Episode 1: From Hot Flashes to Icy Chills: Understanding the Hot & the Cold of Perimenopause

Ever wondered why your body feels like a rollercoaster of hot flashes and sudden chills? Tune in to the inaugural episode of the Uncomplicated Perimenopause Podcast, where I, Kate Grosvenor, a perimenopause expert and life coach, along with my daughter Gabriella, share our personal stories and expert insights into this often misunderstood phase of life. We delve into the frustrations of getting diagnosed and the bewildering symptoms that come with hormonal changes. Our goal is to demystify perimenopause, bridge the knowledge gap, and offer you weekly support and advice so you never feel alone on your journey.

Discover the science behind those relentless hot flashes and chills as we explore the fluctuations of oestrogen, progesterone, and testosterone and their impact on your body. Learn about the hidden dangers of xenoestrogens in everyday products and how they exacerbate hormonal imbalances. Plus, we offer practical, natural tips for managing symptoms, from choosing thermoregulating bamboo clothing to making smart dietary choices. Join us for an engaging and informative conversation that blends expert advice with relatable experiences, ensuring you feel both supported and empowered every step of the way.

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:06

Welcome to the Uncomplicated Perimenopause Podcast.

Speaker 2 0:10

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 1 0:23

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 2 0:32

We'll be answering all of your burning questions, exploring the ups and downs and sharing expert advice and personal insights.

Speaker 1 0:39

So grab a cup of tea, get comfy and let's dive into the wonderful, sometimes wild, world of perimenopause together.

Speaker 2 0:47

And remember, no matter where you are on your journey, you are not alone.

Speaker 1 0:51

Welcome to the Uncomplicated Perimenopause. Hello, my darlings, and welcome to the very first episode of the Uncomplicated Perimenopause Podcast. My name is Kate Grosvenor. I'm a perimenopause expert and life coach.

Speaker 2 1:10

And I'm Gabriella Grosvenor, her daughter, who knows nothing about perimenopause.

Speaker 1 1:15

Which is always funny because people ask me why are you doing a podcast together about perimenopause? And it's a really, really simple explanation. Gabriella works for me in my life coaching business and one of your jobs is to sometimes, if we're promoting, for example, maybe my book, the uncomplicated guide to perimenopause, or an upcoming workshop, your job might be to go through the group and respond to people who are asking for a link.

Speaker 1 1:43

So you were going through the comments one day and you were like, oh, and scared and looking through some of these comments on in the perimenopause group, going, oh my god, really for context, I'm 24, so this is a bit.

Speaker 2 1:59

It's a bit.

Speaker 1 2:00

I've just got the hang of periods so you're going through some of these comments going oh my God, please don't tell me that's the thing. So we decided, didn't we? If you know nothing about perimenopause and I'm the expert on perimenopause if we do a podcast together, then surely, wherever you are in your perimenopause journey, you're going to be somewhere in between the two of us. Yeah, so that's why we're doing our the perimenopause podcast together, so you, the listener, will never feel like you're not being represented because you're going to fall somewhere between the two of us.

Speaker 2 2:37

I'm here to represent all of you guys.

Speaker 1 2:40

And well, they're going to fall, aren't they somewhere between us?

Speaker 2 2:42

and it's okay not knowing, because I don't know.

Speaker 1 2:44

Exactly.

Speaker 2 2:45

And so many other women don't know.

Speaker 1 2:46

And I didn't know, yeah, genuinely until a few years ago. So, yes, I've written a book on the perimenopause and I'm a perimenopause expert. But go back six, seven years and I was where many of you will be, which is being told there was nothing wrong with my hormones, because they actually they didn't even do a test. They refused to do a test. I went through Permanent Wars, at the beginning in lockdown because you were quote-unquote too young yes, because I was too young for that, all of all that.

Speaker 1 3:23

And they tested. They did full blood counts on me. They tested me for slapped face syndrome. They tested me for immune disorders because I had like weird syndromes, like really itchy ears, but only one ear, okay, just one ear, not both. And then I had Did they swap?

Speaker 2 3:43

No, no, okay just the one, yeah, just the one ear constantly and then I had, did they swap?

