Travis: I sort of doubt that will happen. Her moods will swing back to the less violent and variable but they won't swing back to where they were before she began suffering from either PMS or Menopause.
Many women experience a great relief when they have passed through Menopause as the mood swings and discomfort are now gone but what is also often gone is the regularity of any, ummm, urges she used to have....... this is pretty disquieting to many guys who think they will get their old girlfriend (now wife) back as she was before but although they still have the mainframe, some of the programs have been wiped out.. However, what you have is someone who now runs on a much more even keel and for many guys that is enough.
Menopause is a strange critter as it affects women in different ways. Younger women who experience Menopause earlier on retain some youthful 'urges'. When it hits later in life, that particular 'urge' usually walks out the door after 'Aunt Flo' has left for the last time and your former lover and wife usually ends up being your best friend and partner, and for many guys that is more than OK.
The Archie Bunker 'thing' sort of goes along with what huntswithdogs posted - he didn't see her again until the swelling went down.....
And I hate to sound like a 'softy' but that is about exactly what you need to become to help her see this through. You must remember that women experiencing Menopause develop incredible memories and any little cruelty or cruel statement you make will come back to haunt you. It may take two or three years but she will say to you, at the least most opportune moment - 'Honey, do you remember what you said to me 2 yars ago when I was hot flashing?
??' Well, right then you know you're a dead man on accounta you have no idea what she is talking about but you know she has you boxed up tight...............
Oh yeah, attitagain has a good point but he is off just a bit....all those books the doctors tell Menopausal wives about - they ain't for the wives, they are for us to read. The wives already know what is going on while we don't have a clue as to either what it is or how to deal with it or avoid dealing with it.
The best advice I can give is to be forwarned, as that is to be forearmed and if you are armed with the best intelligence you can get you are usually way ahead of the onslaught of the emotional upheavals and physical changes and you will be able to figure out the best way to deal with them.
A wise man would go to the library now and read all those books on Menopause - there must be half a zillion of them out there but it is easy to find the top four - they are not large books, more along the slim lines of a 'Clinton's Laws of Ethics', but they are quite informational. A man not quite so wise may not make it out of the house alive............
