Weird perimenopause symptoms no one warned you about

Wait… phantom smells are a perimenopause symptom?!

If you’ve ever found yourself Googling, “Is this perimenopause or am I losing my mind?” You’re not alone.

Hot flushes and mood swings get all the attention, but what about the bizarre symptoms no one warns you about? The phantom smells that only you can smell, the itchy ears that make you feel like a dog with fleas, the skin-crawling sensation that makes you want to jump out of your own body?

In this episode, Sarah, The Perimenopause Naturopath is breaking down the weirdest perimenopause symptoms and explains:

• Why these odd symptoms happen (hint: it has to do with receptors on every single cell of your body).
• Why your symptoms come and go unpredictably.
• What you can do to help your body adapt so these symptoms don’t take over your life.

You don’t have to just put up with this. There’s a way to support your body through the perimenopause rollercoaster, and it starts here.

SNEAK PEEK:

“I hear this all the time from my clients, and I bet you’re Googling it too: ‘Is XX symptom part of perimenopause, or am I losing my mind?’ And I want you to know that you’re probably not losing your mind. There are many weird and wonderful symptoms that come up from perimenopause.”

If you’ve been dealing with bizarre, unexplained symptoms in your 40s or 50s and wondering what the heck is actually happening in your body, this episode is for you.

Hit play and let’s make sense of what’s happening in your body.

Links & Resources Mentioned in the Episode:

• Watch my free training: Why you’re gaining weight after 40: the 4 hormone shifts you can’t ignore 
• Ep74: Improve your sleep 
• Ep 54: How do I detox my liver?

Find out more about Sarah, her services and the Freebies mentioned in this episode at https://www.ThePerimenopauseNaturopath.com.au

• The Perimenopause Decoder is the ultimate guide to understanding if perimenopause hormone fluctuations are behind your changing mood, metabolism and energy after 40, what phase of perimenopause you're in, and how much longer you may be on this roller coaster for.
• For more, follow on Instagram at @theperimenopausenaturopath.

WORK WITH SARAH THE PERIMENOPAUSE NATUROPATH:

• PerimenoGO (because who wants to pause anyway?!) A self-guided program to help you reverse weight gain, boost energy, and reclaim your mood — without extreme diets or cutting carbs. Perfect for women who want a realistic plan that fits around kids, work, and actual life.
• The Chaos to Calm Method: A 1:1 personalised program for women who want a more personalised plan and support — especially if you’ve got 10kg+ to lose, other health issues, or feel like your body’s just stuck. Includes comprehensive blood testing and analysis, Metabolic Balance ...

Transcript

If you've been struggling with bizarre, unexplained symptoms in your 40s or 50s, like smelling things that aren't there, like no one else can smell it, random ringing in your ears, maybe your skin feels like it's crawling, or you're suddenly reacting to foods that you were just fine eating before, I want you to know you're not alone.

It's not all in your head. I hear this all the time from my clients and I bet you're googling it as well. Is XX symptom part of perimenopause or am I losing my mind? And I want you to know that you're probably not losing your mind. There are many weird and wonderful symptoms that come up from perimenopause.

As our body responds to the change in our hormone levels, it responds in ways that you would not have thought it would. I could even know it could be a thing and probably no one's warned you about either. I know that was the case for me. So today I'm going to be breaking down some of the weirdest perimenopause symptoms, the ones that make you question, what the heck is going on in your body and why are they happening?

How could this happen? So I want you to stay tuned until the end because I'm going to share three key things that are really going to help you get on top of these symptoms and start feeling like yourself again. 

If we haven't met before, hello, I'm Sarah, The Perimenopause Naturopath, and I've helped hundreds of women over 40 navigate perimenopause with confidence, feel great in their bodies, and reclaim their mood and energy. So if you are over 40 and feeling like you're changing hormones or hijacking your mood, energy, and weight, and you want to change that in a holistic, realistic way, then this is the place for you because each episode I share with you, my views on what's happening in your body, why you're feeling the way you are and how you can change that with practical, actionable advice to help you move from chaos to calm and feel more comfortable in your body.

So today, as I mentioned, I'm sharing some of the weirdest perimenopause symptoms you might be experiencing, the ones that make you feel like you're going crazy wondering why they happen and wondering, like, are you even going to be able to get through this? How much longer is this going to go on for now?

Perimenopause is known for the big symptoms, the hot flushes, the mood swings, the weight gain, sweats but what you might not know yet, what you might be learning is that every single cell in your body has estrogen receptors. That means everything, from the top of your body to the bottom, from the outside to the inside, from your skin to your sinuses, your brain, everywhere.

And so that means that as your hormones change and fluctuate in perimenopause, your whole body is impacted and affected and it has to adapt and adjust to the changes in your hormones, particularly estrogen. And because estrogen doesn't decline in a straight line, instead it fluctuates wildly on its way down to menopause.

