Feeling confused about perimenopause symptoms and frustrated by unreliable hormone tests? You're not alone. Join us on the Uncomplicated Perimenopause Podcast as we share Debbie journey through anxiety, itchy skin, and fatigue, despite her blood tests showing normal results. Learn why hormone levels fluctuate during perimenopause, rendering tests unreliable on any given day, and discover how NICE guidelines empower women over 45 to be diagnosed based on symptoms alone, without the need for blood tests. We provide reassurance that these concerns are valid, manageable, and part of a common experience many women face.
Why does perimenopause remain a lesser-known topic despite its inevitability? This episode dives into the emotional and physical challenges women encounter and the critical need for awareness and understanding. We introduce the perimenopause symptom tracker as an essential tool for self-advocacy in healthcare settings. Additionally, we stress the importance of supportive conversations with loved ones and address impactful symptoms such as insomnia and loss of libido. Join us as we bring perimenopause into the spotlight, ensuring women are better informed and supported throughout this significant phase of life.
For my information about my coaching: 1-2-1 coaching, group programmes, workshops, etc. please go to https://kategrosvenor.com.
If you would like to shop for perimenopause supplements, my book "The UncompliKated Guide to Perimenopause", bamboo nightwear & lingerie, chemical free cleaning products, etc. please visit: https://kategrosvenorlifestyle.com
If you would like to buy my perimenopause book on Amazon UK you can buy it here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/UncompliKated-Guide-Perimenopause-Down-Earth/dp/B0CL6WYW4W
If you would like to buy my perimenopause book on Amazon US you can buy it here: https://www.amazon.com/UncompliKated-Guide-Perimenopause-Down-...
Feeling confused about perimenopause symptoms and frustrated by unreliable hormone tests? You're not alone. Join us on the Uncomplicated Perimenopause Podcast as we share Debbie journey through anxiety, itchy skin, and fatigue, despite her blood tests showing normal results. Learn why hormone levels fluctuate during perimenopause, rendering tests unreliable on any given day, and discover how NICE guidelines empower women over 45 to be diagnosed based on symptoms alone, without the need for blood tests. We provide reassurance that these concerns are valid, manageable, and part of a common experience many women face.
Why does perimenopause remain a lesser-known topic despite its inevitability? This episode dives into the emotional and physical challenges women encounter and the critical need for awareness and understanding. We introduce the perimenopause symptom tracker as an essential tool for self-advocacy in healthcare settings. Additionally, we stress the importance of supportive conversations with loved ones and address impactful symptoms such as insomnia and loss of libido. Join us as we bring perimenopause into the spotlight, ensuring women are better informed and supported throughout this significant phase of life.
For my information about my coaching: 1-2-1 coaching, group programmes, workshops, etc. please go to https://kategrosvenor.com.
If you would like to shop for perimenopause supplements, my book "The UncompliKated Guide to Perimenopause", bamboo nightwear & lingerie, chemical free cleaning products, etc. please visit: https://kategrosvenorlifestyle.com
If you would like to buy my perimenopause book on Amazon UK you can buy it here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/UncompliKated-Guide-Perimenopause-Down-Earth/dp/B0CL6WYW4W
If you would like to buy my perimenopause book on Amazon US you can buy it here: https://www.amazon.com/UncompliKated-Guide-Perimenopause-Down-...
Speaker 2:
Welcome to the Uncomplicated Perimenopause Podcast.
Speaker 1:
I'm Kate Grosvenor, your friendly perimenopause expert and life coach, and I'm Gabriella Kate's daughter, representing all the women who are nowhere near perimenopause but want to understand it better.
Speaker 2:
Whether you're just starting your perimenopause journey deep into it, or you're a loved one trying to support someone who is, we've got you covered.
Speaker 1:
We'll be answering all of your burning questions, exploring the ups and downs and sharing expert advice and personal insights.
Speaker 2:
So grab a cup of tea, get comfy and let's dive into the wonderful, sometimes wild, world of perimenopause together.
Speaker 1:
And remember, no matter where you are on your journey, you are not alone.