Speaker 1 3:45

no, no, okay, just the one, yeah, just the one ear constantly and I had so itchy ear, nausea, dizziness, and then I go hot and cold, yeah, but hot and cold, which we're going to talk about today, hot and cold and all kinds of things, and I will do a whole episode at some point on my, my symptoms and my journey, what happened. But we're here today to start answering questions because that's actually what we're going to be doing every week on the show. So in the notes you will find that we have put the WhatsApp number and the link to my perimenopause group on Facebook because we're here to answer your questions every week. So this is kind of your show in that we wanted it to be about your questions and to help you and to make it generated by you, because the perimenopause is one of those things where not enough people know about it and, unfortunately, not enough doctors are educated about it, because and I know that from my own journey and I know that from we have thousands of women now, don't we in the paramedical school?

Speaker 2 4:49

Just over 2,200.

Speaker 1 4:51

I think we had that. How long has it been open? About a year.

Speaker 2 4:54

Something like that, yeah.

Speaker 1 4:55

Yeah, so I have a confession.

Speaker 2 4:59

Uh-oh.

Speaker 1 5:00

No, it's not bad.

Speaker 2 5:01

No, it's not one of those where you go too much information, mummy no just your face.

Speaker 1 5:06

No, I became an almost like an unexpected or accidental expert in perimenopause. I've been a life coach for years. My background is psychology. I talk about my own experiences a lot. My life was a train wreck going back, you know, a decade or so and that's. I use my own experiences, as well as my background in psychology, as well as my own life experiences and all my research and all my experience as a coach. I use all of that to help women avoid some of the pitfalls that I went through and not to have to go through the the train wreck that my life was, yeah, but I use a lot of my learnings to help other women avoid and shortcut the journey, so to speak. And I was talking about perimenopause one day on TikTok. Don't anybody laugh, by the way. 50-year-olds can be on TikTok too Apparently Apparently From the two of us right, by the way, from the two of us, tiktok.

Speaker 1 6:06

I'm not on TikTokiktok. So I have this is not me being bertie big what sits, but I have quite the following on tiktok I have kind of like six, nearly 60 000 followers and I don't know how to make one, so I'll be honest can we just yeah.

Speaker 1 6:20

So if you, if you've been like tiktok, tiktok yes, just to say so. I think I made a couple of TikTok videos on perimenopause and one of them went up like suddenly, shot up to like over 2 million views and I went, oh, people want to know about that, that's okay. And then yeah, that happened. So that's when I realised that women need to know more yeah, and there was and doctors need to know more because they don't need to have more training.

Speaker 2 6:51

Unfortunately, no, yeah. And if everyone's trained, every woman knows about periods, knows about pregnancy, knows about labor, knows about. Why are we not talking about this?

Speaker 1 7:01

another stage of life, enough I know and the thing is not every woman's going to have a baby. Yeah, I'll be pregnant.

Speaker 2 7:08

Yeah but every woman will have periods and go through perimenopause. Yeah, we'll go through perimenopause. So if you're willing to, to read all the books and educate yourselves and we all do on periods and pregnancy, and you read a million books when you're pregnant why wouldn't you do the same? Do you know? Do you know where?

Speaker 1 7:23

I learned my information on periods where so, for all of all of you women that were born in the in the 70s or early 80s, do you remember a book called are you there, god, it's me margaret, what? Yeah, we learned all of our information from there. There was a book called by judy blue and it was called are you there, god? It's me margaret, and we learned everything about periods your period, margaret no, okay, her name was margaret, the girl in the book.

Hormonal Changes and Xenoestrogens

Speaker 1 7:53

Okay, and we learned everything about sex from a from her second book called forever. Okay, because our parents talked to us about nothing that's going on amazon later.

Speaker 2 8:01

I'm searching that later.

Speaker 1 8:02

No, you, just you would laugh your your head off, because we all. This is the thing. So I I have three daughters, so we have lots of open conversations. My mother told me nothing, zero about anything. But anyway, we're not here to talk about my mum and her parenting or lack thereof. We're here to answer questions.