These weird symptoms can come and go and be a little bit unpredictable. Let's get into it and work out so I can help you understand why some of these weird things are happening to you. But also I want you to know that, there are some weird and odd symptoms in perimenopause that you might not be expecting.

But always remember, you don't have to put up with these things just because they're part of perimenopause. So let's first talk about phantom smells. You might feel that you're suddenly really sensitive to scents, but also you might have what's called olfactory hallucinations, and it's where you're smelling something that doesn't exist.

This happened to me, and one day when it first happened, I swore I could smell sawdust. It was, it was everywhere, I was like, can you smell it? Can you smell this? It was like someone, just planed a piece of wood right next to me. And, my husband is a carpenter, so the smell of sawdust isn't unusual in my life.

But this time he wasn't even there. I usually, at least he's here and maybe he's planning wood. I was driving my kids to a homeschool activity and I was like, does anyone else smell that sawdust or is there like a fire? Is there wood burning? And it happened that time and everyone else was like no, mom, you're being weird.

Can you stop? And okay. So that passed, but it kept happening and it happened at all different times. I was trying to track. When was this happening? Why was this happening? What is it from? But it would happen really randomly and sometimes it happened often and other times it didn't. Most of the time my husband wasn't with us.

So when I kept asking my kids, can you smell that sawdust? I can smell sawdust again. Where's the sawdust? They were just like, mom, you're going nuts. Like you're, you're being crazy. You need to stop it. And I actually felt like I was going a bit crazy too. And sometimes it's hard to see what's going on for yourself.

That's why I always say it's much easier, more efficient to work with a practitioner like me, or have someone on your team that can see you from the outside in, or that has experience and a bit more objective than what we are with ourselves. But then I was reading some research or doing something else anyway, and phantom smells.

I was like, of course, of course. I have sinus issues as a background and allergies, which makes me more susceptible to developing the phantom smells, but yeah, phantom smells, especially ones that smell burnt, metallic, smoky, moldy, or musty are really common in perimenopause. So maybe you found yourself going at home. Why is it so, so musty in here?

What's the mold or what needs a washing? And it might just be you that's smelling it. And it could be, perhaps, as part of your perimenopause journey and your hormone change, that you're experiencing these phantom smells, the smells that aren't there except in your nose and your brain.

And yeah, like I said, some of you might not tolerate strong scents anymore, like perfume coffee or some foods that can be part of it too. So there can be some different changes in your nose and your olfactory nerve or that part of your brain that processes that. Because estrogen is, as I said, there's estrogen receptors on all our cells which makes all our cells susceptible to the change in estrogen.

But estrogen also plays a role in how our nose and brain processes smells. So when it fluctuates, it can get a bit glitchy in our olfactory system. So it can maybe either make up smells like those phantom smells or making you hypersensitive to real like smells that are actually there.

So maybe you already have a sensitive nose or a sinus issue. Like I mentioned, I have, you might find that worse in perimenopause that often happens too. The hormone changes can really shine a light on your existing issues and exacerbate those issues and the symptoms or discomfort that comes with them.

So yeah, like I've always had a dodgy sense of smell. I'm super sensitive to strong scents like perfumes, but really unable to smell if the milk is off, it's weird. And I get lots of hay fever and allergies. So it made sense when I reflected that I would get the phantom smells. But I want you to know as well that phantom smells can be linked to migraines.

Sinus issues, epilepsy, stroke, even tumors. So if it is persistent or it's always worth getting it checked out. I did speak to another health professional about it and we had a chat and coincidentally had an MRI to do with my. Migranes so I knew there wasn't anything else going on there except for hormone changes and a bit glitch getting a bit glitchy in my brain there as well.

Now, some things like sinus rinses can help so you can buy little kits or neti pots with the saline rinse there or even the little sprays. Spritzer bottles there as well. They don't need to be medicated. Just saline is fine. They can help if congestion's part of it, or even just with phantom smells, like washing your sinuses out can be helpful.

I use them with great success. I use them still. And I, especially in hay fever season they bring a lot of relief. And as I said, you can get those kits at the health food store. And I'd love to know too, if you've had this, if you've had the phantom smells, please let me know. You can send me a message in the show notes there or add your comment as well.

What's the weirdest smell that you've noticed lately? I'm pleased to say almost two years post menopause and my sawdust smell has left me. My body's adapted, finally, to my lowered estrogen state and my estrogen has also stopped rollercoastering around, it's just settled right down. So, the second most common, but also equally odd or weird feeling, symptom can be related to your ears, so you might get ringing ears or maybe you've found yourself scratching inside your ears like a dog with fleas, or you're getting a random ringing or buzzing or popping in your ears.