Speaker 2:
Welcome to the Uncomplicated Perimenopause. Hello, my darlings, and welcome to episode two of the Uncomplicated Perimenopause podcast. My name is Kate Grosvenor. I'm a perimenopause expert and life coach.
Speaker 1:
And I'm Gabriela Grosvenor, Kate's daughter, and here to learn with all the viewers.
Speaker 2:
So every single week I'm going to be answering all of your burning questions on perimenopause. I don't get to see the questions in advance. Gabriela does so. In the notes below the podcast you will see a whatsapp number and the link to our perimenopause group on facebook. You can ask me any single questions you want. Gabriella gets to choose them every week. I don't see them and she gets to ask me live on the podcast. So, my lovely, what's the question for this?
Speaker 1:
week please. So this question is from debbie. Hi, debbie, who discovered you on tiktok. Oh, thank you. She's from bolton and is 45 years old. Okay, and debbie is unsure if she's in the perimenopause stage currently. She's always feeling anxious, her skin feels itchy. Yeah, she's extremely tired and has lost all interest in sex.
Speaker 2:
Oh bless yeah.
Speaker 1:
She thinks she's at the perimenopause stage, but when she went to get her blood test done recently at the doctor's, her test came back as normal. What should she do? Is she going mad? Oh Debbie, oh bless her.
Speaker 2:
You're not going mad, darling. I absolutely promise you that. Please understand this. This is something I hear, literally, I think, every single day. I get this version of this question in my TikTok inbox, in my Facebook group, in my emails, pretty much every single day. So I promise you you're not going mad.
Speaker 2:
So, first and foremost, the test for perimenopause is incredibly unreliable. The reason being they're testing two hormones. They're testing your FSH levels and your LH levels, which are testing basically they're looking at your body's oestrogen and when your ovary is releasing an egg and all this kind of stuff. Anyway, the point being, do you remember last week in the show we were talking about how that your oestrogen during your cycle as a 24 year old, that you know, you know yourself that your mood goes up and down, yeah, during your month, and that's because your oestrogen goes up and down during your normal cycle. So your oestrogen is like a wiggly wiggly line, like every single month, sometimes it's higher, sometimes it's lower. Is this daily? It can change. Well, yeah, I mean it doesn't go like will you every, every day, but throughout the month it goes higher and then it goes lower. So in perimenopause it does the same thing, but as it goes higher and lower. It's also going down.
Speaker 2:
So progesterone during perimenopause goes down in a straight line. So once we start our perimenopause journey, it just goes on a steady decline. Oestrogen doesn't do that. It goes up and down as it declines. So it kind of goes in a kind of roller coaster as it goes down. In a kind of roller coaster as it goes down. So herein lies the problem. When they're testing for your FSH and LH levels, they could test you today and they could test you in a week's time and you would get completely different readings. So you could test me today not me personally, because I'm 50, so I'm on the other side but you could test a 45 year old today and she would be in normal levels, in inverted commas, and then next week you could test her and she would be deficient so it's just luck of whatever day, yeah look, oh so this is the problem.
Speaker 2:
So if Debbiebie's gone to, it is debbie, isn't it? Yes, sorry, you're checking perimenopause brain fog at its finest. She goes to the doctor on one day and the doctor says no, you're absolutely normal. Yeah, if she'd have gone maybe four days after, she could be deficient, okay, but they're not going to test it every single day no first day period.