Speaker 2 8:19

Yes, so I've got the first question from vicky hit me with it. Vicky says she knew about hot flashes, but her internal thermostat seems to have gone haywire. She is either having a hot flash or freezing cold. Okay, a, is this normal? And B, apart from layering clothing, what else can she do to help?

Speaker 1 8:39

Okay, good question. Thanks, vicky. First of all, yes, it is completely normal. No, it's not fun. No, so sorry that you're having those symptoms first and foremost. So is it normal? Yes, it is. They're called vasomotor symptoms. We know that when people think about perimenopause and menopause, everybody thinks, oh, hot flashes, the quintessential woman sitting there fanning herself because she's too hot. That's the kind of stereotypical menopause.

Speaker 2 9:07

Okay.

Speaker 1 9:08

So what's actually happening at that point? We have three main hormones. People go three, but we have three main hormones that are really deeply affected by perimenopause Oestrogen, progesterone, testosterone.

Speaker 2 9:24

Yeah, I knew about testosterone and oestrogen. I didn't know about progesterone, testosterone.

Speaker 1 9:29

Yeah, I knew about testosterone and estrogen. I didn't know about pedestrian. Okay, testosterone is one that people think is a man's hormone. Yeah, women actually have more testosterone than estrogen, weirdly freely. Yeah, I know. Oh, okay, but when? Leave testosterone to the side, because we can't even get that on the NHS. Men can get testosterone, women can't.

Speaker 2 9:48

But we have more of it.

Speaker 1 9:49

No, they have more of it than we have.

Speaker 2 9:51

We have more of that than anything else.

Speaker 1 9:52

Yes, oh, okay. The only testosterone that's available on the NHS is male testosterone, and if you want female testosterone, you have to pay for it privately and it's really expensive, right. And you have to pay for it privately and it's really expensive, right, and you can't even get it tested for it on the NHS. It's a sore point, but that's a whole other podcast. Yes, somebody asked that question because I'd love to work on that one. So we're going to talk about oestrogen and progesterone.

Speaker 1 10:20

Okay, oestrogen goes down like a wiggly line. So it's like a wiggly worm. So sometimes it's up, sometimes it's down. So as it declines, it doesn't decline in a straight line. Progesterone declines straight line downwards. Oestrogen is a wiggle, okay, okay. Now what happens is so sometimes oestrogen is there's a big gap between oestrogen and progesterone. Sometimes there's a tiny little gap. What happens is your hypothalamus and your pituitary gland inside your brain are desperately trying to regulate all of this. They're like your thermostat and your temperature control inside your brain. They're trying to regulate your temperature and your hormones and they're having an absolute darn nightmare.

Speaker 2 11:04

Has anyone ever seen inside out?

Speaker 1 11:05

yeah, it's okay, the new one's coming out soon.

Speaker 2 11:08

It's like next week or something and she, the character, actually has hormones now. Oh, bless her.

Speaker 1 11:13

Yeah, yeah really, yeah, that was so cute. Yeah, that is true, okay, so, having an absolute nightmare, and they're desperately trying to regulate all of this and and we have a hard time enough as it is imagine that oestrogen not only declines up and down on a normal cycle, but imagine oestrogen. Think about how your moods change yeah, throughout your monthly cycle at 24. Now imagine that not only is it going up and down like that, but it's also going down as it's going up and down while dealing with ovulation.

Speaker 1 11:44

While dealing with ovulation and you have ovulation kind of deregulation, you have ovulation dysfunction, and then you have something called oestrogen dominance as well. So all of this is going on. So already you're having this nightmare, okay, and then you have oestrogen dominance. Now, oestrogen dominance, when you're in a state of oestrogen dominance, means that you have too much oest estrogen in comparison to progesterone. Okay, this causes you to be moody, crampy, headachy, just really uncomfortable, and you're likely to get a lot of hot flashes at this point, bear in mind, it's all over the place every single day. Yeah, if you add to this xenoestrogens. Xenoestrogens are something that can cause estrogen dominance. So the natural question would then be what is it right?

Speaker 1 12:43

so xenoestrogens are things that a woman made. We do it to ourselves we do it to ourselves.

Speaker 2 12:49

We do it to ourselves. Yes, okay, well done women. Well, look what you've done now.