Some women even describe like a vibration inside their head, like your ears and your brain is full of static. So again. I've talked, I've mentioned the estrogen receptors on the cells and of course estrogen is part of it. But yeah, in the ones in your ear canal and your inner ear impact how your ears train fluid, process sound, so it impacts the nerves in your inner ear.

And some women can even develop temporary tinnitus, so that's that ringing in your ears as your circulation changes because of estrogen. So these things can be quite debilitating with your ears, like tinnitus and, and ringing in your ears can be really problematic. So, of course, don't just accept this as a part of Oh, well, it's part of your perimenopause.

That's just how it is. You've got to put up with it for the next, two to ten years. Please do talk with a health professional and there's a lot, that you can do with your food and your drink and, or maybe, Hormones might be suitable for you to help relieve that there as well. But, you don't know if you don't ask or don't get it checked out and there can always be other reasons or issues behind these conditions.

So it is important to discuss it with a health professional. So the last one I want to talk about is your eyes. I've got a head thing today, and dry eyes. So maybe this one is a bit more commonly talked about because when I was trying out contact lenses for lacrosse, I've never worn contact lenses before.

And I was in my mid forties I'd spent ages trying to get them in and out. I am a bit grossed out by sticking my fingers right near my eyeball, so that's part of the problem as well. But at one point the optometrist just said to me, oh yeah, dry eye is really common when you, within women your age here's some drops.

Try these and they'll lubricate your eyes and yeah, that was a bit better, but still, I was too grossed out by sticking my fingers near my eyeball. And most of the time I just give up and play without them because of that combo of dry eyes and the ick factor there as well. So yes, estrogen, of course, we're talking about that today.

It supports your tear gland function. So when your estrogen levels are declining overall, your eyes don't get the moisture that they need. And you might even notice that you have some other changes in your eyes. Like maybe you become a lot more light sensitive, or it might take longer for your eyes to adjust between light and dark.

Or if you've been reading closely and you look up, you might get see more blurred. You might have to blink a bit harder to focus long distance there as well. And of course, we all notice that the labels get a lot smaller as we get older. And it gets a lot trickier. I wish my arm was a bit longer sometimes when I'm in the supermarket looking at the labels.

So, two things I want you to take away from this episode today. I want you to know why these symptoms happen and that's all to do with your changes. All the ones that I've mentioned today are mostly to do with the changes in your estrogen levels, because there's estrogen receptors on all your cells.

So I want you to know that as well, that it can be full body wide, that your perimenopause symptoms is not just limited to those classics of hot flushes, sweats and insomnia, maybe some mood or energy changes as well. And of course your period getting further and further apart until it doesn't come at all.

There's a really wide, spectrum of symptoms and it's a it's a phase of life and there are stages of perimenopause as well like I talked about it in the last episode about the phases of perimenopause and there's different symptoms that are sort of more classic at those different phases as well.

So, yeah, while the endgame is less hormones in the lead up to that, it's a lot about more, more irritability, more period pain, more PMS, more heavy bleeding, stuff like that. And you can get these odd symptoms as well. So rather than gaslight yourself and tell yourself it's all in your head or you're going crazy or whatever else it is that you are saying to yourself, know that you can have more unusual symptoms of perimenopause.

And that my freebie, the perimenopause decoder, which you can access via the show notes. It helps you work through the different symptoms and see which ones are at play for you. So you can also see what phase you're at and how much longer this might go on for. But I also want you to know that there is a lot that you can do to help your body better adapt and adjust to the changes in your hormones.

So, let's talk about what can really help for you. And I want you to know that what you eat, drink and do really matters. So, we don't have to just resign ourselves to the symptoms. We don't just have to accept them because, oh, perimenopause. Like I said, there can be other reasons underlying it.

And I know a lot of people, a lot of women get dismissed, as, Oh, you're a busy mum or it's perimenopause rather than having their concerns investigated and validated, and it can be missed. Significant health issues can be missed because of this. So, I know it's uncomfortable and it feels hard, but I'm suggesting that you keep pushing and keep asking for investigations or to find what the real root cause is, what's underlying how you're feeling.

And also, let's talk about all those weird and wonderful symptoms that you might be experiencing. So that we can kind of see how common they are, but also know that we're not alone. And In that as well. So yeah, what you eat, drink and do really matters the right eating, eating foods and supporting and nourishing your body, giving it the nutrients the amino acids, the fats and, and the vitamins and minerals that it needs to build healthy cells that work in the way that they're meant to really, really along with your lifestyle and your daily habits, there as well, really helps your body better adapt to the hormone changes and adjust to that overall decline, but be less reactive to that, the rollercoastering estrogen and the progesterone plummet there as well.

It also helps smooth out the fluctuations. So I mentioned that, estrogen kind of rollercoasters, and it goes really, really high and really, really low. So that's, a lot for your body to try and deal with. But we can, by, Thinking about what we eat and drink and do and supporting, body and it's, metabolism of hormones, we can smooth out those fluctuations, make it less like a really scary roller coaster.