Speaker 2:
So the problem is that and it's not their fault, yeah, but they just test it on the day. So the bad news is sorry, yeah, you got the wrong day. That's the bad news. The good news is, if you're 45 years or above in the UK, you do not have to have a blood test to be to be diagnosed with perimenopause. Oh wow, okay. So the NICE guidelines and they're nice, not me normally that lovely, not that kind of nice nice is an NICE guidelines in the UK say that if you're a woman or you know you have a menstrual cycle, you can be diagnosed with perimenopause just on the fact that you are presenting with some vasomotor symptoms, vasomotor symptoms being you have either a night sweat or hot flash. And you're 45. Oh wow, so you can be given hrt. You can be prescribed hrt if that's what you want to, or you can be given some, you know, helped with anything else yeah, because you know your body better than anyone else I'm sure so at some point somebody's going to be asking me about hrt yeah
Speaker 2:
but whatever you, whatever roads you choose to go down, if you want to go down the homeopathic route or the lifestyle route or the hrt route, any which way, you can be officially diagnosed with perimenopause. If you're 45 years and above, you're having some kind of vasomotor symptoms if you're 45 years, that's really cool, actually right. So you don't need to have a blood test. So why does your doctor not know? That is because they don't have to have up-to-date perimenopause or menopause training. Oh, what I know? I mean it only affects 51 of the population only. So why? Why would they need to go back and have that? It's optional. It's optional for doctors to learn, go back and have the up-to-date top up. They don't not all doctors have to go back and do it again, but the thing is that quite often, like the senior nurse practitioners will have that training. I personally like to recommend quite often that you go and see a senior nurse practitioner, quite often because they might be of menopausal age. They deal more often with gynae issues. You might get a more sympathetic ear.
Speaker 2:
You might have a senior nurse practitioner that's got more experience dealing with things like this. That happened with you. Yeah, isn't it? Yeah, that's how I. That's how I first got somebody that was paying attention after I'd gone through. I mean, I can't sit here and say that the doctors didn't try and help me but they were of little to no use. Sorry, okay, sorry, they were really kind, yeah, but they wouldn't listen anyway. Yeah, so not doing a doctor bash because they're they were very kind to me and they really tried, but, yes, so the other thing that you can do.
Speaker 2:
If so, then the next question is what do I do if I'm under 45? Yeah, because that's an issue. So press e for you, go to the notes in the show and you can download my free paramotor pulse tracker. Now I've had women that are in their 30s fill this out, give it to their doctors and their doctors read it and go. Yes, I am. I think you have got enough paramotor pulse symptoms and they have been given HRT so it can start. There have been very, very, very, extremely rare cases of perimenopause starting in teenage. Really, yes, the normal age. Okay, so let's do the maths on this the normal age of perimenopause of menopause.
Speaker 1:
So what is menopause?
Speaker 2:
Menopause is one day in time. So what is menopause? Menopause is one day in time, so menopause is one day to the day one year since you last had a menstrual bleed. Okay, so it's one day, okay, and everyone talks about menopause like that's the whole stage of life. Is menopause? Menopause is one day, so it's one year since you had a last period. Perimenopause is the 10 years before menopause. So if the average age in the uk is around 51 to 52, for women of color it can be slightly later, so, but it's, it's about that, about 50, let's say approximately 51, okay, okay. So if you're going to go 10 years before, you're looking about 40 to 41 for perimenopause, however you're, it could be 15 years that you start symptoms. So we're already on 35, yeah, and it could start five years earlier than that. Right, are you with me? So they go. So doctors are looking at the age of 50 yeah, and I'm going wait a minute, it could start at 35.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, it could start 32. So although, yes, technically people are going well, it's 50, I'm going well, it could be 30, though bless. So we need to be aware of it. That's the point. We need to be talking about it, we need to be aware of it. So, 117 symptoms, right? 117 does not mean that every single woman is going to have 117 symptoms.
Speaker 2:
This is thank you for clarifying just everybody breathe with me, we're all okay, nobody panic. So I obviously have done years and years and years of research and I have spoken to thousands of women who are all perimenopausal age, who have all told me their symptoms and I've collated the data and cross-referenced it. So this is all of their symptoms cross-referenced, and when enough women tell me their symptoms of what's going on with their body, it ends up in here Okay, so it's not that every woman will have 117 symptoms. It's just me wanting to say listen, these are the things that are going on with women's bodies at the time that they are going through perimenopause. Yeah, so this is what could be happening to you at that time.
Speaker 2:
My whole mission with this perimenopause conversation and dialogue is I don't want you to feel like, like debbie said, like you're going mad. Yeah, I don't want you to feel like, like Debbie said, like you're going mad. Yeah, I don't want you to feel like there's something happening with your body that you're out of control with. Yeah, do you remember when you first started your periods? How scary it was? Yeah, I remember you coming to me and going.
