Thursday, April 24, 2008

Shady business

My patient was in today about her chronic insomnia. Like so many women, her sleep changed with the menopausal transition and never returned to the good old ways.

As we sat talking, she fiddled with her sunglasses in her lap. Midway through the appointment, she put them on. A puzzled look crossed her face for a moment as if she wondered, briefly, why the room had dimmed. She pulled them off, and we both had a laugh over that.

As we bent over her test results together, she opened her purse and got out her reading glasses. Not a minute later, she lifted the sunglasses and attempted to put them on over her readers.

Sleep deprivation or just a plain old menopause moment?