Episode 88 - Demystifying Perimenopause - What Every Woman Needs to Know.

Are you tired all the time? Waking up at 3 AM for no reason? Feeling irritable, foggy, and like a stranger in your own body — but convinced it's just stress or a busy life? What if it wasn't?

In this episode of Menopause, Melanin, and Ageing Like a Queen, we are pulling back the curtain on perimenopause — the long, often invisible transition that can begin as early as your mid-30s and last up to 10 years before menopause officially begins. It's the phase nobody warns you about, and for so many women, it arrives quietly disguised as burnout, anxiety, and exhaustion.

We get into the symptoms that go far beyond hot flashes — joint pain, brain fog, frozen shoulder, hair loss, heart palpitations, rage, and that infuriating middle-of-the-night wake-up that has become your new normal. We talk about why most doctors are working from outdated research, what the Women's Health Initiative study actually said (and what the headlines got wrong), and why women of colour face an even wider gap in care and representation.

Most importantly, we talk about what it means to stop gaslighting yourself — and start advocating for the answers and treatment you deserve.

In this episode:

• Why perimenopause is often mistaken for stress, burnout, or "just getting older"
• The full spectrum of symptoms most women don't connect to hormones
• The 2002 WHI study that scared a generation away from hormone therapy — and what the updated science actually says
• Why women of colour are underrepresented in menopause research and how to navigate a system not designed for us
• The radical self-care that this season of life demands — and why it is not selfish, it is survival
• Where to find evidence-based resources you can actually trust

This is the conversation your mother never had with you. Let's make sure it doesn't stop here.

Resources: North Amercian Menopause Society, Canadian Menopause Society. British Menopause Society, Australasian Menopause Society

Thank you for listening and I would like to remind you that I have 2 amazing announcements!

1. Men-On-Pause - THE Men's ONLY menopause event designed to help educate and support men so they can become better allies to the women in their lives when it comes to menopause and midlife. Details HERE

2. Get on the WAITLIST for the next Flip Flops & Hot Flashes Menopause Retreat HERE.

Thank you for listening.