#003: This week is a total shit show. The ups and downs of the perimenopause
by Valerie |
Riding the perimenopause rollercoaster
This week has felt like a bit of a shit show, to be honest. Maybe it’s the weather, or maybe it’s because I’m trying to tick off everything in my self-inflicted to-do list. After all, we’re now in October (in my mind we are still somewhere in March), maybe it’s because there are only a handful of weeks ‘til the end of the year and I have A LOT to do.
Well, I used to explain the daily emotional and physical rollercoaster away with just having too much on but what if that’s not it? Maybe, just maybe, it’s actually because my hormones are all over the shop. One minute I’m sobbing over a rerun of First Dates, the next I’m writing rage-filled emails to my local MP about hospital care standards. It’s a lot.
Every day feels like a spin the wheel - where will it land, and what version of me will show up today? But, let’s be real - day by day would be a blessing. It’s more like hour by hour.
One minute I’m calm and going with the flow, the next second I’m feeling a bit aggy, prone to outbursts, dangerously teetering on full-blown rage as someone crunches their mid-morning crisps in my ear on the bus.
And I know I’m not alone. We’ve spent the past couple of weeks speaking to other women about their experience with the many faces of peri, and frankly, it’s chaos.
But why does this happen? We discussed this in our Insta live with Dr Georgie Leslie about the many faces of Perimenopause, and why we feel like we have different personalities cropping up at the flick of the switch.
We also hear from Dr Sadhia Khan, who shares more about navigating the rage.. Some juicy but also very simple tips that will maybe save a laptop or two from getting chucked out of the window. Replay the sauciest event we have had yet “Horndog one minute, nun mode activated the next - what’s happened to my libido?” and Deirdre Nazareth helps us understand why you’re feeling sexy AF one minute and bloated like a balloon the next.
Remember: your perimenopause is the least interesting thing about you.
What we're chatting about this week
Why do we have many faces of peri?
As we’ve heard from thousands of women, there are so many different ways to experience the perimenopause. But why? And why haven’t doctors cracked diagnosing it, making women visit their GP an average of 7 TIMES before receiving treatment? We dive into and look at the whole spectrum of perimenopause symptoms and their effects.
The Different Faces Of Perimenopause
The rage is real
Ever wonder why you’re f*cking raging about something you don’t even really give a sh*t about? Dr Sadhia Khan is dissecting why perimenopause can bring out the anger inside us and give us the shortest fuse possible.
Writings On Rage
And breathe...
Start your bedtime routine as you mean to go on and join our first Wild Woman experience - a 30-minute sound bath.
For anyone who hasn’t experienced a sound bath before - in a nutshell, it’s a soothing, immersive experience where you lie back and let vibrations of gongs, singing bowls, and other instruments wash over you. It’s a meditative practice that helps calm your mind, reduce stress, and promote deep relaxation, as the sound frequencies work to realign your energy and balance your body on a cellular level.
It’s like a massage for your mind, basically.
The first time I did one, I rolled my eyes and was like sure - how is sound going to solve anything? I was stressed, wound up, and living in a state of extreme tension. But there is a reason that people have been using sound in meditative practice for thousands of years… it actually works!
WHEN: Thursday 10th October, 8pm
WHERE: @weare.valerie Instagram live (give us a follow)
BRING: Headphones
A Very Short History Of Sound Healing
Replay the IG lives with our experts
Sexy AF one minute and bloated like a balloon the next
Outfit picked. Feeling great, feeling sexy, feeling free. Then BOOM. The bloat. Bridget Jones knickers it is. Again. But why does the bloat come along at the worst POSSIBLE moments? We end up wasting so many good hair days in trackie bottoms and the biggest hoodie we can find.Listen to Deirdre Nazareth, who specialises in treating chronic pain and supporting women’s health. We discussed bloating in depth - specifically, why it happens more often when you’re going through perimenopause and what you can do about it.
Listen Here
Horndog one minute, nun mode activated the next - what's happened to my libido?
Let's talk about sex. And dry vaginas. Yep, especially them. In this chat with Claire Dore, relationship coach, we explored why your libido suddenly shifts from hot to cold, as well as breaking down the hormonal, physical, and emotional changes in the middle of it all that make sex a different experience in perimenopause. Prepare to hear some pure filth (in an educational sense, of course) and how you can reclaim your sexual spark and understand that you're not alone.
Listen Here
From rage to sobbing in a corner - the many faces of perimenopause
Annnnd why am I crying again? In this chat with Dr Georgie Leslie, from the London Hormone Clinic, we dive into the emotional whirlwind of perimenopause. getting to grips with why you can swing from fiery anger to uncontrollable tears at the drop of a teabag (literally happened to us). We’ll help you understand these intense mood shifts, and gain strategies to manage your emotions and find calm amidst the chaos.