Alcohol and Hormones…

Women have been “cursed” you could say since the beginning of time. When Eve ate the apple and then persuaded Adam to do the same. With that one bite, in that one moment of weakness, woman have been eternally “cursed”. Menstruation, Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Menopause … along with each an array of side effects.

I, only being 24 and having no kids, have only been through menstruation, but speaking from experience it is something I would rather not deal with. I can’t imagine dealing with pregnancy, childbirth, and menopause, but I guess women just deal somehow.

I have however made a recent discover of a toxic combination… alcohol and hormones. It is a known fact that during menstruation women’s hormone levels are higher than usual. In addition to hormone levels women are already cranky from the fact we have been bleeding for days straight, plus the bloating and cramps. Altogether it is a terrible experience and without fail it will happen every month. But what happens when you throw alcohol into the mix. Alcohol is already a depressant… and women during menstruation are already depressed… the result… toxic levels of low self esteem.

Take this weekend for example… its December, which means its Christmas party time…, which means a time to dress up and be social, well that is not so easy during “that time of the month”. Nothing fits right, I feel fat in everything I try on… I definitely don’t feel sexy… much less feel social… but I suck it up and deal because life will not stop for “my time of the month”. Alcohol seemed like solution to my problem. Get a few in me and just loosen up… or maybe not.

Saturday evening… getting ready for the party. First I try to paint my nails… I would have had them done but the line at the salon was just extremely too long, so attempt to do it myself. Bad choice. I make a total mess of it and then have to clean up the mess, the result I am late getting in the shower, which means I am late getting ready, which means I am just plain late. So, now I rush to -W’s house to find compared to him I am extremely over dressed. He is in kakis and a sweater and I am in a cocktail dress. I panic I feel the need to go home and change. I am scared to show my face for the fear of not “fitting in”. And of course all these feelings are pushed into overload due to the fact it is “that time of the month”. To my relief there are several people at the party in cocktail dresses. I start to feel a little better, but still not in the greatest of moods.

The night carries on. We go from one party to the next. I have a slight buzz. I am sticking to clear liquor because I am wearing a white dress… however at the next party it is beer and wine only. ‘What to do’ I order red because white didn’t seem enticing… I can handle it I just need to be careful… wrong. I spill red wine on the front of my white dress. Again panic the night is not even close to being over. By now I am sure –W just thinks I don’t want to be social… but that is far from the truth I was just in a horrible mood… by this time I was having some pretty severe cramps to top everything. I get as much of the stain out as I can, but I know it is there even if no one else does. Sigh…

Now we move from the parties to the bar. Typical West Texas bar… not the best scene in the world but there is not much else to do on a Saturday night in Midland. I had an ok time… but still somewhat irritable. Finally the night is over… but you know how there is that one thing someone can say to just infuriate you to the point where you just want to be mad… well –W pushed me there. Not on purpose, but there is an issue we will not agree on… in fact I don’t know if we will ever agree on it. But that is perfectly normal if we agreed about everything that would be just too weird. So now I am very angry and cramping and bloating. At that point I don’t want to argue or yell I just want to pass out. And so I did.

Due to my already high levels of hormones and then adding a little of bit of alcohol in the mix, my Saturday night could have been better. Don’t get me wrong the company and the parties were great… my body and mood however were left to be desired. I woke up the next morning back to my normal self. Why oh why am I “cursed” I didn’t eat the stupid apple.

I am Living Single in Texas.