Estrogen excess in perimenopause: more periods, PMS, and pain. Here’s why.

More periods, more PMS, more pain?! I thought perimenopause was supposed to be about less…

If you’ve been told that perimenopause means fewer periods, lower estrogen, and less of everything… think again. In the early and mid-stages of perimenopause, many women experience more - heavier periods, more PMS, more breast tenderness, more anxiety, more migraines, more bloating. And it’s all because of one thing: estrogen excess.

Doctors often focus on hormone loss in perimenopause and menopause, but before hormones decline, they fluctuate wildly - sometimes reaching higher levels than ever before. 

If you’re wondering why your symptoms feel worse, not better, this episode will help you understand exactly what’s happening in your body.

What you’ll learn:

• Why early perimenopause is often about too much estrogen, not too little. You’ll understand why your periods may be getting heavier and your PMS more intense, even if you’ve been told perimenopause is all about hormone decline.
• How progesterone is dropping faster than estrogen - leading to estrogen excess. We break down why this imbalance causes mood swings, anxiety, and why you might feel like a completely different person some days.
• Why waiting for hot flushes and skipped periods to “confirm” perimenopause is a mistake. Your body is already giving you signs - learn what they are and how to support yourself now.

Sneak peek:

“We’re told that perimenopause or menopause is all about the decline of hormones. But actually, very early, early, and mid-perimenopause are all about more. More symptoms, more irritation, more PMS, more period pain, more allergies, migraines, headaches - all of that sort of thing. It’s about more hormones, not less.”

Your symptoms are real - and you don’t have to wait for your period to get irregular to do something about them.

If you’ve been dismissed because you’re not having hot flushes, still getting your period regularly, told you’re too young for perimenopause, or feel like your body is working against you - this episode is for you.

The sooner you understand what’s happening, the sooner you ca

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

Have you been feeling completely exhausted, emotionally on edge, so irritated and angry all the time, like your body is working against you, but you've been told you're too young for perimenopause? Maybe you've been dismissed by a doctor, and told, oh, it's just stress. You're a busy mum. Even been prescribed antidepressants or pills to regulate your cycle.

But deep down, like something is off. Something is not right. Well, today you're in the right place because I'm going to explain why perimenopause isn't just about hot flushes and skipped periods. There's a whole bunch more going on before we get there. And that's why so many of you have been struggling for years before, you realize or have it validated that, Oh, right.

Yes. You're in perimenopause or nearly at menopause. So stay tuned to the end because I'll be sharing what's driving your symptoms, and what you can do to smooth this transition and start feeling like yourself again. If we haven't met, Hi, I'm Sarah, the Perimenopause Naturopath, and I've helped hundreds of women over 40 navigate perimenopause with confidence so they can feel great in their bodies and reclaim their mood and energy.

So if you're feeling like you're changing hormones, are hijacking your mood, energy and weight, and you want to change that in a holistic way, then this is the place for you. Because each episode I share with you, my views on what is happening in your body, why you're feeling the way you are and how you can change that with actionable advice to help you move from Chaos To Calm and feel more comfortable in your body again.

So welcome friend to episode number 81 of Chaos To Calm. Today I am sharing why perimenopause isn't just about hot flushes, sweats and fewer periods. First of all, let me introduce you to Emma. That's what we're going to call her today. Emma is probably like you, like me. This is partly my own story, as well as many other women's there too.

You've sat in your doctor's office like Emma, really exhausted, and anxious, It's super irritated. Like when did everyone get so annoying for goodness sake? And Emma felt like her body was betraying her. She wasn't sleeping well. Sometimes she'd wake up at like 2 am, her mind racing and that was it for a couple of hours.

There was no going back to sleep. Other nights she might've slept through, but then woke up feeling like she hadn't rested at all. Like no amount of sleep was making her feel, great. She was just feeling exhausted all the time. Periods were getting heavier. Her mood swings, and her irritation were worse than ever before.

And her belly or waist was expanding. Despite this, she was eating and exercising the same way she always had. If anything, she was actually looking after herself better than ever, in terms of the right things. When she finally brought up perimenopause, she'd done a bit of reading and she was wondering, she was in her forties, and her doctor dismissed it.

Oh no, you're too young. He said, your periods are still regular. You're still having your periods. You're not having hot flushes or anything like that. It's probably just stress. You're just a busy mum. Yeah. Had a similar said to me. And I know lots of you have that said to you as well, but like Emma, she knew something wasn't right.

