Here are the perimenopause symptoms I refuse to normalize + what I’m tracking.
Perimenopause has been giving me a lot to think about lately, and if you follow my stories, you’ve probably noticed I’ve been talking about it more. I’m paying very close attention to what’s happening in my body right now because some of the symptoms I’m experiencing have gotten uncomfortable enough that I don’t want to simply shrug my shoulders and call them “perimenopause.”
Yes, hormone fluctuations during perimenopause are normal, but that doesn’t mean I want to spend years feeling miserable while my hormones figure themselves out. Some symptoms may be common in this phase of life, but I still want to understand why they’re happening, what patterns I can identify, and what I can do to feel better.
Perimenopause symptoms can be common without becoming your new normal
The biggest thing I’ve been dealing with lately is bloating and fluid retention, and I don’t mean the kind of bloating where you ate a giant meal and your pants feel tight for a few hours. I’m talking about waking up with a dramatically distended abdomen, feeling like my entire body is holding water, noticing changes depending on where I am in my cycle, and sometimes wondering what the heck happened because my habits really haven’t changed.
There are other things I pay attention to too, including my sleep, mood, digestion, energy, thirst, cycle, how my clothes fit, how my workouts feel, and whether I feel puffy, lean, inflamed, or completely normal. All of those little details matter because when you start looking at them together, they can tell a much bigger story than one symptom on its own.
I’m tracking symptoms instead of relying on memory
When something feels off, it’s really easy to think, “I feel like this happens every month.” But does it happen on cycle day 8 or cycle day 18? Does it show up after poor sleep, after drinking alcohol, after several harder training days, when digestion slows down, or when food intake changes?
That’s why I started keeping track. Right now I’m writing down the day of my cycle, how much I slept, how I slept, my mood, what I ate, my water intake, bowel movements, bloating, water retention, and anything else that feels unusual. I’m taking all of this information to my doctor because I want us to have something useful to work with. A random snapshot of how I feel during a short appointment can only tell her so much, while patterns over several weeks can give us much more information.
Hormone replacement therapy is part of the conversation
I’ve also been navigating hormone replacement therapy during perimenopause, and I’ll be interviewing my doctor about HRT in the next couple of weeks. I’m excited about that conversation because I know so many women have questions about estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and what hormone therapy can realistically help with. I have questions too.
I want to understand what my own body is doing, what symptoms may be related to changing sex hormones, and what else we should be looking at before making decisions. That distinction matters to me because I don’t want to assume every symptom has one single cause.
Perimenopause and thyroid symptoms can overlap
This is also one of the reasons I keep coming back to thyroid health. Perimenopause symptoms and hypothyroid symptoms can overlap in a big way, with things like fatigue, body composition changes, hair changes, constipation, mood changes, sleep disturbances, feeling cold, metabolism changes, and menstrual changes all potentially showing up in both conversations.
Then we have all the other systems involved, including stress hormones, blood sugar, digestion, minerals, nutrient status, food intake, and recovery. Your thyroid does not operate in its own little bubble, and neither do your ovaries. This is exactly why I’m becoming increasingly interested in helping women understand their thyroid health on a much deeper level.
A normal TSH does not always answer every thyroid question
One thing I want more women to understand is that thyroid testing can go far beyond a single TSH result. Depending on the situation, looking at markers such as Free T3, Free T4, thyroid antibodies, and other thyroid-related labs may help create a more complete picture.
Symptoms matter too. Your labs are information, but so are your sleep, menstrual cycle, digestion, energy, body temperature, recovery, and the way you actually feel day to day. This is where I think women deserve more curiosity and a more complete look at what is going on.
I want answers, not assumptions
I don’t expect my body at 45 to feel exactly like it did at 25. That would be a ridiculous expectation. But I also don’t think every uncomfortable symptom deserves to be written off as aging or perimenopause without asking a few more questions.
Right now, I’m gathering information, watching patterns, working with my doctor, learning more about my hormones, and paying even closer attention to my thyroid, nutrients, digestion, stress, and metabolic health along the way. The more information we have, the better questions we can ask, and sometimes asking better questions is where the real progress begins.
Want to Know What Labs to Run Before Talking About HRT?
Before my appointment, I’m also getting updated blood work done. Since I’m able to order labs for myself, I’m using my doctor’s recommendations to make sure I go into that conversation with useful information already in hand instead of trying to piece everything together afterward.
I know a lot of women are interested in hormone replacement therapy but have no idea what blood work to ask for, what information might be helpful to have beforehand, or how to better prepare for that first conversation with their doctor. So I’m creating a free guide called What Labs to Run Before Trying Hormone Replacement Therapy that will walk you through the labs to consider before your appointment.
If HRT is something you’ve been thinking about, grab the free guide here and take it with you so you can walk into that appointment feeling much more prepared.
I’ll keep sharing what I’m learning as I go, especially where perimenopause, thyroid health, metabolism, and symptoms overlap. There is so much value in paying attention to your body, gathering good information, and going into these conversations with better questions.
Your Coach,
Kyra