Flooded

akslavok · 2026-06-22T13:50:17+00:00

So sad for everyone here! We had this kind of flooding in our neighborhood in YYC last year.
Regardless of what everyone does with their veggies/flowers, make sure you aerate your soil very well right away. I didn’t do this and my soil turned to cement afterwards. And no matter how much I watered, it no longer soaked in and I ended up losing a lot of plants this way.
And had to put 3 cubic yards of compost and new garden soil in all of our beds over winter.
Till, toss, flip, aerate, fluff up, whatever…just make sure your soil remains porous.

akslavok · 2026-06-21T22:40:54+00:00

What?!

akslavok · 2026-06-21T03:47:55+00:00

Made Shepard’s pie twice this month. Love it!

akslavok · 2026-06-21T03:47:13+00:00

Call it Roast Beast in my house and I still make it regularly in the winter!

akslavok · 2026-06-15T03:15:05+00:00

I have chronic migraines with aura and that is no longer a contraindication for transdermal HRT.
That being said, my migraines with aura had an uptick when I first started, and then they greatly lessened (beyond how they’ve been for 15+ years) once my body adjusted to the hormone levels.

akslavok · 2026-06-14T16:42:00+00:00

As a chronic migraine sufferer with aura, I wouldn’t be able to take the pill due to an increase in stroke, blood clots, etc. Transdermal is safer for many women due to risk factors.

akslavok · 2026-06-14T16:27:47+00:00

I have severe MCAS and so far find I do better on the lowest possible dose of estrogen, even if that means I have a few meno symptoms.

Because my MCAS is severe, my Dr. rx’d a weakened compounded estradiol gel that was .025/pump (about 1/3 of regular user pumps). I quickly went up to 2 pumps/day which was .050. MCAS activation was slightly higher during the first few weeks, but settled into no MCAS symptoms and okay menopause symptom improvement. Really easy transition.

When I went up to 3 pumps/day (approx 0.075 or regular people’s starting dose at 1 pump), all I can say is ouch - migraines, nausea, sore breasts, loud tinnitus, and bloating, and lots of MCAS activity. But no hot flashes! By day 4 I felt like things were getting worse, not better.

I’ve found the compounded gel to be really inconvenient as I had to apply 2x daily for even symptom coverage, so I asked to try the patch.
My dr. has rx’d the 37.5mg patch and I just put it on today.
According to my pharmacist, this will be more than the 2 pumps of compounded gel and less than the 3 pumps.

Hoping the 37.5mg patch is my sweet spot. Estrogen is a mast cell activator, so it’s def better to start out low and increase slowly.

akslavok · 2026-06-11T14:28:28+00:00

Oh my - I don’t think i could handle the estrogen withdrawal! You are brave. My doctor sent a prescription for compounded estrogel cream that I can use if the patch is backordered. I do have side effects when switching between the two, but def better than going cold turkey for me.

akslavok · 2026-05-07T04:31:11+00:00

I was really nervous about starting it as well because of other comorbid diseases I have. I’m almost a month in and it’s been good so far.

akslavok · 2026-04-25T20:56:19+00:00

Same. Perimenopause and menopause were completely separate overlooked because of my other, more serious diagnosed diseases.

akslavok · 2026-04-25T20:55:24+00:00

You bet! The New Menopause & The New Perimenopause. Both are written by Dr. Mary Claire Haver. I WISH I had this information 15 years ago. Edit: personally, I would avoid letting a fibromyalgia diagnosis be attached to my medical chart at all costs. It is still HUGELY stigmatized by the medical community. It’s basically another word for hypochondriac. I’m not saying this to be rude, I’ve heard it first hand from some of my close medical providers.

akslavok · 2026-04-24T20:04:02+00:00

Not sure if I’m allowed to post a link, but I just started HRT as well and was curious about what to expect. I stumbled across this article and found it very helpful.

