dip in oestrogen is also the cause of many of the other issues described above, incl. the joint issues and pain and inner ear issues as low oestrogen affects cartilage! Joints and inner ear have a lot of cartilage so they (can) get affected.
Even if you have no serious complaints, these will be affected but then in a milder way. It does happen regardless unless you make sure your oestrogen goes up again!!

The loss of muscle mass is due to a dip in progesterone and testosterone. Women can produce testosterone out of progesterone so if these levels are low you cannot make much testosterone either. But also, if you don't produce testosterone in other ways, the production of this out of your progesterone will deplete this and you do need this!!
How to create testosterone?
Do resistance (power) training!
That builds muscles AND testosterone! There are more reason why you should do this, why muscles are important btw but I'm trying to keep it reasonably short, hihi.
So NO aerobics as that does NOT produce testosterone nor muscles. You can still do it a bit, but the emphasis should be resistance/power training!
You can do this at home with an aerobics band (which is a resistance band). There are tons of vids on YouTube for resistance training with such a band for menopausal women!

As for the rest... HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) is a very good one! NOT ORALLY THOUGH!!
Orally goes via the liver which can again lead to issues there.
Use patches, creams and so on.
And no, it does NOT cause cancer to have HRT! That is a myth and proven to be NOT TRUE whatsoever!

One thing to remember with HRT is that when you have a uterus you need progesterone, not just oestrogen.
In essence you need more progesterone than oestrogen. The bummer is that we get a lot of unnatural oestrogen in our bodies from the environment which makes the body believe it has oestrogen.
So in a way it would be best to not experiment on your own but to see a naturopath or an other therapist who is experienced in this area.

The best way to get a huge increase in oestrogen is... a romantic partner, a man! When a man has healthy testosterone levels and treats you right because of that you get a huge increase in oestrogen.
Unfortunately most everyone here is single...
But there are other ways if you really don't want HRT. But remember, whatever it is you will have to continue to do it for the rest of your life.

Last thing: even post menopausal we still are cyclic. Not as much anymore as when we were fertile, but our adrenal glands still produce some hormones. This is why some say to not go for HRT.
Bummer is that many these days already have rather depleted adrenal glands as our Western society and life-style creates a lot of non-stop stress.

A lot of info here, do with it what you will. Bear in mind you do not have to suffer through peri or post menopause, remember that the process of rapid decline will continue, EVEN post-menopausal!! Unless you do something about it.

A few good things that esp peri-post menopausal women need:
resistance training
Vit D3
Fibre (approx 25gr a day)
HRT could be very helpful
Magnesium (Have levels checked though and find a good version as many cannot be easily absorbed in the body!!!)
Calcium (have levels checked!!!)
Intermittent Fasting 16:8hr can apparently be very helpful (NOT when diabetic!!! NOT if you have any eating disorder!)

This list is also not complete, but at least it's something.
Do your own research or see someone who's well educated on this matter which is typically NOT a doctor!!!

Doctors in their years of study have only 2 pages on menopause so they know Jack chit about it.
Gynaecologists who are supposed to be the experts on this only have ONE lecture of some 6 hours on the topic!!
This is why they don't know what to do with you and tell you to suck it up and bear and grin with it. Maybe give you a tranquiliser or painkiller.
They have a code word for menopausal women: WW, meaning a "Whinging Woman"!! That's how they talk about you among themselves... So they are not the ones to help you unless you got a better educated more well-rounded one and these will be very rare, almost non-existent.

Carebear, the way you should do it is have 3 things you'd like to do or see on a date.
If a guy then asks you what you want to do, you say these 3 things like "I'd love this and this and this" and end with "You pick!"

Something along those lines.

Men ask what YOU want as a man's job is to please YOU!
If they succeed at that it gives them a boost in testosterone, they feel good and want to please you even more by doing things for you.
This is the reason men ask you, it's not that they don't know, it's they want and need to please a woman.

The beaut is that when you receive that and react the above way and a man gets to please you, YOU get a load of oestrogen which makes YOU feel good!

Doing it this way removes all stress as the man knows he will be successful as he has option that YOU like. So no matter which he choses he knows you're going to be happy with it.
You can also relax as he's going to take you to a place you'd like to go, win-win. And there's still the element of surprise as you don't know which of the 3 he's going to pick.

Haha, thank you. And that's to be expected as I progress, lol.
With the way I'm learning to paint now you first block things in, then finish it off with detail etc.
Which can cause the in between stages to look like nothing much at times, but it's part of the process :)

I happened upon a good photo of this section of the wall which is going to help me tremendously!!

I altered the whitish highlights on the trees to the left of the tower as it didn't look right.
And added a bit more sunshine on certain parts, even in the shadow area to the left but also elsewhere. Very subtle changes, but these do make a difference.
Now I'm really happy with the trees :D

Did a lot of work on the closest section of the wall. Will have to sort some minor perspective issues.
Then there's a ton of detail to be done and... glazing!

I may actually start with a few glazes today as these will show the final colours of that large section of the wall and the left guard tower, truly revealing all the hard work I've done so far.

I decided to re-watch "The Great Wall" with Mat Damon as I'm painting a section of the Great Wall.
Even though they didn't actually shoot it on the real wall, there are very good shots of the wall in the movie!
And apart from that, it's a really good movie!

Thank you, Julie!

OT --- Yesterday I finished off the trees in the foreground. That was a lot of work, phew! And when done the values didn't look right and shadow areas were mostly gone. Lost too much of my negative space so I had to do more work to correct it.

I also did a 2nd glazing with Zinc white to soften the mountain in the back and the part of the wall that's furthest away (to the right).

Now with that out of the way it's time to focus on the wall.