This couldn’t be more the proverbial case of the least of the evils. Only, which one, Barack or McCain is the least of the evils?

Words are just words. It’s YOU who decides to consider them ugly. I consider them necessary to make a point, and there’s not an ugly thing about them.

I’m not getting the tag lines either. Was this ever fixed or does anyone have any insight as to what the problem is?

Here again, we are Women. We have enough problems! Why do we also have to have Male problems, too!!??? Like male pattern baldness??? Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! If we, as we age and our hormones drop, have to deal with male pattern baldness in addition to all our “female” problems, then it’s only fair that men should have to have menses start for them their 40’s and early 50’s ~ complete with cramps and every symptom of PMS known to the Universe. I mean, really! What’s so unfair about that????

I don’t know, Emmy…I know the grass is always greener on the other side, and all that. But men have it pretty easy overall ~ at least compared to women. At least how I see it. I like being a woman, no doubt, but I wish being a woman didn’t bring with it all the bodily distress. Men have to worry about…what? How big their penises are. Whether or not their penises will continue to work ~ and if they start to lag in that area, there are plenty of little pills that will solve that problem. They can continue to procreate for damn near ever, while we have a limited amount of time and viable eggs. If you were a man, you wouldn’t have to worry about having the ability to have children taken away from you. You, on the other hand chose not to procreate after your two fine boys, but in the back of your mind, were you a man, you’d have the satisfaction of knowing that you could have more kids, IF YOU WANTED TO. That choice is taken away from women. Even though I never wanted children, the fact that other women who do want kids have to function in this pre-conceived time period bugs the heck out of me. I SO understand what you are saying about how you had your two kids and didn’t want more, but the fact that you COULDN’T have more is what was really steaming you. I get that! It’s like you’ve been given this amazing gift ~ to have and bear children. Something that a man can only contribute to, but can not achieve. Then, this gift is ripped from your life, while men can still find the younger women and procreate with them should they get the urge. Boy, I hate to sound bitter, but really, we have been given a raw deal as a “species” no matter how you look at it. Even Praying Mantis’s get to bite off the heads of their male counter parts after mating. What do WE get???? ;-P

Lily, Sometimes there is just absolutely no winning. My mother-in-law says she feels great, now. Now. Now, that she’s 74-ish. Now, that menopause is over. Now, that it looks like she’s conquered (or is at least in remission from) the Lymphoma that had her going through several surgeries, radiation, and multiple bouts of chemo, not to mention the 9 month hospital stay in isolation after stem cell therapy and the next three months at home in isolation after the stint in the hospital. Sometimes I look at everything she had to go through and I wonder if it’s worth it, just to feel good at 74, when good for her means that instead of chemo, all she deals with now is the joint pain, the dry eyes and dry mouth (because the radiation zapped her tear ducts and salivary glands), and the insomnia. I wonder if I’d rather have been hit by a truck and had a quick death than to have to go through that kind of hell. Some people are good at surviving anything life throws at them. I’m not. I’m a big baby. I don’t see why I can’t live my life in health and without pain. Life is painful enough without more physical pain on top of it. But then ~ I am the biggest of all big babies. Lily, does anyone offer a solution to your situation? Is there a reason this is happening? And is there a way to stop it, or ease the discomfort? I believe I will light a nice white candle (or a hundred of them) for you and all the women on these pages who are, have already, or are about to go through the next set of hell of being a woman. The stories here are…so varied and turbulent, and they make my eyes water a bit, and make my heart ache. If you really think about it, the plight we endure is just…crazy.

So True, Lily. And entirely too many GYNOS are men, and if that ain’t a kick in the shorts, I don’t know what is. Oh…if only I had a buck for every time a male doctor told me what I was experiencing, really wasn’t what I was experiencing. (!???) I’d be independently wealthy about five times over now.

Thanks, Bonnie! I figure I either need to be able to laugh about it a little, or kill someone…Until hormonal fluctuations are (rightly) deemed a valid defense for murder, I guess I’ll keep quietly chuckling to myself.

THEN, at the end of this little conversation Joan says, “No, no, no. That’s just the French.” (!) There’s not one politically incorrect word in that sentence. There’s not one curse word. Yet, she managed to insult an ENTIRE country and it’s people! Jeez! Talk about STUPID! Practice what you preach, you moron.

Do you think if someone referred to him as the “Black Presidential Candidate” that he would spend even a nano second sweating it?

I think you are dead on, 100% correct. You gave excellent examples!!! I’d rather be called a dame by a guy any day of the year than to have him (or ANYONE) hock up a loogie in my presence.

Smart babe, you. Everyone should have your wisdom.

Oh, for crying out loud. I think that people who get so hung up over words have entirely too much time on their hands. How many times did Joan refer to someone as “retarded”? THAT’S politically incorrect, if you buy into all that. I think Mary’s whole point was lost in this discussion. She wasn’t condoning calling people derogatory names or pressuring someone to have sex in order to keep a job. She was saying you should be able to say what you feel, without being censored - as in giving an opinion. Last time I checked, this kind of speech is protected under the 1st Amendment. If you feel like saying something and it happens to contain a “curse” word, who effing cares??? The guy who said he’d like to fuck Marlo and Gloria probably thought he was paying them a compliment. I know, stupid, but, hey, not everyone can have a high IQ. Having had the same remark said to me on more than one occasion, I simply replied, “Oh, honey, please! You don’t have big enough equipment to qualify!” That shut them up every single time. You gotta fight fire with fire.

