Can we talk about Menopause?

Who knew it was such a bitch? Why don't we get this talk from our grandmothers, moms or aunts? I needed the menopause talk way more than I need the period talk. Give me my period back, you can have this menopause shit. First let's talk about the hot flashes! Yes, I knew they were thing but holy fucking hell they are horrible. It's like your body is burning up from the inside out. They start off slow, you have warning that you are about to look like you ran a 5K. The heat slowly intensifies and then BAM you have sweat rolling down your back and you'd give anything to be able to strip your clothes off and stand in front a fan. There is no predicting when they will decide to attack, and usually they do so at the most inconvient moment. Like when you're checking out at the grocery store, or when someone needs to talk to you about something important. So you are stuck in the situation hoping nobody notices your face turning beet red, the sweat beeding up on your forehead. Why don't we talk about this more? I also think these flashes are tied to emotion. I can't find anything that connects the two other than my personal experience however. When I have strong emotions about something I instantly feel a hot flash coming on. I thought I could stop them by controlling my breathing, you know with a big breath in and big slow breath out. That actually only works to ease it a bit, kind of like easing your emotions. I would love to hear opinions on this, I should ask on TikTok. Now let us move on to the joint pain and fatigue....woah nelly! Some days I feel like I'm this ninety year old woman. The foot pain first thing in the morning is worse than stepping on legos while bleeding down your leg because surprise...PERIOD! Yes, worse! Some of the days I was like, this is it I am going to get my period again because of how fatigued I am, how sore my boobs will get and the bloting is insane. No, I am always wrong, fatigue,sore boobs and bloating are just another mean way menopause likes to remind you of it's existence. The worst of it all is the weight gain. I gained 30lbs in 3 months, yes that quickly and nothing I do is making it budge. I'm just stuck at this weight.I tried for 3 months and didn't lose an ounce. Talk about frustrating. So this is me telling you to talk to your daughters, granddaughters and nieces about menopause. Sit them down witha coffee or milkshake and have the talk about menopause and how badly it sucks. Tell them to enjoy the once a month period because menopause isn't once a month, it is every fucking day with little to no relief. It really needs to be talked about more because it's hard and lonely and frustrating. It feels like you go from being a swan to an ugly duckling. And at the end of the day no matter how pretty the sunset, menopause sucks the life out of you.