Member-only story
Bettina & Her Menopause.
She preferred seclusion.
"What's the problem with you, Bettina? Everyone at the women's club asks if you are ill. You have been absent for three months! Why?"
I talk to Bettina at a surprise visit at her front door as she does not answer the telephone.
"Come in, come in quick, I do not want people to see me!" she says. So we sit at her kitchen table, and she proceeds to tell me her story.
I know Bettina is 56 years of age. Her adult son lives in Italy. She lives with her partner, the father of her son, but they never married. Today, she looks unkempt & sad & she is still in her nightclothes, & it is late afternoon!
She tells me her partner left a month earlier. He complained of her mood swings, anger, bad attitude & lack of housekeeping. She cries for no reason, refuses intimacy, & eats junk food.
The Hot flashes at night keep her awake, so she gets up & eats and falls asleep at 4 am. She prefers to isolate herself as she feels ugly, facial hair-like a beard: thinning hair, big belly, & losing urine at times. Her doctor says she cannot take hormones since she had cervical cancer & chemo five years ago. He offered a bladder suspension & a visit with the Psychologist for her emotional issues.
