” For a long time, I felt like all about me was disintegrating. I was in this loop. And it finally led to me being in such a gloomy place mentally”, she added.
By 2018, Rodrigues said she was going through quite severe depression. ” All I could think was this darkness descending, simply overwhelming all. Everything was in a shroud”, she said.
” I felt like, is this what it is like to be thick time? Do they mean” dark times” in this context? Certainly, there has to be a better way to period, right”?
SEEKING HELP FOR HER MENOPAUSE
Seven decades after she menopaused, Rodrigues began researching menstruation in 2018. She made the decision to see her gynecologist about taking hormone replacement therapy ( HRT ) when she was 51.
One of the most frequently prescribed menopausal medications replaces estrogen and occasionally estrogen, hormones that the body no longer produces in sufficient quantities after ovulation.
Rodrigues had a breast and a BRCA gene test to determine whether she has a gene mutation that raises her risk of developing breast cancer because HRT is known to raise the risk of breast cancer. Both tests showed bad results.
She also performed a bone density evaluation, which revealed that her ovulation and oestrogen-free state were making her susceptible to osteoporosis.
” It was a blow to me because I’m active. I do a lot of weight-bearing practice, but still my bone mass was so low”, she said.
She added that this could explain why she felt fragile because her body had a warning that she had weak bones and could n’t support a fall.