Coping strategies for perimenopause

by Mollie Millington | Sep 8, 2022 | health

The question I keep asking myself is is this all happening because of Covid and being a mom to Maple?  The weigh gain, the tiredness, the poor sleep, the brain fog, the stress incontinence.  More and more women are having strange reactions to long-term Covid, to Covid vaccinations, to the stress of the pandemic.  Or are we just of a certain age and preparing for ‘The Change’?

If you are in your early to mid-40s, are you experiencing any of these things?  Because I am!  It has been a real struggle, blaming Maple not sleeping through the night (she only gets up once now rather than four times) as well as the general stress of work and world news.  I spoke to my mom and she didn’t go through menopause symptoms this early.  I went to the doctor in the spring for some advice and have since been taking some time to look for tools to help me navigate this new territory.  I thought I would share what I have found to help those who are experiencing some of these too.

Here is a list of the tools in my toolbox so far.  If you have any specific questions about them or can suggest other products, please leave a comment below.  Knowledge is power!

Squeezy app- Recommended to me by my NHS pelvic floor physiotherapist to help address my stress incontinence (which has gotten worse with hormonal changes).  It costs £2.99 and worth every cent (if you use it).  I like that it give me pop up reminders and works off line, so I can use on the Tube.

Forth hormone test *- This is what actually flagged to me that my hormones might be out of wack.  Even though I showed the report to my doctor, she sent me for a one-off NHS blood test that didn’t matter what day my cycle was on.  This test said my hormone levels where normal (thyroid too) so I was denied hormone replacement therapy.  This report and meeting with their endocrinologist was very educational.

MPowder – This was recommended to me by a neighbor who saw my Instagram post about perimenopause.  She has found it made a her difference to her so I bought a month supply.  I took this supplement powder every day for the first twice weeks until I figured out that having it at dinnertime was kept me up at night (it is quite a boost!). I am working on fitting into my morning routine at work.  I haven’t seen a big improvement yet, but the company is very personable and communicative, with a Facebook group for all their customers.  They text me on Sundays to see how my symptoms are and reached out to see if there was anything else they could do to support me.  There is probably two weeks left in my bag so I need to stick to it to see the benefits.  If you want £10 off, let me know (mollie@ptmollie.com) and I can send you my code.  (disclosure: I will get £10 credit too).

Next Level by Stacy T. Sims – This book breaks down the scientific evidence about menopause and sports into manageable chunks.  If you are interested in knowing how hormone changes will affect your training and recovery, as well as how to keep fit throughout ‘The Change,’ this is a must.  I am only halfway through but have learned a lot so far.

Perfectly Me 4Menopause drink* – This is a new product on the market that recently reached out to me (they also have a Mum2Be drink with ginger to help with nausea, FYI).  This supplement drink is only 150ml to make it easier to consume during a busy day.  The key ingredients include sage, vitamins B5, B1, and B12 and the flavor is a mix of cranberry and raspberry (very yummy!).  It is fizzy but has zero-sugar.  The company rep told a story how a woman in the office, Linda, said it has really helped her with her menopause symptoms. How is that for an endorsement!  Manufactured by Clearly Drinks, Perfectly Me aims to support health conscious women by providing daily supplements for complete inner health and wellbeing.

NGX personalized nutrition * – NGX reached out to me when they read on social media that I was having trouble loosing weight.  Their USP is that they offer genetic screening (via a cheek swab) that influences what ingredients goes into your custom meal replacement shake.  I am also lucky enough to be meeting with one of their nutritionists, Becca, to develop a food strategy.  After submitting a three day food diary and lots of paperwork about my health history and what I want to work on (weight loss and energy levels), I met with Becca today to review this in conjunction with my DNA test results.  The personalized powder has arrived and Becca will send me my meal plan tomorrow.  Avoiding meal prep will save me some time which I can use on exercise or the blog.  Win-win!

Small rechargeable fan – We stayed at a friends’ house  a few weeks ago and they put this small fan in my room  because their top floor bedroom where we were sleeping was very hot due to this crazy record-breaking British summer.  Normally when I sleep, I am freezing cold with extra layers on (and socks!).  Then about a year ago, I would go to bed cold and then wake up hot and sweating.  It just seemed like my body couldn’t regulate its temperature (should have been a big clue!).  But this summer was extremely hot (for the UK) and the temps have lasted for months (unusual for the UK) that means I have had an oscillating fan on every night at home (much to James’ chagrin) to help me sleep.  This alternative fan will help both of us sleep better at night.  It is small but powerful.  With three settings and even a ‘night light’ feature, I can have it next to me on the nightstand without James feeling the breeze.  Because it is rechargeable/cordless, I even used it in my tent when I camped in the backyard last weekend.  It is also handy to put it next to my indoor bike and James can use it in his home office.  Worth every penny!

My Menopause Companion- Someone I know from the London running community, Ellie, sent me a link to her six-week interactive online course which starts on 12 September.  This course has four experts to guide you through the different aspects an influences of menopause (nutrition, exercise, physiological, and hormonal) and how to use these tools to feel better during the transition.  It has even been delivered to NHS employees to help educate staff.  While I am not in full-blown menopause yet, this is a good opportunity to continue learning about menopause and get answers to any questions I may have at the end of each one hour lesson.  Please consider joining me so we can keep the conversation going and empower ourselves with knowledge!

Thinking Slimmer- These podcasts have been something I dip in and out of over the last ten years.  I reached out Thinking Slimmer’s founder, Sandra, to see if she thought her recordings would help with perimenopausal symptoms as these symptoms are influenced by hormones.  She said:

So many women find themselves gaining weight in their late 40s and 50s and it’s often the effects of the menopause. But there IS something you can do about it!! The body goes through huge changes and hormonal shifts at this time. These shifts can lead to increased stress levels and also sleeplessness. All of this combined leads to weight gain. It’s not only about your ovaries and the female hormones, scientists have found it’s really common to see an increase in cortisol, the stress hormone. This results in more visceral fat storage which is why women can experience more belly fat. Then as if this isn’t bad enough, it can also lead to insulin resistance because of higher blood sugar levels. This is also a cause of fat storage.

It’s really important you focus on self care and how you feel. Rather than being totally stressed by what the scales say, look at the individual parts that can be worked on to start managing the process because it can be done. The main things to focus on are your nutrition, exercise, sleep and stress levels. They all play a really important part in reducing the effects of the menopause. The Slimpod programme helps with all four areas and empowers you to take back control, lose weight and keep it off.

You can take advantage of a seven day free trial of Thinking Slimmer here.  It can take a while for some people to see a result, so keep listening to those recordings.  You can read a lot more from about personal experiences in the client Facebook group too.

While I am not sure if any or all of these will work for me, I am hopefully and willing to try just about anything!  My plan is to keep track of the above strategies and symptoms and then go back to my GP with documented evidence to lobby for HRT at the end of the year.  I really hope we can keep the conversation going so we can help each other navigate this next chapter.

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* complementary product offered in exchange for an honest review