02: What No One Tells You About Perimenopause (And Why It Starts Earlier Than You Think)

Understanding and Navigating Perimenopause: Signs, Symptoms, and Solutions

In this episode of Midlife and Glowing, sisters Alicia and Nicole delve into the onset and experience of perimenopause, providing insights into the age range it can begin (35-55), common but often vague symptoms such as brain fog, fatigue, and mood swings, and more obvious signs like hot flashes and irregular periods. They discuss the decline of hormones, particularly progesterone, and its effects on women's bodies, including sleep and metabolism challenges. The sisters emphasize the importance of tracking menstrual cycles, managing stress, and adopting lifestyle changes to ease the transition. The episode aims to empower women with knowledge and self-care practices to confidently navigate midlife changes.

00:00 Welcome to Midlife and Glowing

00:30 Understanding Perimenopause: When It Starts and What to Expect

01:48 Recognizing the Symptoms of Perimenopause

05:49 Hormonal Changes and Their Impact

07:34 Tracking Your Cycle and Managing Symptoms

15:43 Lifestyle Changes to Support Your Transition

18:31 Empowerment Through Knowledge and Community

20:18 Wrapping Up and Looking Ahead

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Transcript

0:00

Welcome to Midlife and Glowing, where we're all about glowing through midlife with more energy, confidence, and joy. We're sisters, Alicia and Nicole, wellness lovers, beauty enthusiasts, and your new midlife Hype squad. Here we talk about the real stuff, wellness rituals, hormone health, self-care, beauty style, and everything that helps you feel like yourself again, because midlife doesn't have to be a downward spiral. It could be your best era yet, let's glow through it together.

Nicole: 0:28

Hey there. Welcome back. We're so glad you're here. Today we're talking about when perimenopause actually starts, what's happening inside your body and why understanding it can change everything. So I think perimenopause actually catches a lot of women off

Alicia: 0:42

guard. Yeah, I agree. In fact, when I went for my annual OB checkup. I was like 37, 38. This was a couple years ago. And my doctor said, yep, we're on menopause Watch.

Nicole: 0:59

Yeah.

Alicia: 0:59

And I was like, what do you mean? I'm too young. I'm. 37, like i'm still of

Nicole: 1:06

child birthing age, right? Yeah. We don't have those conversations a lot to know when does it start, when should we, and also what are we looking for? Right.

Alicia (2): 1:16

You know, that I didn't even think to ask.'cause I was just in shock, like, what do you mean I'm in menopause watch? Yeah. I could still have children like.

Nicole: 1:25

What does, what, what does this even mean? What does it look like? Yeah. And I

Alicia (2): 1:28

didn't ask her, you know, I was just too much in shock to say, okay, well what does that mean? Yeah. Or what am I watching for? What should I be watching for? Right,

Nicole: 1:36

that's very true. I think that we don't have these conversations. And there's not a lot of conversation around it in, even with our doctors, like, what are we looking for? What should we be paying attention to? Mm-hmm. And I think that would help a lot of women because, which we'll get to in a second what the, some of the symptoms are, but a lot of them are very vague symptoms, so you could easily think that it's something else. And actually oftentimes, doctors that aren't paying attention or aware of it, sometimes even miss those signs as an issue associated with perimenopause. So it's easy to miss because the symptoms can be really vague. Now there are the symptoms that are really obvious and that we all associate with perimenopause and menopause, like hot flashes and night sweats and vaginal dryness. Those are a little bit more obvious, but things like brain fog and fatigue, a lot of times I think women don't pay attention because they think they're too young. Mm-hmm. Like you said, 37, you wouldn't even be thinking about perimenopause or menopause.

Alicia (2): 2:34

Okay, so now what? Had I asked a follow up question mm-hmm. Of what should I be watching for? I'll ask you now. Yeah. What is it that we should be watching for? Yeah. What age should, should we be starting to

Nicole: 2:48

look for these symptoms? Well, that's a really good question. So generally 35 to 55 are the years associated with perimenopause. And that's way

Alicia (2): 2:59

younger than I. Right. Would've expected. In your forties. Mm-hmm. That's what my expectation was. So I guess I'm really surprised to hear that starting at 35 is when you're starting to enter into your perimenopause

Nicole: 3:13

years. Mm-hmm. And I'll mention what that means and, why that we can say that that's around when it starts, but symptoms that you would be looking for, like I said, they're a lot of times they're really vague, so things like brain fog, fatigue. As your hormones change, you become more insulin resistant, so you might have some fluctuations in your blood sugar that are not typical for you. Mood swings can be associated with that too, because as your blood sugar spikes and crashes along with it oftentimes goes energy and mood. So our mood and energy can fluctuate quite a bit along with those changes in blood sugar and hormones. Mm-hmm. So, those are a few things.