Speaker 1:
I know, you know and it is awful, it is yeah do you remember the feeling of like I'm bleeding? Yeah, yeah, and this is abnormal and why?
Speaker 2:
and my tummy pain and yeah, and I've only just got back and now you're telling me about this and you know, obviously I've gone through it then with, with your sisters, but it's then it's the same kind of feeling with perimenopause. It's, it's like what's happening to my body. Why am I getting all these things, what you know? And just because we're we're, I mean grown-ups, it's overrated. But just because you, you, you're an adult, it doesn't make it any less scary so why are periods so talked about, when periods are inevitable, and so is perimenopause?
Speaker 1:
why is one talked about more than the other? Why is one? Why do we know about one?
Speaker 2:
I wish I knew. Okay, my mum I mean my mum died obviously a while ago now, so I never had that conversation with her, because my mum died when I was 33.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, so you were too young, so I was too young to have that conversation with her.
Speaker 2:
But my generation of women, our mums, went through the change. Yeah, what? What was the change? I don't know what that really was yeah so it wasn't discussed. It's only in the last I'm going to say two, three years that this voice is being given a name yeah and we're we're having this conversation.
Speaker 2:
Perimenopause I didn't know until I started going through it what it was. I wrote a book on it because I didn't find enough information on it, even menopause I I deliberately didn't write a book on menopause because I was like, hey, it's not menopause. Yeah, yeah, menopause is something that happens to you at 50. I wanted to write a book about what happens when you're in your late 30s and 40s because I was like I want women to know it's. It's not a 50 year old problem. Yeah, I wanted to talk about what happens earlier and bring that to women's attention.
Speaker 1:
So, anyway, yeah, that's don't worry, we are the voice. We will be the voice for you yeah, and, and, and.
Speaker 2:
20 year olds need to know yeah because they need and and teenagers need to know, because you need to talk to your mums about it and give them a break yeah be nice it does help actually, since, understanding your symptoms, what you go through, you're a lot more understanding and patient, as a loved one.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, you've sympathized, you understand. You're like, oh bless, a hot flash, or you've not slept, so I'm really sorry. You're not feeling this food today, you're not feeling this and it's like, oh, what can we do?
Speaker 2:
to help. My girls are very cute, to be fair. I mean, there's days when I just have insomnia.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
Like the sleep fairy did not come.
Speaker 1:
The sleep fairy.
Speaker 2:
The sleep fairy, just Not the sleep fairy, the sleep fairy, just buggered off and did one honestly. So anyway, the perimenopause symptom tracker. It's free, genuinely, it's free. You can go and download it from I'll put the link into the show notes, but it's wwwmyparementpalsymptomscom. It's all the symptoms and a tracker and I've had clients in the 30s that have filled it out, taken to the doctors and because it's black and white evidence and you can say this is what I've had, this is how often I'm having these symptoms, they can look at it. I've had people fill it out and they've taken it to their doctor, who's previously said absolutely not Like as not Sorry, that's a Made in Chelsea reference. It's our guilty pleasure, if you know, you know, if you know, you know it's Maverick. But they've taken it to a doctor, a female doctor, who's proven. He said no, yeah, they've taken her the tracker and she's gone. Oh, I've got some of these symptoms in my late 30s. I've seen so many women comment on that and then the doctor's gone. Oh, I'm going to download that, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:
And started using it herself.
Speaker 1:
They take it a bit more seriously actually. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:
Showing them the track. Yeah, yeah, um, so yeah. So you can download a free copy of that and I'll put the link to my book. Chairman's plug. But I'll put a link to my book as well, which is the uncomplicated guide to perimenopause.
Speaker 1:
I'll put a link to the book in there as well do you think doctors now appreciate you more or get every time they see this symptoms checklist go?
Speaker 2:
oh god, not that bloody woman again.
Speaker 1:
I don't know like do they appreciate it or do they go? Oh, this woman.
