Emberpause

It's 3:12am. You didn't set an alarm, your body did. Your heart is racing and nothing is wrong. So you lie there and run the list again. The ear you can't scratch. The word that vanished in Tuesday's meeting. The shoulder that seized up for no reason. Drenched, then freezing ten minutes later. And underneath all of it, the question you can't shake: is this normal, or is something actually wrong with me? So you open the groups instead of sleeping. Every second post is a woman asking "is anyone else?" and two hundred women underneath saying yes. "I recently joined to verify I'm not the only one." You're not. Not even close. Here's what nobody told you. It is real, and it's not your fault. Estrogen helps run your temperature, your sleep, your mood and your skin. When it starts swinging, everything it touches swings with it. Itchy ears. Electric shocks. Burning mouth. Rage out of nowhere.…