Alicia (2): 3:57

Well, and those are things that you wouldn't associate with it. You would think, oh, it's my, it's stress, or it's my lifestyle, or it's my, whatever. But yeah, you wouldn't. Automatically jump to, oh, this is associated with perimenopause and my changing hormones? Yeah, definitely. And I

Nicole: 4:14

think that's really true for brain fog, but brain fog really is a symptom that is definitely present in perimenopause. So, yeah, I mean, that's, that's very true. There's a lot of symptoms that are vague and could be associated with other things, so oftentimes we don't even think about them. Especially if we're in our, mid to late thirties. Mm-hmm. That usually doesn't cross our mind. Then you have your symptoms that are a little bit more obvious to be associated with something like perimenopause. That'd be like, your periods are changing, so they can be really erratic. You might have really short cycles for a little while, and then you might have really long cycles. You might have really light periods and then really heavy periods. So your symptoms can vary a lot because you hormones are actually shifting quite a bit during perimenopause. And then also you have genitourinary symptoms. So that'd be things like, more frequent urinary tract infections, vaginal dryness, thinning of the tissue. So you might have painful intercourse. More frequent urination. So you might be going to the bathroom a lot more. Waking up in the night. Yes. You might notice that. Exactly. Maybe you didn't used to have to wake up in the middle of the night and then all of a sudden you're like, what is going on here? Why am I, why does it seem like I have to get up every single night? Mm-hmm. So those are just a few symptoms to look for. That again, those genital urinary symptoms are a little bit more obvious. But even things like fatigue and mood swings can be associated with perimenopause. So typically what happens is around 35 is when your progesterone levels start to fall. So most women think of perimenopause or menopause, and they think of estrogen, right? Like your estrogen is low. That's typically what women are aware of. But progesterone actually starts dropping first, and that typically happens mid to late thirties, that it starts to decline. And that has a pretty steady decline throughout perimenopause, whereas estrogen has a much more erratic decline. It'll, you know, spike really high and then go really low, and it'll just go up and down. Which is part of why we have such erratic symptoms too, because our hormones are shifting so much. In fact, the shifts in hormones, specifically estrogen vary more in perimenopause than they do during puberty. So you have some pretty erratic, yeah, I just remember

Alicia (2): 6:52

from my youth, things felt. Yeah. Well, and also, you have a little bit less of capacity to deal with it, you know, now we're a little more mature. Right. A little more, just a little we've been through some shit. Yeah. Yeah. And, we can certainly handle those Right changes with grace.

Nicole: 7:10

Yeah. Right. When you're young, you just,

Alicia (2): 7:12

you don't know

Nicole: 7:13

what's going on. You don't know what's going on. No. And

Alicia (2): 7:14

you're too embarrassed and mm-hmm shy to even ask questions. Right. There's a lot going on at

Nicole: 7:20

that age. Yes. I, there's a lot going on at this age too, but, but yeah. So if you could remember back to what that was like, just think of the fact that during perimenopause your shifts, hormones is actually even more. Right. Wow. So the average age of typical menopause, as I mentioned, is 51 to 52 years old So menopause is when you have not had a period for an entire year, and then after that you're postmenopausal. So women that have a period will obviously know when they've gone through mm-hmm. Menopause because they'll know when they haven't had one for an entire year. So women

Alicia (2): 7:57

start tracking your periods, ladies.

Nicole: 7:59

Yeah. Right. I love period tracking. Mm-hmm. I do think you brought up a good point because that can be really helpful for a number of reasons, but especially when you're starting to get symptoms and you're not quite understanding and you don't know what's going on. And just paying attention to, what are my cycles looking like? Are they starting to change or are they pretty consistent? So that is a really helpful data point

Alicia (2): 8:23

to have. Yeah, And there's so many apps out there. Oh yeah. I've been using one for years. Mm-hmm. You know, it's convenient because when you go into the doctor and you're like, Hey, what's your last time...? I'm like, you know, before I used to be like. I had no idea, but now I pull it up and know, exactly what I'm dealing with. Right. And then you can track how long your cycles are and know when you're ovulating mm-hmm. And different things like that. Yeah.