She knew something was changing and something was different and also didn't want to have to keep feeling this way. And because she wasn't, she didn't want to keep being snappy and angry with her family and with their kids in particular. So, and I know this is where so many of you find yourselves struggling figures with mood swings and brain fog, anxiety, exhaustion like no amount of sleep is fixing that exhaustion. And sure you are a busy mum and you've got a lot on, but like you've been a busy mum for a long time. So what's changed now? Why do you feel so exhausted and overwhelmed by it and so irritated by life? But yeah, you're probably told that you perimenopause because your cycle is still regular and you're kind of too young.

And this is a big problem because lots of people, lots of doctors still define perimenopause by the symptoms that happen when your hormones have completely dropped. But in reality, the first signs of perimenopause are actually caused by hormone fluctuations and going higher than high as well as low.

So it's not just about hormone loss. So I'm going to talk through that this week so you can understand what's happening in your body. Because, we're told that perimenopause or menopause is all about the decline of hormones, but actually early or very early, early and mid perimenopause, so I talked about the five stages of menopause a couple of episodes ago, so go back and have a listen of that if you need to.

Yeah, very early, early and mid are all about more. More, more symptoms, more irritation, more PMS, more period pain, more allergies, migraines, headaches, all of that sort of thing. And it's about more hormones, not less. So that's what we're going to talk about today. So, first of all, it's not a slow decline in perimenopause.

It's a rollercoaster and we kind of have in our head that it's a gradual step-by-step process where hormones slowly decrease until your period stops. Menopause is the final destination. Correct. But perimenopause, well, it's a wild, unpredictable ride, it's a rollercoaster ride you didn't sign up for.

So it's certainly not a slow, smooth decline in your hormone levels. Perimenopause is full of hormone influctuations, hormone influctuations. Oh my gosh, that's not even a word. It's full of hormone fluctuations. can go really high, like higher than high that you used to, but also suddenly drop lower than low the next moment there as well.

And it's those fluctuations that really mess with your mood and your weight and your energy and your sleep. So if we think of it like a rollercoaster in our twenties and thirties our hormones followed a predictable cycle up and down and it was pretty steady, so maybe it was a bit more like the kiddie rollercoaster at the show, but now it's like the ride has gone off the rails, maybe like the, it's not the Mad Mouse at Luna Park, but you knew the rollercoaster that I'm talking about.

It's really high and big drops there as well. And you're thrown off as you go around the bends and it's, it's a wild ride. So some days you feel completely fine and normal. You're like, Ooh, great. I feel good. But the next, like you're exhausted, you're bloated, you're, everyone's annoying and you're snapping at them all for no reason, or you're really reactive or overreactive to what's happening.

And this is because of those fluctuations where one day your estrogen can be sky high and then it's also, making it, and that can contribute to those more symptoms I was talking about period gets heavier, your breasts are tender, anxiety, irritation, that's all worse, but it can also crash down really low through your cycle and leave you really foggy headed, sluggish, gaining weight and really struggling to concentrate.

So this is why, like, in Perimenopause, you can experience both high and low estrogen symptoms sometimes in the same week. And part of the problem is because of progesterone and the progesterone plummet, it makes it all worse. So while estrogen, it's certainly declining, but it's also, if you could see my hands, if you're watching the video, it's rollercoastering up and down on its decline, but progesterone is rapidly declining.

Quickly and significantly, and that makes everything feel worse for you because progesterone is your calming hormone. It balances estrogen. It's like the yin to the yang of estrogen, but it also supports your sleep and helps you feel calm and handle stress. And it modulates your immune system and gives you great skin, hair and nails and all of those things as well.

But progesterone is mainly produced after ovulation. And in perimenopause, we start having anovulatory cycles. So cycles where we don't ovulate, so no ovulation means no progesterone. And that's why that progesterone drop is why you might be feeling more anxious or overwhelmed and emotionally reactive, more sensitive to stress, your life's been busy you've probably been handling the same level of business for a while, but now you're feeling really exhausted by it, like you have nothing in reserve, and it's really overwhelming or you don't know where to start or how to tackle everything.

Maybe, waking up at 3am or having trouble getting to sleep or waking up too early and not being able to go back to sleep. It's a combination of the changing progesterone and your cortisol levels as part of it there as well. So what the combination of your fluctuating estrogen, your declining progesterone creates a relative estrogen excess.

And this can be the root of those early perimenopause symptoms, because even though your estrogen is declining, it is fluctuating wildly, but progesterone is declining even faster. And so, So, like I said before, progesterone is that yin to the yang of estrogen. If progesterone is declining faster than what estrogen is, we've got what we call a relative estrogen excess where estrogen is too high in relation to progesterone.

So even if overall your estrogen levels are lower than what they were in your younger years, you can still have a relative estrogen excess and you can be right near menopause and still have a relative estrogen excess. And so the relative estrogen excess can lead to that more intense PMS and mood swings, heavier periods, increased pain or cramping, more allergies, migraines, headaches, brain fog, forgetfulness, and having a hard time concentrating.

