Am I Going Crazy… or Is This Menopause? (Brain Fog, Mood Swings & Midlife Confusion Explained)

You’re not crazy—you’re hormonal. But when no one explains what’s happening, it feels like you’re losing your mind. Today we talk about what's actually causing all these changes (that probably no one warned you about) and some steps you can take to start feeling good again!

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Transcript

Welcome. Welcome to Unmute Your Midlife, the podcast. This is where we take you from foggy and forgotten to focused and lit up. I'm Joyce, your nurse-turned-midlife-resurrection-strategist and the cheerleader in your pocket. And I'm here to remind you that your next season in life is your power era. 

You're not crazy. You're just hormonal. And when no one explains what's happening, it feels like you're losing your mind. So I'll just tell you what happened to me when I was going through perimenopause. I didn't even know what perimenopause was. I just knew that there was this thing called menopause where you quit being able to have children and that's all really all I knew about it. You know, I knew your hormones shifted. I didn't know what the signs or I didn't know that it was a gradual process that could take two to eight years on average. I didn't know how many of my symptoms were related to that, and ironically I was going to different specialists for different things that were happening to me and none of them connected it either. You know, I would complain to my eye doctor all the time about how bad my eyes felt midday to the end of the day where they were like gummy and gluey and hard to see through and I couldn't even watch TV or scroll on my phone. And it gave me these tension headaches, and all he said was “eye drops, you just need eye drops.” But if he would have told me it's because you're not making as much estrogen and estrogen helps lubricate your eyeballs, THAT would have made sense to me.

I had carpal tunnel come on all of a sudden both hands. I’ve had neck issues and a neck condition, and so we just thought it was related to that. And then they did some nerve conduction tests and were like, “oh yeah, you have carpal tunnel in both hands. We might need to do surgery.” I chose to do PT and OT instead. And then somewhere in there, I found out about perimenopause and went on some hormone replacement. And magically my carpal tunnel went away. They were gonna do surgery on me rather than offer me hormones. 

And I did ask about hormones for other reasons, and at first they wouldn't let me because I have migraines with aura, but they've since learned that that is not necessarily as big of a contraindication as once thought.I could go on and on. There were so many symptoms that were interconnected. It is crazy how much estrogen does in your body. So that's what I want to talk to you about today. I want to talk to you about the culprit behind all of these crazy changes that are happening. The brain fog, the mood swings, the confusion, the weird symptoms you have, you know, the dry itchy ears, the ringing in the ears, dizziness that comes on randomly, the not being able to sleep, the tossing and turning, the aches and pains, you're not really falling apart. You're just losing your master lubricator. 

Estrogen is a master lubricator. It does more to lubricate your joints, to lubricate your skin, to lubricate your everything. I could show you a map of your body with little dots showing all the receptors and you'd be so surprised at how many areas that you have estrogen receptors! And what that means is that it's a neuro receptor in your cell and when that receptor doesn't get the estrogen to lock into that receptor then the chain reactions that it starts don't get to happen. So some of the chain reactions that estrogen is responsible for are the lubrication in your cells, in your joints, in your skin, in your hair, in your mucosal areas.

Another thing is the cell turnover in your bones. That's why older women get osteoporosis. And insulin resistance! Estrogen plays a huge part in the metabolism of glucose. So when your estrogen levels drop, that's when women start to develop insulin resistance. And it is a real thing. It is not just oh, you're eating wrong. You're not eating healthy enough. No, no, no I was still racing mountain bikes I was still eating right to fuel myself for race days and to do muscle recovery and it wasn't working and my blood trigger my fasting Glucose levels were rising each year with my wellness checkups I was gaining weight like crazy no matter how much I exercised no matter what how little I ate, I was still gaining weight. I gained about 45 -50 pounds, I think, over the course of my perimenopause. And my doctor said, "Well, next time I see you, we'll probably have to put you on some diabetic medication." And that's when I said, "Oh no." 

Even though my insurance doesn't cover GLP-1s, I went and found one of those centers that specializes in diet. And he put me on a GLP-1 that was compounded with B,I think it was B-12 to help with energy because I couldn't handle Ozympic and Wegovie. Also, he knew what kind of supplements to take to help to prevent the nausea. And then of course, I had my backup prescription of Zofran, though that when I did have some really bad nausea, I wouldn't lose my cookies. 

And I am still on a very, very low maintenance dose, which is really a micro dose of the GLP1 because I do have insulin resistance. When I go off the medication, my blood triggers climb back up, my weight gain comes back, and so I will always be on a micro dose of GLP1, probably for the rest of my life. That's okay. 

