26/11/2024
āļøPERIMENOPAUSEāļø
The Katy Perry lyrics, 'cause you're hot then you're cold, you're yes then you're no, you're up, then you're down' quite eloquently sum up perimenopause for me!
When I track back to when I started noticing changes in my body and how I felt, it would have been about seven years ago. My twins were around two. I was running Do It Daily in Wattle Grove, and I was very active and conscious about nutrition. Then, it felt like overnight, I gained 5 kgs, at this stage, I was 36, and no matter what I did the weight didn't want to shift. I struggled with this. Being a fitness professional who was supposed to be walking the walk and talking the talk, I couldn't shift my weight.
I saw my GP at the time, had my thyroid checked, scans for polycystic ovaries, you know, the big ones you tick off when presenting with weight gain as a female. All came back clear, and blood work looking at my hormone levels showed that everything was in a normal range. In the meantime, my cycle was starting to go haywire; it would either stretch out really l-o-n-g, or I'd get a period the week after the last one finished. So, I kept working hard to get the weight off and eat well. Over this time, my weight either stayed the same or went UP. I noticed that anxiety that was normally manageable suddenly felt hard, and this was with just normal life stuff, no major external stressors. I was super irritable and snappy with the kids; I was waking up a lot at night, and I started to experience migraines with vertigo just around my cycle and brain fog. I stayed on this path for a few more years, blaming myself for not having willpower and being too sensitive till, in 2022, I found a women's health GP at our local clinic.
This was a GAME CHANGER.
More tests were done, more extensive than my initial ones, and this showed that my hormone levels were actually in the post-menopausal range at 39 years of age. Off to see a gynaecologist to be told I had pre-mature ovarian failure at age 39 from here I decided to start hormone therapy to assist my hormones and body and protect my bone, brain and heart health. Iām not going to say that hormone therapy has evened out everything, but it has certainly made my life easier, I still experience hot flushes and actively manage anxiety when it pops its head up and can still have moments when I feel super irritable at home (Iām not sure how much of this is just being a Mum or perimenopause) but overall I feel better, and thatās just what I see and feel. I still eat well and love to lift weights and run, which are also activities that help when going through perimenopause.
This is my own story through perimenopause and is personal to me, if you are experiencing changes in your body, please always go and consult with your GP or specialist to get things checked out.
So why am I sharing this story? I hope that by sharing my experience it may help someone else who has been experiencing something similar to explore more options and look into perimenopause.
As always, exercise and lifestyle play a HUGE role in a womanās life at this time. Strength training is super effective at maintaining and building muscle to support us metabolically through this stage, and thatās just one of the benefits. I will post about what you can do with fitness during perimenopause at another stage.
Until then, listen to your body, track your cycles, symptoms and feelings and chat with your GP if you notice within yourself that there is beginning to be a shift from your usual.
Youāve got this xx
Photos: Me feeling hot & Cold, feeling good, feeling defeated, feeling good again and then kissing a llama with a torn calf muscle because thatās another thing that happens when you enter your 40s (torn calf muscles, not kissing llamas!)
