Essential Oils take me away...

Lavender helps with anxiety. Ginkgo biloba helps with aging and memory. Bilberry and ginseng help with hot flashes. Black cohosh and dandelion root are also good for things I just can't remember what because I've done so much research I can't keep it straight.

Nancy at Perfect Scents off Main and 51st in the South Plaza area can make a crazy good "hot flash" concoction. I try to be as natural and holistic as possible. Therefore, utilizing essential oils, aromatherapy and soy milk have become a part of my daily regime.

Seriously folks, whether you are dealing with hot flashes, anxiety, constipation, trying to quit smoking, morning sickness, hay fever, a stubbed toe or loss of appetite - try essential oils. Visit Nancy at Perfect Scents.

Hot flashes for Dummies by Sarah Mullally

The room spins, you feel slightly nauseous, your skin is on fire from the inside out and you feel like everyone can see the billions of sweat beads bursting on your face and neck.

Welcome to your hot flash.

I dress in layers. All the time. I can't wait for winter. But then occasionally right after a horrible hot flash I feel chilly and therefore need to put layers BACK ON. Fun times.

I accidentally misplaced an entire box of my Estradiol patches so was without a patch for about 5 days. (Insurance wouldn't cover another box until certain date). I thought I was going to die. I literally had the air conditioning on all the time (its been rather nice lately and certainly no need for the AC) and walked around naked half the time.

I've never been a huge "I need my caffeine" girl but what little caffeine I was putting into my body I have put the kibosh on. Hot flashes LOVE caffeine - they feed off caffeine. I have no problem switching to decaf tea, coffee and cutting down on my all-time guilty pleasure; the CHAI LATTE.

Have to go - I feel a fabulous flash comin' on.

Is EVERYONE pregnant?

It seems lately that everyone is pregnant. Seriously. Please message me if you are not pregnant. I even saw a guy at Loose park the other evening - and I swear he was pregnant.

I thank God every day for the most amazing man as my husband. Loving, supportive and always makes me laugh. How do the two tie in? Me seeing a billion pregnant women and having the most amazing husband ever? Well, I assume he too, sees pregnant people everywhere. Kind of like Haley Joel Osment in "Sixth Sense" said, "I see dead people." Well, we see pregnant people! And infants! And newborns..everywhere. It's like they're taking over Kansas City.

Whenever I see a pregnant lady Kurt squeezes my hand. He occasionally makes a joke too. About how he loves my body the way it is and he loves our lives the way they are...that two dogs is enough for us to handle and we don't have any room in our adorable bungalow for children. Then he jokes about Kansas City's school system and "where in the world would our children go to school? You will have to sell the next great American novel sooner than later baby if you want to put our kids in private school."

I don't mind when people ask me, "when are you and Kurt having kids?" I don't mind that question at all. The inquirer might feel sheepish when I answer although that is not at all intended.

I met with a new writer friend the other morning, for coffee. We swapped manuscripts we are currently working on. Completely different styles of writing - hers imaginative, creative, fiction and descriptive. Mine, dialogue-based nonfiction magazine articles. We are the same age. She just had a baby girl 7 weeks ago. She looks amazing. She is the "granola" type I always wished I could've been in college. Maybe high school too now that I think about it. Clear porcelain skin, eyeliner and long dark hair parted down the middle. In some ways she belongs at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop and in others she belongs in a Woodstock documentary. That being said, she is extremely intelligent and has sophisticated taste in literature. We chatted forever, critiqued each other's works and I realized its okay to not have children because, although she is the mother of two, her children do not an identity make. Does that make any sense?

We all have people in our lives' who are "the mother". Some of us have people in our lives who are "the gay guy" the "bitch" or the "crazy dog lady". I know I never wanted to be labeled as anything. I think it always kind of scared me that if I did have children I would be labeled as Sarah the Mom. Not, Sarah the cool animal activist or Sarah the wife or Sarah the lover or Sarah the best friend or sister. Just, Sarah the mom.

This new writer friend of mine was about a billion things, and "mother" was only one of them.

That's all for today. Oh yeah, I drove around Kansas City's slums feeding, watering, un-tangling already short chains for dogs all day with Kate Quigley. MOST amazing woman. Her "people" in the ghetto literally call her "the angel". Then I had a therapy session. Now I'm about ready to power down.

sarahemullally@gmail.com

Complication...

For any of you "Twihards" out there - when I typed this title (Complication) it reminded me of the scene where Edward and Bella are outside Bella's house and Edward looks concerned. Bella asks what is wrong and he replies, "minor complication". Then, as he drives away, Jacob and Billy Black drive past him.

Anyway, that's how my mind works!

So there's been a slight complication. Nothing big really, just a learning experience. Mainly the learning experience is that I'm not a doctor. While this has been a source of frustration for my husband since day 1 - I commonly stop meds at will  - now it has sunk in that I, Sarah Elizabeth Estlund Mullally, do not have my M.D.

Awhile back the specialist prescribed two hormones: Estradiol (estrogen) and Prometrium (progesterone). I started the Estradiol first because she gave me samples. I was lazy about filling the prescription so didn't start the Prometrium until 2 weeks afterward.

The Estradiol, as I have stated in previous posts, is wonderful. WONDERFUL. While I fully understand my body needs the estrogen, applying the patch has probably gotten rid of 80% of my hot flashes, nearly cured my insomnia and helped bring me off Ozzy's Crazy Train 99% of the time.

