Stream of consciousness writing in my perimenopausal years:
        aging and dying               gloom             desperation               mood swings               symptoms               philosophizing
 
Jan 10,  86  
This hot wave of heat  
Flows fleetingly through me  
From heart to fingertips,  
A slight besprinkling on my brow,  
A touch of nausea -  
And all is past.  
At other times, nausea spreads  
A debility overtakes me -  
I must lie down  
or eat  
and wait....  
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I can recommend a duvet + naked body to cope with h-f's, and I hope you all have a human "duvet" somewhere around.  ("Hydro" is electricity)  

Oh down is soft and cuddly  
And down is gently warm  
And down is light and yielding  
And down accepts your form  
So down exerts no pressure  
And lets you do your thing  
While you're fending off the winter  
And holding out till spring.  
It has no expectations  
Of it's corners tucked in neat  
For a duvet's not a blanket  
That weighs upon your feet  
And tries to force agreement  
Of the way that you should lie -  
A duvet just keeps shifting  
And accepts the way you try.  
A duvet needs no hydro  
Has no wires or strings attached  -  
For it's function's insulation  
(Its economy's unmatched).  
If the weather doesn't call for it  
It packs into a space  
So small you can forget it  
But take it any place  
So if you find you need it  
'Cos the weather gives you pain  
You only have to fluff it  
And soon you're warm again.  
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I have been wondering if calling our changed sleep patterns just that, rather than insomnia or sleep deprivation or anything else which has outright negative connotations wouldn't help in a subtle way? It wouldn't stop us trying things to change them back but it might be less anxiety producing. . Anxiety sure doesn't help sleep. 

Aug 26, 1984  

Here, outside in the sunshine  
Lenses become redundant  
And once again I can enjoy  
Conveniently unassisted sight.  

I would not trade  
The better concrete seeing of my youth  
For inner vision of the abstract  
Developed by the passing of the years..  

But both at once - that were better yet!  
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Jan 9, 85 (aged 51, no HRT)  
Yellowness persists  
And now the sound of growling grows  
As twinkles in my toes  
Suppose me youthful  
I hop and skip  
As heart pounds loud  
As wrinkles shift  
And bounce upon my brow  
Fat lumps on hips  
Leap down and up  
As feet leap up and down.  
Oh what a sight!  
Now please don't look -  
For this is not the sort of book  
For public viewing.  
Rather ‘neath the mattress hide it  
They'll all decry it  
Yet come again to read it  
The object of disgust...  
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