Speaker 2:
I don't know the answer to that question. I haven't had any hate mail Someone. Let us know. Let me know if my name is now mud in the medical community, please. So, yes, so, debbie, download that, fill it out and don't take no for an answer. Your rights as a 45 old are to have to be listened to, to be taken seriously. So download it, go back again and know and download the nice guidelines, print them out, hand them to your doctor. I know this sounds and I don't mean that you need to be patronizing to your medical professionals because you don't, but they may not know the latest guidelines. So take a copy of the guidelines and just go in there and say according to the NICE guidelines, I don't have to have a blood test to be diagnosed. I can just go and have that done anyway.
Speaker 1:
So when it comes to Debbie's symptoms like losing interest in sex, Okay.
Speaker 2:
So libido that's what it basically a lot your sex drive is. In medical terms is the libido Very, very normal, and it's one of the most distressing parts of perimenopause. Unfortunately, it's actually nothing to do with really estrogen and progesterone as much as it's to do with testosterone. So a common misconception is that testosterone is a male hormone. Women also have testosterone and we have more testosterone than we have estrogen testosterone and I said this in the last episode testosterone is not prescribed on the nhs. You can't get testosterone. You can't get tested for it. You can't get prescribed it. You can get it done privately, that there is that option.
Speaker 2:
What I would say is it is an issue in that it is a desire that that does leave you and I get it and it is a problem. It can be a problem in your marriage and it's a problem within yourself as well, because sex isn't an enjoyable part of womanhood and you don't want to be without that part of your relationship. Yeah, so there are things that you can try more naturally first. So what I would say is start with something like Maca Root, m-a-c-a Root. It's available in all good retailers. Start with that. That can help stimulate a bit of interest. Also you can try Ginkgo Biloba. That might help as well. Say that again, sorry, ginkgo Biloba, I'll put links. These are are all herbal remedies so you can start with those to begin with and see if that helps.
Speaker 2:
Okay also if you start on HRT. So some women when they when, if they start an HRT which we now know that Debbie can have she can be prescribed it based on her age and symptoms, especially if she feels in the track and goes back to a doctor again, she definitely is entitled. She may feel that when she has the oestrogen and progesterone which is what she will get if she goes back and I ask for hrt, she may find that she that will be enough to alleviate some of the other symptoms and so she will feel like her libido does come back to her. Okay, if it doesn't, then try their maca and ginkgo biloba and if not, then you can look at getting tested and treated privately for testosterone, female testosterone. So that will be the route. So start with the HRT, add the macaroot, add a ginkgo biloba, get tested and prescribe testosterone will that help with her fatigue as well?
Speaker 2:
that would help with fatigue. Chronic fatigue as well comes with testosterone generally, but again, those would be the three stages. So I'd go HRT first, ginkgo, bil biloba, macaroon and just generally with the HRT. Because if you didn't tell me if you're getting vasomotor symptoms, so if you're getting night sweats and things like that, sleep is the. Obviously. It goes without saying. Sleep is one of the biggest or lack of sleep is one of the biggest contributors to fatigue. So look at at your sleep. Make sure you're getting deep sleep. We need a lot of deep sleep in perimenopause. So look at influencing your sleep. So make sure that you're getting deep sleep.
Speaker 2:
I talked last week about bamboo pajamas. Yeah, game changer, I'll put the link to our bamboo pajamas in the show notes as well, because night sweats if you wear things like cotton, or if you wear things like cotton, the cotton will get wet and then you'll wake up because you'll be cold and damp. That will wake you up. Don't get anywhere near polyester. For the love of all things, all things sweaty. Don't get near polyester or anything when you're sleeping. It does make a difference. Don't, just please don't do that. So make sure that the room is cool and that you've got layers on your bed and tell me about. You know, take care of your sleep. We will do more podcasts on sleep as well yeah, make sure you're getting good quality rest.