I started my period when I was 14. For the next 13 years, I suffered unbearably with endometriosis. It put me in the hospital every single month. I refused to go on the pill, which was their big cure for it back then ( or have a child, which frequently - but not always - cures it. Or have a hysterectomy, oopherectomy, and salpingectomy - removal of the uterus, ovaries, and fallopian tubes, respectively, at that young of an age). At that time, those were my only choices, and none of them was appealing. I took the lesser of the evils as I saw it, and went to the emergency room every month for 4 days worth of pain killers and anti-emetics. I never, ever wanted kids, and wasn’t particularly attached to my uterus, so at 18, I’d had enough of the emergency room and drugs, and I begged my GYNO to perform a hysterectomy. He wouldn’t hear of it. Finally, when I was 27, I gave him an ultimatum. Either he did it, or I’d find another surgery-happy doctor to do it. Grudgingly, he agreed, but grumbled the whole time about how when I hit my 30’s and decided I wanted kids, I’d better not come back to him and blame him for doing the hysterectomy. He took out my uterus, but left my ovaries. Even though estrogen production, which is from the ovaries, is the main reason for endometriosis, he was using this technique called Argon Laser (not new anymore) and he explained that the Argon Laser had been found to inhibit regrowth of endometrial tissue. Sounded good to me. And it was. It was the absolute best thing that ever happened to me. No more planning my entire life around my period. No more PAIN. No more hospitals and all the drugs. My liver rejoiced. I was FREE. For the next 17 years, I led a charmed life. I had never had the bloat, the mood swings, and all the other things associated with PMS when I had my period. I just had the pain. Now, the pain was gone, and life was wonderful. I never, ever missed my uterus. I never changed my mind about having kids. After all the agony I went through, getting rid of my uterus was a miracle. I never associated my uterus with “being a woman.” Having neither my period nor my uterus was my true gift from God. Now, at 45, instead of my ovaries slowly decreasing the amount of estrogen they produce as I age, they’ve gone into overdrive. They started producing about three times more estrogen than a flock of teenaged girls. They call this “estrogen dominance,” but there is a lot of controversy over that term. Anyway, I gained 100 lbs (from 106 lbs. and I’ve recently lost 28 lbs., but still…!). My boobs went from a small 34B to a 46D, and they hurt - CONSTANTLY. I wear several sports bras at a time because I can not bear to have them move or jiggle when I walk. I have to cover them with my arms while in the shower because water beating down on them reduces me to tears. They are always IN MY WAY! I hate them with a passion I can not even begin to describe in words. And bloat? Yep, you bet. Mood swings? Uh-huh. My mom also had painful periods, but back in her day, there was no knowledge of endometriosis, and therefore, no treatment at all. She suffered through it until she had me, which did, in fact, cure her endometriosis. When she finally did go into menopause, she was nearly 60. It was just like someone else described here: one day her period just stopped. No hot flashes, not even a hint. No osteoporosis - really, no negative effects at all. Since it appears I am following in her footsteps - she too all of a sudden started gaining weight when she was in her 40’s and went from 119 lbs. to around 200 lbs., and her boobs got big, so she was probably “estrogen dominant” as well. Our histories are nearly identical, so I’m somewhat confident that my menopause will mimic hers…I just wish (and hope and pray) I don’t have to wait until I’m nearly 60 for it to kick in. If I have to go through another 15 years of this crap, I might just lose my mind. Amazingly, with the huge amount of estrogen I’m producing, there is no regrowth of the endometriosis, but ladies, I am here to tell you that I can NOT wait for menopause!!! After this current bout of agony of a different nature, I can’t wait for my ovaries to shut the hell down. I have seriously considered having them removed also, but can’t quite make up my mind about that. I’ve also considered having a breast reduction, but it is entirely likely that as long as my ovaries insist on producing enough estrogen that I could probably use it to power my car, the boobs would grow right back. As my husband, who has been through most of the peaks and valley’s of my whacky hormonal cycle, says, “It’s tough being the boobies.” :-D *Sigh* I’m glad someone has a sense of humor about it!!!

Hm. Age has nothing to do with learning how to use a computer. My 83 year old dad taught me that. When my mom died at 73, I moved my 83 year old dad in with me so I could take care of him. He was bored out of his mind without my mom. My husband, a computer genius, said, “Let’s get him a computer and teach him how to use the internet.” I looked at him, incredulous, “What are you, nuts??? He’s 83 years old. He’s never even SEEN a computer!” Well, my husband got him a computer anyway. I walked by my dad’s room and heard my husband “teaching” my dad how to use it. My dad didn’t say one word, he was just listening. I thought sarcastically, “Oh, yeah, this is a great idea.” About a week later, I got a call from my dad at work. He said, “Hey, I just got home from Comp USA. I bought a printer and loaded the drives, but I forgot to bring home paper. Can you bring me some?” I paused, then I said, “Who is this?” He paused, and said, “It’s your dad.” Another pause, “Are you Okay?” The next thing I know my dad is emailing me jokes, forwarding me videos, and had joined an online cooking chat room where he printed out recipes for my husband to make. He used the computer like a born natural for the next 9 years until he died a few weeks shy of his 91st birthday. If McCain is computer illiterate in this day and age, then he might be stupid, but he is definitely lazy, stubborn, and inflexible. Not someone I want leading this country.