Speaker 1 12:54

Xenoestrogens are things that they mimic oestrogens in our body. They kind of bind to the receptor sites of oestrogen and they mimic oestrogens, but they're not biodegradable like oestrogens, so they don't flush out of our systems. And they they're kind of like artificial oestrogens and they don't flush out of our system, so they regurgitate in our system and they cause this oestrogen dominance. So we we end up this really kind of icky situation and they're caused by things like, by things like a big one is harsh chemicals in our cleaning. Okay, so a little known fact is that I started a lifestyle brand. You know that because you, you, it's one of your little perks, isn't it? But I started a lifestyle brand for perimenopausal women. It's called Kate Raven lifestyle shameless plug, but it's it's based on all the things that you would want as a perimenopausal woman, based on things like things like natural cleaning products as well. So when you've been cleaning your house a lot, how do you feel like if you've been like, if you've done a deep spring clean, how do you feel?

Speaker 2 14:06

I mean, I feel good that the house is clean, but when you bleach yeah, because of the smell of bleach it does it's really toxicating and it really just makes you nauseous eventually, because I've just moved out.

Speaker 1 14:16

Yeah, I remember it, it was a lot yeah so what actually happens is that kind of heavy cleaning products. As I said, they mimic estrogen in your body and it can create this estrogen dominance. It can make you feel nauseous, it can make you feel headachy, it can make you feel quite poorly in yourself and it can give you a hot flash. Okay, and that's just from one exposure. If you were exposed to heavy chemical cleaning all the time, you could end up feeling really quite unwell and that's in general.

Speaker 1 14:48

That's in general, and we know that they can be carcinogenic, so that could be potentially leading to a cancerous situation, right? So heavy cleaning products, also products that are found, or ingredients that are found, in skin care, body care. So imagine that your skin, your skin, is the largest organ in your body and imagine that you have got a body product that's got sulfates in. We know that there's there's baddies in the world you know, when it comes, they don't even clean.

Speaker 2 15:20

These kind of products don't actually clean anything, it just masks everything, doesn't it?

Speaker 1 15:24

yeah, so they put things in there that make bubbles, uh-huh. So it's, it's the stuff you know like when you go to like home bargains or you know those kind of places and you get the 99 pence shower gels or the soaps soaps and stuff and they smell really like. Yeah, they smell like cotton candy or they smell like so you think you've got a bargain.

Speaker 1 15:45

Love hot, yeah, because it smells really really strong and it's really really full of bubbles, or you get like a massive tub of body scrub or like body cream and it's 199. If you look for the sulfates or the all those kind of things on the back, you're going to find them. You're going to find these ingredients and the problem is that those kind of toxic ingredients as well are going to cause xenoestrogens and you're putting it all over your body so it's going to get absorbed through the skin into your body. Now I know that natural cleaning products do cost more money. Yeah, because the ingredients themselves cost more, but you can make your own. There's a million recipes online for natural cleaning products. I cleaned the oven the other day with one of the cleaning products from that we stock, but it's essentially bicarbonate of soda and vinegar with some essential oils. Does it take a little bit extra time? Yes, I cleaned it with like a little scrubbing brush.

Speaker 2 16:49

Yeah, but it takes an extra 10, 20 minutes out of your time for a lifetime of health, yeah, and this is logical.

Speaker 1 16:57

And oven cleaners are one of the most toxic cleaners you'll ever use.

Speaker 2 17:02

You will always feel sick after you've cleaned your oven.

Speaker 1 17:04

Yeah, everybody does. The number one the thing that set me off on my health journey in lockdown was my other half and I. We spent two, three hours in lockdown cleaning the cars one day and all the sprays that we use for cleaning the leather and the upholstery yeah, I was inside the car spraying the leather and the plastic. You know the plastic trim and that's what made me ill. And I had a real episode. I literally went into the house and we ended up calling the emergency health line and no one would think, no one thought that, and it was that that caused me to have my first, yeah, kind of really scary episode where I went really hot and felt really dizzy and I got tingling down one side of my body and I actually thought I was having a stroke or something because I was like so I literally had this massive hot flash, tingles down one side, tingles in in my extremities, which is a sign.

