Chapter 2

So I landed in a psych facility because I went crazy, right? Well, yes and no. I am a 49"ish" year old woman that never suffered from PMS in my "earlier" years....lived life to the absolute fullest....took on way more than I should....was passionate about my God, my family, and my friends. I had it all together! yep...well, not so much...something called hormones began to enter the Bryan household and slowly but surely took over. It snuck up on me and it consumed me before I knew what had happened.

Like I said, never had a day of PMS. In fact, pretty much poo-pooed it when I heard stories of women "going crazy" due to hormones. And then life happened. A close friend died and as I sat at his side while he was dying, he asked me to speak at his funeral. I soon afterward began to have a lot of chest discomfort and ended up having a cardiac catheterization. I was in the process of completing my master's degree in nursing education and the time it was consuming on top of everything else...well, it ate my lunch. All of this happened within a month's time period. This woman that "thrived" on stress was now being beat up by it. I found myself with anxiety. Lots of anxiety. I recognized it well because I had gone through a year of supporting a dear friend that was suffering from it. Little did I know that it was right around the corner for me. It came on fast and furious. I would later discover that this was a sure sign of perimenopause...and the previous months of extra stress had thrown me right into the depths of it ready or not! There were several months of suffering ... ok, not just me, but my entire family. My husband, Mark and my three kids went through the ups and downs with me. And what a ride it was! But the good news? My female doctor was wise enough to call it for what it was and put me on an estrogen patch. Ok, I'm not exaggerating when I say that within 24 hours I felt like a new woman. Soooo... perhaps I shouldn't have been so very quick to judge those poor worn-out women that called their life issues "hormones". Now I get it. I'm right there with ya, sister.