Angelika Leikola, 49, cried at night because of her pain – This medication saved her – 2024-02-16 00:05:45

Hormone replacement therapy saved the forty-year-old Angelika Leikolan life.

The design is perhaps drastic, but not at all far-fetched.

Leikola was 42 years old when the first menopause symptoms started. Had trouble sleeping and PMS symptoms.

However, the most serious symptom was a cutting pain in the upper back similar to neuralgia. Neither painkillers nor physical therapy helped.

Angelika Leikola got relief from harsh menopause symptoms from hormone replacement therapy. Jenni Host

At that time, Leikola was still living in the United States with her husband at the time, a comedian Ismo Leikolan with. Severe pain took the writer into deep waters.

– Then I thought that if this is like this, I don’t want to live. I cried through the nights, reflected on myself and told Ismo what the hell was going on. It was so horrible, Leikola recalls.

Leikola received help and a menopause diagnosis from the doctor. The back pain was caused by hormonal changes caused by premenopause: there are estrogen receptors in the muscles.

Only later did the symptoms more traditionally associated with menopause, such as hot flashes, begin.

The symptoms disappeared

To treat menopause symptoms, Leikola was prescribed progesterone and estrogen creams. In two weeks the back pain disappeared.

When Leikola moved back to Finland a year ago, she went to a private doctor with a folder in which her entire treatment history was recorded.

Currently, 49-year-old Leikola uses estrogen gel daily and progesterone pills taken once a month.

Finding the right dosage was a little difficult at first, but otherwise Leikola has only positive things to say about hormone replacement therapy. The menopausal symptoms disappeared completely with the treatment, and there are no side symptoms.

Leikola feels that she was lucky that she was in the United States when the symptoms started and that the cause of them was immediately recognized. He believes that in Finland he would have been prescribed antidepressants for the same symptoms. That has happened to many of his friends.

– It’s terribly common here. What antidepressant is this? America has an opioid crisis. I say that there is an antidepressant crisis in Finland.

The treatment has been going on for several years now, and Leikola has no intention of stopping. Leikola believes that the symptoms will return if she gives up hormones.

– I might try sometime, how it feels to be without. If then I feel uncomfortable, I will continue.

Leikola has heard scaremongering that the use of hormones would increase the risk of getting cancer. On the other hand, low hormone levels expose you to other types of diseases.

Leikola reminds that men also have menopause. According to Duodecim, andropause is characterized by, among other things, a decrease in sexual desire, fatigue and irritability.

“Sexuality explodes”

Leikola is careful about his lifestyle anyway. He drinks a lot of water during the day, takes his vitamins and starts each morning with a protein-rich green smoothie.

– At this age, mentally, physically and sexually, I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been.

Thanks to hormone replacement therapy, Leikola still has regular periods. Tests have also shown that the fertility is still preserved – to Leikola’s chagrin.

– I had hoped that I would get natural contraception. Unfortunately, no.

For many, menopause and the loss of reproductive ability may be a blow to their own experience of femininity, even if they no longer want children. However, Leikola does not feel that way.

– The sexuality of a middle-aged woman explodes. I have told my younger friends to be careful, it will come as a surprise, Leikola laughs.

Leikola believes that a younger man can be a more suitable companion for a middle-aged woman. Desires meet better and younger men have had a different upbringing.

On the other hand, he emphasizes that situations are always individual.

– I myself would have hoped to find a life partner even close to my own age group after the divorce, he admits.

Middle age happiness

Leikola turns 50 this year. He states that all age points include a crisis.

In the same breath, he reminds that Greek and Latin did not come to Finland crisis-the word originally had no negative meaning at all.

Leikola feels that she is now living the best time of her life. He gets to make his work what he has experienced, his health is in good shape, his relationships are fine and his self-esteem is in place.

Sometimes I get a huge sadness, why did it take so long to find my own happiness.

– I had a hard life when I was younger. I only found myself, my self-esteem and true feelings of happiness in middle age. It’s a bittersweet feeling that at the same time you appreciate life and are terribly happy that you’re healthy and get to live, and regret that it took so many decades to get to this point.

In the coming years, Leikola hopes for simple things in the final games: health and love.

– The most important thing in life is love. I feel that nothing would be so important that it would come before it. Apart from your own mental and physical well-being, that always comes first.