And, you probably still got a regular cycle at this point. So it may not, you may not realize it's perimenopause. Although if you're here listening to me, you probably got some idea of it. But your doctor might not acknowledge that as perimenopause because if you're having a regular cycle that tends to, they can tend to rule you out.

But you don't have to wait until your periods become irregular or you start experiencing hot flushes to take action. This whole, a lot happening in your body before that time. So you'll miss an opportunity to support, nourish your body if you're waiting for hot flushes or like for your cycle to get further apart.

And actually your cycle might get closer together, like shorter. So maybe you've got a 28 day cycle, but now maybe it's last month it was 26 days. from one bleed to the next and then, maybe over the next couple it shortens to 24 or 23. So you might find that they get closer together and heavier before they start moving further apart and getting lighter.

So we have this opportunity in this, this early perimenopause stage to really help support and nourish our body and help it adjust and adapt to those hormone changes and smooth out those fluctuations so they're not severe, so severe and hard for our body to cope with. But we miss all of that if we're thinking, Oh, it's not perimenopause.

So your period is such a great vital sign. It gives you so much information every, whenever it comes, every month or however often it comes and tells you about the state of your body. And if you're noticing changes in it, then something is different, is it your sleep or your stress, your busyness what you're eating or what you're doing?

Or, are you moving into the next phase of life of perimenopause? So, I've got the perimenopause decoder for you to help you work out if you are in perimenopause and what stage you're at. So you can find that at theperimenopausenaturopath.com.au/decoder. But there's also, other things that you can do before you without having to wait for hot flushes to be like, all right, I'm in perimenopause.

So if you haven't already worked out where you're at with regard to perimenopause with the decoder, then you want to be able to know which hormone shifts are at play for you It's not just the estrogen changing and fluctuating. You've also got progesterone, testosterone, melatonin, even changing, and then a tendency to metabolic dysfunction there, insulin resistance, and that's all driving your symptoms, not just weight gain, all your other symptoms there as well.

So, you need to, if you're looking to change your food or your lifestyle there as well, you need to make sure that what you're doing is created for your perimenopausal body. Because your metabolism, and your hormones are changing and, what worked for you those right things in your thirties is probably not going to work now because it doesn't support those things.

Your body's needs, what it needs at this time and supporting your body through this transition. So, you want to use a strategy around this. You want to smooth out those hormone fluctuations. Like I said, you want to reduce that relative estrogen excess and help your body adapt and adjust. I think this is the key.

This is what a lot of things are missing is that they're just focused on trying to create hormone balance when perimenopause is a natural state of imbalance. And so, like, I think it's like trying to chase the end of the rainbow, trying to get hormone balance in perimenopause. That's not what it needs to be about.

What we need to do is help smooth those hormone fluctuations and reduce the extremes, the extreme highs and lows and help your body adapt and adjust to it because your body is very addicted to estrogen. It loves it. Every cell has estrogen receptors so it's difficult for it to adjust to. But we can do it and this is what I help my clients with, as well and why they feel so great because that's how we do it.

We help our body adapt and adjust to it. I think that's, then the end game, that's what we're striving for is helping our body adapt and adjust, to that low hormone state. Now, in terms of learning how to support your body through this transition and, and the strategy around it and the key hormone shifts, how they impact you.

I teach that inside my free training, which is why you're gaining weight after 40, the four hormone shifts you can't ignore. So like I said, it's about, not just weight gain, those hormone shifts impact all of your symptoms and how you're feeling there as well. So you can find that at theperimenopausenaturopath.com.au/4hormones. And yeah, it's free training available on demand to help you understand the hormone shifts that are at play for you. And if you watch the training, there's a unique freebie there for you to help you go and decipher which of the hormone shifts are at play for you.

And so, knowing which phase of perimenopause you're at is one thing, but also with that, the hormone and metabolism decoder that's available through that free training, you can work out which hormones are impacting you and in which way, whether it's a low or high state the most. And then of course, I share with you my strategy about how you can smooth out those and reduce that relative estrogen excess.

So I'll pop that link in the show notes there for you as well. So that is all that I wanted to talk to you about today. Really want you to understand that relative estrogen excess and how perimenopause is not just about declining hormones. So thank you for tuning in to today's episode on why perimenopause isn't just about hot flushes, sweats, and less periods.

If you found it helpful, please make sure to follow the podcast so you don't miss future episodes and tips. And while you're there, if you could rate the podcast or even leave a review, let me know what you'd like to see more of. I love reading your comments and reviews to see what you want to learn more about.

It helps me help you. It also helps more women be shown the show and given the option of transforming their perimenopause from chaos to calm. So thank you so much. I look forward to speaking to you next time.​