The Prometrium however, resulted in a bit different experience. Five days after the first application I started having major side effects. I'm still too private to get into the exact side effects publicly but lets just say it was startling and, upon researching the side effects, were considered "serious and severe" side effects. So, I (thinking I know what's best) stopped taking the P. My husband told me mutliple times to call my doctor and tell her I'd gone off the P. It took me about 2 weeks to  make this phone call a priority and once I did, I got a lecture from the nurse and doctor as well.

Needless to say the E and P work as "yin and yang" so that is the first reason I should have consulted the doctor sooner. I didn't cause any harm at all by stopping the hormone yet, I didn't necessarily give the E a chance to work as well as it could/should have been. My doctor had me on the smallest dose of P possible so she/we are going to mess around with a few different dosages of other drugs but I learned the importance of the yin and yang...and not self-diagnosing as my sister would say.

It has been a challenge to find medications/hormones that a) weren't tested on animals and b) aren't made with animal bi-products. In the meantime, I've been resorting back to the essential oils which I got from Perfect Scents (and no I am not getting any kick-back from them I just think they're awesome and the lady who owns the place knows everything).

Anyway, I know I haven't posted in awhile and I SO SO SO SOOO appreciate the readers/audience. Please keep commenting and messaging me sarahemullally@gmail.com with anything.

When you least expect it....and other random monologues

Last week was crazy, this weekend was crazy. We went to Hermann for a wedding. We stayed at Hermann Hill Inn. This was the most amazing place I have been in a very long time. MUCH needed get-away.

So I keep bothering my husband to "let" me get another dog. Not that we need another dog. We need another dog like I need less eggs. Hee hee. I have even pulled the "I can't bear children please let me save another dog" trick and he is so smart he comes right back with "why do we need another dog Sarah?" And that's when I say "because there are so many that need homes" and he's made his argument right there. Its not that we need another dog at all. And, there will never be a shortage of dogs that need homes.

I tell you what - how many of you readers are on hormones? Hormone replacement of any kind? It has been amazing. Its like more than any happy pill/relaxer pill anything I've ever experienced. I'm just, chill. My husband used to get me so riled up (on purpose, and pre-menopausal emotional roller coaster). This is the Estradiol I'm talking about. I experienced some pretty scary side-effects to the Progesterone replacement....still have to call my awesome doctor and tell her I've discontinued use of that on my own. May not have been the best call on my own but I couldn't deal with it...besides Progesterone is a reactive treatment for symptoms, not a pro-active treatment for potential disorders or diseases down the line. So, I really don't need to take it. Which, reminds me, I really need to call my doctor tomorrow.

I had this pre-protest meeting/party at my place Saturday night. Really great group of people - what do you expect when dealing with animal lovers! - and this one girl came - I will call her "S". She was so beautiful. Her skin was porcelain she didn't have any wrinkles or crows' feet. She was beautiful and sweet and I would have put her at 28. Tops. During the discussion she dropped that she was near 40. And by near I mean within 18 months of 40. Some women have the luck, that is for sure.

That's all for now. Need to put finishing touches on Kansas City's biggest, baddest and bitchiest Ringling Bros Barnum & Bailey circus protest!

Relief. Major relief.

So, we left the doctor last Monday, a week and two days ago, with them sending my blood into the Mayo Clinic for more testing. There are many reasons why ovaries fail. Some causes are not too terrible while one cause can be the dreaded "C".

Well I've been sweating a little bit the past 8 days 4 hours and 16 minutes...give or take...BUT the doctor called just a short while ago and told me I do not have anything but ovarian failure! This is me doing my happy dance because ovarian cancer was a slight maybe....

So, I messaged my family, called my husband to tell them all the good news...that my ovaries failed. Nothing else. I'm healthy as a 55 year-old woman. (insert smiley emoticon here)

When I called my husband I heard an odd noise in the background. I asked what it was.

"Oh, that's Stella." He said.

I laughed.

He said, "She's kind of half yawning half making that happy noise."

I laughed again. "Why?"

"Cause I'm laying with her."

Awwww I am SO BLESSED. I really am.

My Menopause Monologues: Hello, sleep? Are you out there?

My Menopause Monologues: Hello, sleep? Are you out there?: "I just ask for one night of sleep - just one good night of sleep. Please? Is that too much to ask? Ironically, I've found as I 'age' I do n..."

Hello, sleep? Are you out there?

I just ask for one night of sleep - just one good night of sleep. Please? Is that too much to ask?

Ironically, I've found as I "age" I do not need nearly the amount of sleep I used to. Up until about 6 months ago, if I didn't have my 8-9 hour beauty sleep I was a raging byotch the next day. Without my sleep I was useless, cranky and emotional. Now, I am seriously fine on 5-6 hours. However, that doesn't mean I don't miss my full nights of sleep.

My doctor prescribed Rozerem. I may have already mentioned that. I didn't like it. First of all, the warning label and side effects about scare the shit out of you, then come to find out I could take a Rozerem before running two miles and not even be phased. Lesson learned - Rozerem doesn't work for everyone.

Occasionally I will take a couple generic-brand Tylenol PM's. For a good night's sleep. Then, I find myself anxious for a few nights afterward that I don't sleep well unless I take my BFF's the TPM's....so I take them as seldom as possible.

I've found many different forms of meditation one of which I am particularly found of before bedtime - coloring mandalas. My mom got me a "World Mandalas" coloring book. Sounds interesting, right?  A Mandala is a geometric design (usually a circular design) which symbolizes the universe. Used chiefly in Buddhism and Hinduism to aid in meditation, I take my Crayola pack of colored pencils and color away. Helps me be "in the now" which settles my thoughts...mind...and even soul. Then, I can go to sleep peacefully and without anxiety.

Although I have to be honest, a Xanax sounds good too.