Lately, all I do is talk about perimenopause and the injustice of women’s health care. (I’ve been a whole lot of fun to be around.) The day we are born, we have all the eggs in our basket, so to speak (or one to two million oocytes in our ovaries , if you want to be specific).
By the time we are 30, we have 10% of those eggs, and by 40 we have just 3% left. As our eggs dwindle, our estrogen and progesterone levels also start to lower. This is perimenopause, and you can begin to notice what’s called the change as early as 35.
Once we have no more eggs, we stop menstruating and our ovaries stop producing estrogen, the hormone that was essential for our bodies and minds to run relatively smoothly for the first half of our life. From there, you’ll likely develop one of the more than 50 different symptoms of perimenopause. The vasomotor symptoms (hot flashes and night sweats) are the ones that get all the publicity.
However, less-known symptoms can be debilitating fatigue, brain fog, unexplained weight gain, depression, panic attacks, decreased libido, dry skin, hair loss, digestive issues, vertigo , dizziness, heart palpitations, joint pain, and itching/crawling sensations on the skin. It’s a natural part of ageing, and we as women must endure its symptoms , or so we’ve been told. My perimenopause journey began with a frozen shoulder or adhesive capsulitis.
My right shoulder hurt, and then one day, I couldn’t raise my arm or put my hand on my hip without excruciatin.