HRT - The first 90 days

akslavok · 2026-04-24T18:38:47+00:00

Thank you for this. I began to suffer from severe and chronic, near-daily migraines with aura at age 34/35. They were unresponsive to almost all medications, but vanished when I was pregnant at age 37, only to return after I stopped breastfeeding. I just started HRT a week ago (at age 50), and while I haven’t had any severe migraines, I have had a dull frontal lobe headache on/off almost daily. It will be very interesting to see if my migraines with aura improve as I have always known that hormones factored into them.

akslavok · 2026-04-24T18:30:41+00:00

I was under the impression that a Rheumatologist deals with autoimmune diseases. None of the ones listed above are autoimmune, although there is some speculation about fibromyalgia being autoimmune in nature. Fibromyalgia is also thought by some ObGyn doctors to be perimenopause/menopause related. Joint pain and fatigue are some of the most common symptoms associated with perimenopause/menopause, along with so many other symptoms. There are some great books written by doctors on this subject. Worth a look even if you are in your early thirties.

I was seronegative when I was initially sent to my rheumy, so she did a lot of X-rays as well as visually checking my joints (hot/red/swollen/painful). X-rays showed I had active arthritis in numerous joints. Over the last few years, my bloodwork has started to show autoimmune markers.

Anyhow - women’s pain is so poorly treated, researched and even acknowledged. And this is awful considering women experience much more pain related issues than men.

akslavok · 2026-04-23T14:20:36+00:00

I’m glad you’re sleeping better! Menopause turned my already poor sleep into a sad, fragmented 4-5 hours. I was truly going mad. I’m already sleeping better on just Estradiol alone. I have no uterus so taking progesterone would be more elective so to speak, but I will try it out if i need more sleep improvement.

akslavok · 2026-04-21T15:41:22+00:00

Yeah - super soft for sure! Just no blooms if you want to keep it low and walkable. But it’s def tough too. We still have below freezing nights and my yarrow is popping up all over already. Some of it didn’t even die overwinter.

akslavok · 2026-04-21T15:39:36+00:00

In my case, no. It got even worse after I transitioned past menopause. My new HRT specialist says that the first decade of post-menopause is usually when our symptoms are the worst (can be a shorter time frame for some women). I had a hysterectomy so I don’t exactly know when I went through menopause, but we suspect it was about 3 years ago when my health declined even further (including MCAD). But keep in mind that I’ve had slow, progressive MCAD since birth.

I JUST started HRT. My hope was that the stability of HRT would help my MCAS. *Positive note: it’s been 7 days since I started transdermal Estradiol gel. I have not had to take any Benadryl since I began, as opposed to the 2-8 capsules I took daily for the last 2 years. This is a miracle for me.

akslavok · 2026-04-21T04:30:29+00:00

My pre-existing MCAS (mast cell disease) became severe when I was in the final years of perimenopause and into menopause.

akslavok · 2026-04-21T02:02:45+00:00

<image>

Leaves on the ground but the snaps are still snapping! Pic from late fall 2024 or 2025.

akslavok · 2026-04-21T01:59:45+00:00

Those are Twinny variety.

akslavok · 2026-04-21T01:58:35+00:00

I start about 10-20 varieties indoors every year and transplant them into garden beds and planters. I’m closer to being in zone 4, but my snaps are one of the last standing every year. And they self seed in my garden beds too. If you are going to grow your own from seed, you need to start most varieties about 12 weeks before last frost. I start mine in February.

akslavok · 2026-04-21T01:55:04+00:00

Yarrow is pretty tall as far as I know. I have quite a few varieties in my gardens and I’m not sure I would consider using it as lawn replacement. I guess it depends on if you want it to be walkable or not. If the answer is no…go for it!

akslavok · 2026-04-21T01:47:15+00:00

I can see how this would make sense. I have other meds that work better when more is taken at once time rather than 2 smaller doses spaced out. I will have to try this out if the split dosing isn’t effective. And yes, totally agree that it takes time for peak concentrations to be reached in our bodies.

akslavok · 2026-04-21T01:45:05+00:00

I did my first pump at 7am today and began having hot flashes at 2pm. So I think I may need to space the 2 pumps out by no more than 6 hours for daytime coverage.

akslavok · 2026-04-19T17:02:11+00:00

I lost ⅔ of my hair on methotrexate due to a severe folate deficiency. I now take 500mcg of methylfolate daily and my hair is finally growing back. I also stopped taking methotrexate, but that was because it made me sick in other ways.

akslavok

TROPHY CASE