One part of my body I have worked to connect with is my menstrual cycle. First, I read some books about my menstrual cycle and perimenopause. If you don’t know, perimenopause is the 7 to 10 years before you lose your period permanently, during which you start to have symptoms caused by changes in your hormones, including hot flashes, itchy skin, trouble sleeping, increased moodiness, depression, suicidal ideation, fatigue, low energy, irregular periods, weight gain, anxiety, and many many more!
Here are the books I read: Period Power by Maisie Hill and Age Like a Girl by Mindy Pelz. I also plan to read Next Level by Stacy Sims. She addresses exercise performance and health during perimenopause and menopause.
Period Power really hammered home the idea of tracking your cycle. Hill instructs you to write down your symptoms and feelings by each day of your cycle. Day 1 of your cycle is when you have a full period…not spotting or just a little blood. This has been incredibly educational for me. The past 6 months, I have noticed that my anxiety and depression gets worse around Day 15 for about 4 or 5 days. I track my symptoms in the Apple Health app, and I also have a paper calendar where I take notes. I show this information to my doctors, and we discuss how to manage symptoms. Right now, I’m using birth control, mental health medicine, and lifestyle changes to help with my symptoms from hormonal changes. While on birth control, the doctors say the testing my hormones would not show what my body is actually doing since the birth control is adding estrogen. It is difficult to determine what symptoms are from PMDD, what symptoms are from perimenopause, and what symptoms are from modern life (food, stress, etc.).
Of course, I am not a doctor – please get help from your doctor. If you doctor is not listening to you or answering your questions, please find another doctor. There are doctors who will help you, but you may have to spend time seeking them out, and choosing by trial and error. Referrals are a great way to identify great doctors. Ask your friends who they like and specifically mention that you need a doctor who listens.
