Member-only story
Finding Balance Through Pilates for Menopause and Aging
How exercise became my menopause medicine
When menopause came for me a few years ago, it came in like wrecking ball*. Madame Menopause hit me much harder than she hit any other woman in my family. To be honest, I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy ride, but still I was unprepared.
Since the age of twelve, my cycles had been set-your-watch regular but never entirely normal. For decades I struggled with premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) and also something called mittleschmerz, which means “middle pain,” or very painful ovulations. Due to a history of migraines, birth control medication to stop ovulation wasn’t an option. That meant no other cures were available.
(Side story: A former OB-GYN suggested to me I should just get pregnant so at least I wouldn’t have mid-monthly pain for a while. Not only was I very single at the time, it just seemed like a terrible reason to have a baby.)
Along with occasional hot flashes, awful sleep, and moods swinging like a screen door in a hurricane, some of my biggest menopause symptoms were joint pain and heavy fatigue. I’m talking so tired and in so much pain that simply standing up from a chair was a daunting task.
