A Fainting Couch

Remember reading about Victorian ladies, or basically ladies from any bygone era, having a fainting couch? Going to a fainting room? Here is a Wikipedia article about it:

"A fainting room was a room, used during the Victorian era, where women could go to rest when feeling faint. Fainting rooms often included couches where users could faint or recline without fearing bodily harm. Such couches or sofas typically had an arm on one side only to permit easy access to a reclining position, although the sofa style most typically featured a back at one end so that the resulting position was not purely supine.
It was fashionable for Victorian women to have a perfect hourglass figure; moreover, to achieve this outcome, many wore corsets that would push in their stomachs. This would lead to many health problems, the most common being dizziness and fainting."

So the explanation was that the corsets made them dizzy. But you know I can certainly see the advantage of having fainting couches now. There are days when the menopause symptoms just seem overwhelming. When, in fact, I do struggle for air. Like today.

When these "spells" come on, they start in different ways, but mostly with an emotional upset. In the case of today, it was mostly irritation. I began the day irritated with folks around me. I was excited about a dream I've had for a couple of years about to come to fruition. My excitement was met with "ho-hum" from those around me.

As the day went on, the irritation went on too, until by around 3 I was ready to explode. I did kind of explode at my older son. About the mess he left in the kitchen, all the tasks I had to do in a short period of time while he played on his computer...the usual mom stuff.

Finally when I was stomping around about that, the lightbulb came on. "It's a bonk," I said to myself. And so I shot an email to my bonk buddy, Chris. She made some light-hearted comments and then I went to my room for a while to cool off and have a snack and read a book. Then she called and we laughed.

The bonk is still here. It's a bad one. I've got the pre-migraine, blues, hot-poker-between-the-shoulder-blades, tired but wound up, irritation thing all going on. Fortunately no paranoia. That's the worst.

I hope things are better by morning. Because I have to spend the day with a very dear couple from church and I want to be on my best behavior.

So as I was resting in my room for a bit, I remember thinking, "this is like having a fainting couch."

How am I ever going to have time to have a job and work if it takes all this energy to keep on top of the meno symptoms?