Nicole: 8:48

And in another episode we'll talk about nutrition and that is really helpful to know where you are in your cycle, to know how to manage your nutrition in a way that's most helpful at the different phases of your cycle. Because there's things that you can do from a nutrition and lifestyle standpoint to support your hormones in their different phases. Mm-hmm. And what are those phases? So the first part of your cycle, from the first day of your period until ovulation, is called your follicular phase. Really the first part, when you get your period, you can call that the menstrual phase. It's typically five days for most women. And then the rest of that phase is called the follicular phase, and then you have ovulation. Generally that's from days 11 to 15, and then after that you have your luteal phase. And so in the follicular phase, that's more the estrogen dominant part of your cycle, so your estrogen is rising during that phase of your cycle. And then it spikes just before ovulation and at ovulation testosterone also rises at that time after ovulation, those two start to come down and your progesterone dominates the luteal phase part of your cycle. So given that information, when you take a look at your nutrition and your lifestyle and your exercise and your stress management and what's going on with your moods and things like that, you can pay attention to those things and kind of tie them to the different parts of your cycle and then manage them that way. So, for example, if you happen to notice that you're a little bit more tired in the 10 days prior to your period, if you look at your cycle tracker and you notice, okay, I'm 10 days before my period, this makes sense to be in the part of your cycle where your body wants more rest and you turn more inwards and you're looking for more nourishment in that part of your cycle. So that's not really the time of your cycle to push yourself in a major workout unless your body's telling you, you can, but if you're feeling like you need to take a step back and do more nourishing activities and nutrition. That is something to really pay attention to. Yeah, that's good to know. So I said, menopause is when you haven't had a period for an entire year, for women that don't have periods. So for women that have had a hysterectomy, for example, they don't have that data, obviously. Mm-hmm. They often may not know if they are in menopause, if they've had their uterus removed. So there are blood tests that you can do to check to see if you are in menopause. The trick with that is that you have to do them consistently. There's no one test that's like, okay. Yes. So you have to have benchmarks to be able to compare it to. Yes, exactly. You have to have consistent FSH blood level above 30 micro international units per milliliter or higher to be considered post menopause. Post menopause. FSH is follicle stimulating hormone, so that's a hormone that your brain releases, telling your ovaries whether or not they should start developing a follicle for ovulation. So when you've had a few blood tests to say that that's above 30, then you can say that this post, you're probably postmenopausal. Right. Okay. Yeah, so there are a couple other symptoms that we didn't talk about that can be associated with perimenopause that can be a little bit tricky to identify as, like you may not initially think that they are associated with perimenopause and that is weight gain and sleep problems. So they're again, very general mm-hmm. Can be very generalized symptoms. But when your hormones change in perimenopause, your estrogen actually does a lot for you in a lot of different ways, and when it starts to decrease, you actually end up with more insulin resistance. So I mentioned that there's a lot of blood sugar changes that happen in perimenopause, and that's because your estrogen impacts your insulin sensitivity. So as that lowers, you become more insulin resistant. And that is a cause for that blood sugar dysregulation, the blood sugar spikes and crashes, and all of the things that follow that. And that leads to weight gain often. So if you're all of a sudden, so even

Alicia (2): 13:08

with keeping your same diet, your same exercise routine, yeah, those hormones can kind of disrupt things enough where you're not able to do the same things that you were doing. Right. And maintain the weight in which you were.

Nicole: 13:23

Exactly. Yeah. If it all of a sudden seems like you can't eat the same way mm-hmm. That you used to be able to in your twenties and thirties or it feels like the exercise routine you were doing isn't making a difference now. That is likely a result of the change in hormones that happens during perimenopause impacting your metabolism. And that can come from its impact on insulin, but also its impact on your gut microbiome. Your gut microbiome plays a big role in metabolism as well, and blood sugar regulation. So it's a multifactorial cause if you will, but it definitely can impact, your weight. But the other one is sleep. So this time of life, women often struggle to get really great sleep. Progesterone is a very calming hormone and it supports really good sleep. So as you, if that's declining mm-hmm. Your sleep, your sleep goes along with it. Can go with it. Yeah. Right. And the other factor too is that during perimenopause you are more responsive and sensitive to stress. So you know that of course, that in and of itself can impact sleep. Mm-hmm. And weight. And weight. Right, exactly.

