Me or my hormones?

Hormones in your 40’s - buckle up, there may be some turbulence 

It took decades and a career change in my 30s before me and my hormones learned to be at one with each other…. years of time, energy and money to figure out that stress (my lack of ability to acknowledge it and therefore awareness to do anything about it) was the Achilles heel getting in the way of me living in hormone harmony.

Earning My Right to Sail Through Perimenopause? Not So Fast!

Having learned the hard way, I doubled down and stayed consistent with the habits I knew would help me manage my stress and keep my hormones in check since……so it’s not altogether unreasonable that I felt I had earned a rite of passage to sail through the next potential phase of hormone derailment - perimenopause (or PM as I’m going to call it).

Not so!

The First Signs

Let me take you back in time to 2022 when I started experiencing the first and probably most unusual sign of PM - unrelenting itching in my EAR CANAL!

Seriously, I can’t explain how annoying and frustrating it is to have non-stop itchy ears. It was going on a while before I went to have it checked out with my ENT specialist (2 major ear ops and checkups over 20 years ago have earned me the right to reach him on speed dial).

For a classically trained surgeon in his mid-60s, he’s surprisingly very open and holistically minded. I told him about my symptoms, asked him to take a look, he obliged and pronounced that there was diddly squat in there to explain the chronic itching.

Everything looked healthy and exactly as it should, so, dejectedly, I left his office none the wiser and remained that way for a long time…..until Dr Carrie Jones recently started talking about her own itchy ears on Instagram, and explained the links to hormone changes in perimenopause!

Anxiety 

Next notable symptom that came up for me was a short but intense period of anxiety last summer. I’ve never suffered from anxiety or anything similar, so I thought I was just unhinged by the heat of Thailand, taking a month off work, and the lack of structure to my days. But even so, this felt different.

Unlike the itchy ears experience, by now I had been working with more and more perimenopausal women and knew that anxiety and panic attacks could be a symptom of perimenopause……but soon after we got back home and old familiar routines kicked back in, the anxiety vamoosed……..and I did what we humans have a tendency to do, I forgot about it and moved on.

Cycle Changes 

One thing I could always count on was a 28-day cycle - but it was clear that my perfect record was about to be wiped out. First I skipped a cycle (I knew I was neither stressed nor pregnant), the next one came at 26 days, then it went to 34 days, and finally I had the two-for-the-price-of-one period experience!

Adjusting and Finding Balance

I took a step back, thought about it and started with the basics. I tweaked my intermittent fasting times to line up with my cycle - taking a break for a week before my period. That really helped.

Everything was calm and dandy - until my eczema kicked off a few months later in deep winter!

Was it all perimenopause, was it unrelated? - I didn’t care, I just wanted to know. The time lost and growing frustration of not being able to get a handle on it was too much, so I did what I should have done 9 months earlier, I paid an esteemed colleague to project manage the situation.

Current Routine for Hormone Balance

Right now, I’m paying more attention to getting the right amounts of protein and hormone-balancing foods for my needs, that and habit stacking:

• I prioritise good sleep,

• I drink little alcohol, less often,

• I walk outdoors at sunrise and sunset (having a dog helps!),

• I fast like I should for my cycles,

• I spend a little time meditating in the morning (10 minutes - it’s all I have the patience for),

• I organise my days so I can switch off properly when I end the day,

• and I’ve started bringing seeds into my oil cycling routine.

Embrace the Ups and Downs

’cause hormone balance is not a one-and-done thing!

If you weren’t sure what to make of perimenopause, my experience isn’t necessarily what perimenopause will be, or is for you.

But if you feel like everything is off, it’s worth acting on. Get in touch with your GP, health practitioner or right here. 

And if you’re not quite there yet, but you’d like to learn more about it, you can check out this blog post