Speaker 2:
What was it on? Itchy ears? Her skin feels itchy, itchy skin. Okay, hrt should help that collagen. I don't know with the timing of the show versus what's happening, but I, in the next few weeks, I'm bringing out a collagen supplement that's specifically designed for perimenopause. Surprise, ta-da, um. The reason I'm doing this is I've had it. I've sourced it and designed it specifically for women in perimenopause because it needs to be done in the market, which hasn't been done yet. It's designed for skin, hair, nails and joints. I've sourced it from Sweden, so we know where the cows are from. They're from a specific field in Sweden and it's been created for me or for us, specifically.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
For that reason. So if it's not available yet, email me and I'll let you know exactly when it's available in the next few weeks. That will help with your skin. It will also help with your joints. It will also help with any itchiness in general. It will help with your just the whole. Help with any itchiness in general. It will help with your just the whole skin thing. That's amazing. Hold on for that one in the next few weeks. Um, it's on its way, but that will be the best thing for that what were the anything else?
Speaker 1:
she feels like constant anxiety because of these symptoms okay.
Speaker 2:
Your heart, health and paramotor is very, very important. You need to be extremely aware of your sugar intake. This in itself is a whole podcast. Be very aware of your sugar intake in perimenopause because you can become insulin resistant. So if you consume too much sugar in perimenopause, what your heart can do is start to try and burn it off, and especially at night time. So if you get into bed and your heart's doing this debbie, it's not that you're anxious, necessarily. It could be your heart trying to burn off the sugar. That's one part. So, if it's a night time thing, it may be that if you eat sweet and chocolate which I'm not judging you, because chocolate is my Achilles heel, so just be aware of that.
Speaker 2:
I'm not facts, okay, but, and the other thing is that perimenopause will make you feel anxious about things that you never felt anxious about before. And that's not you, my love, that's all of us, okay, all of us. So, for example, if you never felt anxious about driving before, at night time, you might feel anxious about driving now, okay, you might start to feel anxious about social situations that never bothered you before. I don't know why. It's a perimenopause thing. It strips some of your confidence and it's because there's so much going on, you lose I think it's to do as well with the testosterone you lose some of your bravado and it's because you lose some of your, because testosterone is that kind of manly kind of hustle, teenage boy, teenage boy kind of hormone. Yeah, and I think in perimenopause, because you have all the changes and you have all the kind of like fatigue and then you're losing some of these hormones as well. Before you get to the other side, which can feel a bit more peaceful peaceful, a bit more chilled, there's all this kind of emotional turmoil going on. It can make you feel a bit vulnerable and it can make you feel this, as I said, this roller coaster effect and because of that you can feel anxious in certain situations, as well as this generalized anxiety feeling you get from things like the sugar that make you have this kind of heart palpitations and also the dropping oestrogen can cause, causes kind of issues for the heart in general.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, so general advice is be careful of the sugar. Try and stabilize your blood sugar as much as possible by eating protein every meal. Again, the collagen will help. Collagen is is basically 90 something percent protein. Okay, so it's good for you, um, it's good for your heart. And the swedish cows guys. Swedish cows, yeah, swedish cows. But just in general, try and eat healthy fats, try and cut down the sugars, try and eat a nutritiously balanced diet. You know all the good stuff that we know and love will do you good and we will be doing more on healthy diets and things.
Speaker 2:
I hope that helps, my darling, take care of yourself. If you don't get a good answer from your doctor, by the way, it is your right to ask for a different doctor. Don't take no for an answer. All right, my darlings, I hope that helps. Thank you so much for your questions. Don't forget, keep on asking the questions and we will keep on answering them. Thank you, take care, my darlings. Bye. Thanks for joining us today on the uncomplicated perimenopause podcast. We hope you found this episode helpful and inspiring.
Speaker 1:
Don't forget if you have any questions or topics you'd like us to cover, you can reach out through our perimenopause group or on whatsapp for more information on my coaching, perimenopause supplements, books or upcoming events, please visit wwwkatebrovnercom and if you've enjoyed today's episode, please subscribe, rate and review our podcast. It really helps us reach more listeners, just like you. Until next time.
Speaker 2:
Remember, perimenopause doesn't have to be complicated. We're here to help you every step of the way.