Nicole Maholy: 14:38

Yeah, so you know, long story short, your body is going through some pretty massive changes and it can result in all kinds of different symptoms. But it doesn't have to suck. You know, I think having the knowledge is really helpful so that you can identify those symptoms. And if you are in your late thirties or early forties and haven't been thinking about perimenopause as a potential reason for those changes, now you have that knowledge and hopefully that's really helpful. Okay. So. You're of the age of 35 to 55 in those perimenopause years, unless you're post menopause by that time. So you start noticing, okay, my sleep's changing, i'm not able to eat like I used to, and my metabolism has changed. And, you know, you're noticing these things. So I know this is a probably a very multifaceted answer, but. Is there anything that you can initially do then to help this transition period? Yeah, definitely, that is a really fantastic question and I think one of the things that I want women to feel is empowered and supported and just feel good knowing that there are things that you can do. There are a lot of things you can do from a lifestyle standpoint to support your body through this transition. Like you can't stop the train, once it's, mm-hmm. Once it's going, it's, this process is inevitable. You're gonna go through it and a major change in hormones is oftentimes a little bit challenging, right? Some women do go through it and feel like not Yeah, not affected at all. Exactly. Some women do, but a lot of women do have symptoms. And I just want everyone to know that there are things, and that's what this podcast is gonna cover. We're gonna get into the lifestyle factors that can really make a difference for you in experiencing this transition with a lot more ease. I will say that it's hard to say what is the most important, but stress is, is up there as a factor because so many of us have significant stress and don't do anything about it. I'm not suggesting that stress is something that we can eliminate from our lives.

Nicole: 16:57

lives.

Nicole Maholy: 16:57

always gonna be, there's always gonna be stress, but managing that stress in a way that supports your nervous system the area of the brain that deals with the stress response also deals with your hormone levels, your female hormone levels, your sex hormones. So if we can manage stress and incorporate lifestyle factors into our lives that help mitigate stress and reduce the stress response and help your body shift back into the nervous system mode that is associated with healing. That is gonna be a really supportive thing. So that is a big part of it, but we're also going to talk about nutrition and ways that you can support your body or nourish your body to support an easier transition. We'll talk about exercise and we will talk about sleep. We'll talk about ways to support yourself through the parts of perimenopause that can feel challenging and a little bit tumultuous. So there is hope. There are things that we can do to mitigate some of these symptoms. If you happen to be a woman

Nicole: 18:06

a

Nicole Maholy: 18:06

that is going through perimenopause and does have symptoms Well, that's encouraging to hear. Yeah. The perimenopause doesn't have to suck. I mean, again, it might be challenging. Mm-hmm. And it might not be pretty at all times, but having tools available, and having support and community, I think those things make difficult situations or difficult transitions a heck of a lot easier. So having that knowledge really is empowerment when you know what to look for and know that there are tools available to you, that there are lifestyle changes that you can implement easily at home. Well, I should say simply at home, it may not be easy. It's not always easy to make lifestyle changes, but there are things that you can do for yourself to ease through this transition with more grace. And the other aspect here is that helps you advocate for yourself. When you have this knowledge and you know what to look for, you can advocate for yourself at your doctor's visits, right? Mm-hmm. You can ask them questions that come up as you're noticing symptoms and finding out either what you can do or whether that's related to perimenopause or something else. And also you can stop blaming yourself. I think there's a lot of shame for women this time of life because they're gaining weight and they're feeling bad about that and wondering, well,

Nicole: 19:25

well,

Nicole Maholy: 19:25

Am I not working hard enough? Or what is this about? And it's not fun when your body starts changing unexpectedly. Yeah. Right? Mm-hmm. So just know that it's part of this transition. But again, there are things that you can do to support yourself through that. And then once you have that knowledge, you can work with your body instead of it feeling like you're just fighting against your body. Lifestyle is truly powerful for improving this trajectory for you. So I would really love for women to feel empowered about that. That there are changes that you can make that will be really supportive. Mm-hmm. And feel confident still in their body. Right. In these changing years. Yeah. Right. Still keep the confidence even if your body looks different. Right. Even if you have to buy different clothes. Mm-hmm. You know, it's, it's just part of life. And the evolution of women. Yes. Right. If you want simple daily ways to elevate your routine, grab our free daily Glow Rituals guide. It's packed with small practices that support your hormones, energy, and glow every single day. We each also share our personal favorite rituals that we feel support us best. Next week we're talking about one of the biggest hormone disruptors in midlife: stress. We'll break it down and share some simple ways to protect your peace, which is a must in midlife.

20:42

Thanks for hanging out with us on Midlife and Glowing. If you love this episode, it would mean the world to us. If you'd follow the show, leave us a review or share it with a friend who's glowing through midlife right alongside you. Let's make it our best era yet. We'll see you next time.