And more like the kiddie one, like just gentle ups and downs. As we are cyclical women and, our hormones are meant to fluctuate around, the day and the month, but we want to just smooth that out. So it's not just a hectic and chaotic for our bodies to try and adapt to.

And that can be really helpful with reducing odd symptoms. Just, generally supporting and nourishing your body and looking after it in this way so that it can better cope with that change. That change in the fluctuation, then we can, feel better and more comfortable in our bodies as well.

As like perimenopause, there's so much change and flux in our body and physiology, like there's a lot of change in our physiology and our brain and everything. So, by providing and supporting and nourishing it, we really get the opportunity to influence our long term health.

brain health and our physical health there as well. I've been thinking a lot about it lately, particularly with regard to ADHD and our brains and our brain health in the context of a modern world with devices in our hands, a lot of the time and the brain re rewiring that happens in perimenopause.

So I'm actually going to do a future episode on that and really talk through that and talk it out. But I want you to know that what you eat, drink and do really matters, particularly at this phase of life. So while you might feel like I don't have time to look after myself, it's actually a really great time to look after yourself and you'll reap the rewards of it for the next 40 years of your life.

So I want to talk to you about building a stress resilience. I haven't talked about it for a while, so it's time to bring it up again and remind you instead of thinking about trying to remove stressors, which isn't always possible, like let's be real. A lot of you have a lot on your plate.

You might be in paid work, you've got kids you're running around and managing them and a home and parents and all the rest of it. What we can do because our stress resilience declines in perimenopause and because of our hormone changes. So we need to work on supporting our body's ability to handle that stress better, to be more resilient and less reactive.

Because when we're in that fight or flight mode in a stress response mode, our body's not so equipped to adapt or adjust to the hormone fluctuations as, as well. So, it's a, a vicious cycle that we get stuck in there with the stress hormones like cortisol and, and the fluctuating estrogen and other neurotransmitters or, our brain compounds that control our mood and energy.

Yeah, so it, by building our stress resilience and working on that, then we're better able to handle it. And sleep is a really important part of building our stress resilience. So not scrolling on your phone in the evening and prioritizing getting seven to nine hours sleep each night is a really easier way to do it than anything else, really, it's so good for our brains and our bodies sleep so if you do nothing else then I would say go back and make sure you've listened to my episode on sleep and why you need to prioritize it and how to make it happen a bit easier in perimenopause as well. And the last thing I wanted to just touch on was supporting your gut and liver function there as well because these organs are really responsible for processing or metabolizing and eliminating, excess hormones.

Detoxifying, that's what our liver does every day and it uses our gut, our bowels, our bowel motions and our urine via our kidneys to do that. So we need to keep them happy because that helps reduce perimenopause symptoms overall. It makes that hormone rollercoaster like the kiddie coaster instead of the Tower of Terror.

So it smooths out those fluctuations instead of getting those really high estrogen highs and then the crashing lows, which take our mood compounds and neurotransmitters with it too, and make us feel horrible and grumpy and irritated and angry. We can smooth that out. So it's a bit gentler, much easier for our body and our cells to adapt and adjust to.

So remember, like I said at the start of the episode, that all of our cells have estrogen receptors on them. So as our estrogen declines, our cells miss that, they have to get used to a world without it. And they have to and that can be hard, especially when it's changing moment to moment there as well.

So those are my three tips for you, there. Of course, I've got lots of resources on my blog and in earlier podcast episodes about, the perimenopause diet, what to eat, what to drink, how to build your stress resilience. Sleep is an easy way to do that, but there's lots of other ways as well.

And supporting your gut and liver function. I've got three or four different episodes on your liver as well to help you with that as well. So, but if you want to know more about the strategy or my strategy, what I use with my clients to help them feel better in perimenopause and beyond, then I have a new freebie, a new resource available to you.

It's a free training, why you're gaining weight after 40, the four hormone shifts that you can't ignore. So yes, it is about weight and weight management, but it's also about more than that. It's about understanding that strategy that you need to feel better in perimenopause and beyond, whether your struggle is bloating or phantom smells, itchy ears or stubborn weight game.

So you can watch it anytime on demand at theperimenopausenaturopath.com.au/4hormones or I'll put the link in the show notes for you, of course, along with the links to those other episodes and resources that I've mentioned today. So thank you so much for tuning in.

Make sure that you follow Chaos to Calm podcast. So you don't miss any future episodes. And if you found this one helpful or any others, then please leave a review. It really helps more women be shown or find this podcast and helps them to learn the skills and tools to transform their perimenopause experience.

So that my friend is all for this episode. And today, thank you again for sharing your time with me until next time, keep transforming your perimenopause from chaos to calm.