Speaker 1 18:05

By the way, it's a paramenopause symptom, I hate to break it to you like tingles in my in my fingers, yeah and like in my face and I thought I was having a stroke and we ended up calling the emergency hotline because we couldn't figure out what was going on.

Speaker 2 18:19

I've got a question actually. So, with everything you've just said, what kind of clothes can you wear when you're having these hot and cold, different periods, and why do you feel both at the same time?

Speaker 1 18:34

So if we know that hot flashes are normal, in that it's your body's reaction to try and deal with all the things that are going on. Your hormones are everywhere. It's like you're dilating. They're trying to deal with everything that's going on Okay, you're going cold because what's happening is your body's trying to cool you down. So it's dilating to try and deal with all the hormones Okay. And then it's trying to cool you back down again. So they're fighting each other yeah, so it's like you're going. So, for example, imagine that you're putting the air condition on or you're putting the heating on and then it gets too hot, so you then put the air conditioning on to try and cool it back down again.

Speaker 1 19:16

Yeah, okay, and then it goes too cold.

Speaker 1 19:17

So it's like yeah it's like the british weather yeah, that's the perfect analogy to describe it you don't know where you're doing one, one or the other, so you you know what are you going to do about it. But the 80 90 percent of women in the perimenopause are going to get hot flashes and night sweats. So at night time it happens a lot because our body starts regulating all our hormones at night time, so you're going to overheat. Bamboo, bamboo, bamboo, bamboo. Why am I saying the same word a lot? Because it just sounds like I'm just going to be a bit of a lot. Bamboo is your best friend. Okay, I thought was only for pandas yeah, I'm not I'm not going to lie, is it pandas?

Speaker 1 19:56

yeah, it's one of the reasons why I started the lifestyle brand, because I genuinely couldn't find enough. It's actually one of my friends that said to me bamboo pajamas and I had in my head, when she said to me bamboo pajamas, because she started the menopause before me, premenopause and when she said that to me, I I had in my head this kind of like frumpy flannelette, yeah, you know, like button all the way up, kind of middle-aged frumpy pajama in my head. And you know me, I'm maybe 50, but I'm not frumpy. No. So I in my head, and you know me, I'm maybe 50, but I'm not frumpy, no. So I was like, ooh, no, thank you, yeah.

Speaker 1 20:32

So I went on a mission to find bamboo pyjamas, started wearing them, will never, ever, ever wear anything else apart from bamboo. And then I was like, well, if I wear bamboo pyjamas, I need bamboo bedding, which I then found. Well, if I wear bamboo pajamas and bedding, I need underwear, because that was a thing. Well, if I have bamboo pajamas and underwear and bedding, I then need bras bras and knickers and I now have cami tops, vests, yeah, body suits um.

Speaker 1 21:04

And how do they help? Well, they're thermoregulating bamboo's thermoregulating. So it keeps you cool, but it keeps you warm as well. So in winter, if you wear it, it'll keep you warm, okay, but then if you have a hot flash, it'll keep you cool.

Speaker 1 21:18

And whereas I mean obviously little known fact, you were born in cairo, in egypt. So egyptian cotton, as we, is a thing of beauty, but not in parent menopause. I'm so sorry Because in cotton obviously it keeps you cool, which we love. But if you do have a hot flash, it will keep you cool, but if you sweat it will get wet and then cold and then cling to your skin and be really, really damp, yeah, whereas bamboo won't do that. It will keep you cool and it will keep the sweat away from you.

Speaker 2 21:50

It's thermoregulating so it's like when you've worked out and you're hot, people say wear a jacket anyways, because you're going to get cold. Yeah, and your body needs to regulate it.

Speaker 1 21:58

Just regulate it, just like just keeps the sweat away from you, yeah, and so you just don't wake up. So one of the problems about night sweats is you'll wake up because you'll be cold, because the cotton, whatever you've been wearing, has got cold, it's got damp and it wakes you up yeah it doesn't happen if you wear bamboo. What about silk? No, silk will get cold and wet and clean to you anyway.

Speaker 1 22:21

I mean, you do want to wear as many natural fibers as you can, so you have to be more discerning. So you have to learn to forget nylon, forget polyester, forget anything that's man-made fibers. Don't just don't do it anymore. Go with as many natural fibers as you can, but bamboo next to your skin whenever you can yeah because it'll just and layers, layer and layer and layer and layer. Okay, as much as you possibly can is just gonna be honestly, your savior, and if you try bamboo pajamas, you will never ever.

Speaker 1 22:57

This is such a life hack honestly, just you'll never want to change bamboo everything. Okay, the win nice. Yeah, that's a pretty good.

Speaker 2 23:06

That's pretty good actually other things that you can do, because vicky says, for example, that she does layer a lot of clothing. What else can she do to help herself? The bamboo, now we know bamboo.

Speaker 1 23:18

Now you know, in terms of diet, avoid things like spicy food because it heats you up. Yeah, yeah so makes sense spices, hot foods, whatever alcohol, I was gonna say that does.

Speaker 2 23:32

Yeah, that already changes your body temperature exactly.

Speaker 1 23:35

And if your body is trying to detox from the alcohol, it can't help regulate your hormones. Remember what I said about the pituitary and the hypothalamus that battle that's going on. If it's already doing all of that work, do you really think it needs to detox as well? Yeah yeah, it's got enough going on. Genuinely, it's like it's caught in this loop so it doesn't need any extra work. So avoid alcohol, caffeine, I'm afraid as well.

Speaker 2 23:59

Okay cleaning products, that, all the chemicals that you said as well, the cleaning products, the, the skin products.

Speaker 1 24:06

I have one cup of coffee, because I'm not human yeah but, having said that, try and have it like an hour after you wake up if you can. Yeah, because your natural cortisol will be fine first thing in the morning. So have that one cup of coffee an hour after you wake up, but we'll do a podcast on waking up another day. Um, so, yeah, one cup of coffee max the rest of the time. Herbal teas yeah, because being hydrated will really help you massively. So lots of water, lots of herbal tea. Walk around the house with a with a bottle will really help. Just a generalized water bottle will be fine, but walk around with a with a water bottle would be would be great. And make sure you get enough sleep, because your your body regulates its hormones when you're asleep. So the more deep sleep you get, because your body regulates its hormones in the, you know the deepest level of sleep, so you need to get the deep level of sleep. The most restful sleep is when your body's regulating its hormones.

Speaker 2 25:04

Okay, if you're not getting good quality sleep, so that's why the bamboo pajamas and the sheets, so you actually do get a good night's sleep, so that really really helps as well.

Speaker 1 25:14

So make sure, listen to this yeah, so that's why you need really good quality sleep and in perimenopause as well, like seven, eight hours, is a really really good idea. Yeah, so that's really really important as well. So it's your diet Regular exercise will help you as well, because your body's then feeling fighting fit. Yeah, so diet it's the same old things as always, isn't it? But diet, exercise, non-spicy foods, ditch the alcohol water.

Speaker 1 25:43

It's just living a healthier lifestyle, leading a healthier lifestyle, and just layering, and don't be afraid to have that conversation at work as well. If you need to have a little blankie with you, a lap blankie, have one, yeah, okay, don't be afraid to have that conversation. Or a fan yeah. And if you need a fan on your desk, have that conversation. You know we need to have that dialogue. We'll do an episode at some point about what to do at work, so I think that's a really important conversation.

Speaker 2 26:07

Yeah, I agree.

Speaker 1 26:08

And actually let's keep that dialogue going in the workplace. I think it's really important. But thank you so much for tuning in. Guys, please do keep the questions coming. We hope you've enjoyed the first episode and if you want to ask us any questions, the details will be in the note of this show. And yeah, thanks so much for tuning in, thanks. Thank you, thanks for joining us today on the uncomplicated perimenopause podcast. We hope you found this episode helpful and inspiring.

Speaker 2 26:45

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.

Speaker 1 26:52

For more information on my coaching, perimenopause supplements, books or upcoming events, please visit wwwkaterovenercom.

Speaker 2 27:01

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 1 27:10

Remember. Perimenopause doesn't have to be complicated. We're here to help you every step of the way. Stay uncomplicated.

Speaker 2 27:18

We're looking for a.