I have also, well I use an estrogen patch, and I think we're still tweaking the dose on that, but I don't tweak it myself. I work with my doctor. I told her that I was willing to risk stroke, you know, because the whole migraine with aura thing. I was willing to risk that because I thought that the heart health protective benefits that estrogen gives you were worth it (because I also have a genetic predisposition to heart disease). My grandmother died from heart failure. My mother has had multiple heart attacks and stents placed. I have had high cholesterol since age 19. Like it wasn't so high that I had to have medication back then, but now it is. And I'm gonna talk about that too. I felt like the benefits outweighed the risk on the estrogen. I do use the estrogen patch and I also use the vaginal estrogen cream because that helps with the super dry skin “down there”. Like I said, estrogen is a lubricator it lubricates your skin It helps the skin to have elasticity helps the skin to be able to, you know, stretch and then go back to the way it was without tearing. It helps your skin to be strong. And so when you lose your estrogen it can be it can be a problem in your… See this is on public so I have to be careful what words I use…your “nether regions”. 

So you can be prone to frequent UTIs, frequent tearing during relations. You can be, you can struggle with dryness and pain during relations. And that vaginal estrogen cream can help knock that problem out. Also, use a lubricator. I mean, choose whichever kind you like. There's lots of them out there. I would recommend as soon as things start to get uncomfortable, introduce some lubrication. It will be your best friend. 

Some other things that can happen are poor sports performance. Again, that’s related to the estrogen not getting signaled in your muscles. So it delays your recovery. The feeling of foggy, like the mental and emotional roller coaster or not being able to recall words, that again is related to the estrogen receptors that are up in your brain. 

And another thing I want to say is the cholesterol. So your hormones (estrogen progesterone, testosterone, and cortisol) are made from your body’s natural stores of cholesterol. So when you quit making those hormones, guess what happens to your cholesterol levels? They start to rise. Another thing estrogen does is: it fights inflammation. So when you don't have estrogen protecting you… I'll give you one example how it fights inflammation is along your esophagus. Estrogen creates this protective layer inside the esophagus. And so when you have reflux, you don't even know it a lot of times because that estrogen is protecting you from feeling the burn. So when you lose your estrogen and you lose that protective layer, now every time you've got that reflux, you feel it. You feel the pain of that acid burn. Well, the same thing kind of happens in your vessels, for instance, when you have free radicals that are in your system or you have oxidative stress floating around, attacking your cells, it's kind of like it creates these little paper cuts in your vessels, right? We'll just talk about heart health first, for instance. So you get this inflammation, usually it's sugar because now you're insulin resistant, so you've got extra sugar floating around your bloodstream. And so it's making like these little paper cuts on the inside of your vessels. And so then your body releases, I always get it backwards, but it's either the LDL or the HDL. It releases one type of cholesterol to go repair the damage that was done by the inflammation floating through the high sugars (or whatever it is in your bloodstream) and then it sends out the other one to clean up the- we’ll just call it a construction site-- and so that's when you start to get those little layers of cholesterol buildup inside your vessels. It's not because you ate a high cholesterol meal necessarily, it's because something was causing some inflammatory damage inside your vessels whether it's high blood sugar, which is usually what it is, or some kind of exposure to something that causes oxidative stress. And so it was floating in your bloodstream creating this inflammation-related damage and so your body used cholesterol to patch up the damaged areas. Let that sink in for a second.

Another thing is neuropathy. Neuropathy in your hands and feet. Weird tingles or Strange bone pain. Like, I would get heel pain. Oh my gosh! Heel pain! Awful, awful heel pain! But I didn't need to go to an ortho. I just needed some estrogen.

I would really encourage you, if your doctor is one of those old-school types that is very dismissive about hormone replacement, keep looking for another provider. They are out there. You may even have to go to a nurse practitioner just for this thing, this one area of your life to be treated. That's okay. They know what they're doing too! As long as it's someone who knows what they're doing. You can go to the Menopause

Society's website and you can go to – Dr. Mary Claire Haver is one of the huge outspoken voices for re-educating caregivers, medical providers, and the public in general about the changes of menopause, how they affect you, what you can do, empowering women to have their best second half of life possible. So she has a website called the pause life, P -A -U -S -E pause life. And on there, you can also find recommendations for providers in your area. You can search by zip code. I usually have good luck finding people on the menopause society’s website, which is a non-profit website. If you strike out there, you know, reach out. I’ll help you find someone. 

All that to say there are healthcare providers out there who can help you. And there are prescriptions, there are different versions, different strengths of hormone replacement therapy. And it's not a one size fits all. It's different for every person based on your family history, your genetics, your goals. So don't be afraid to try hormone replacement therapy. You'd be amazed at how much it can help you. There's also some natural supplements out there. The one that I use is by Arbonne. It's called Meno Support. I love it! I was down to just minimal amounts of arthritis pain after I started on HRT, but when I added that Meno Support in, that knocked out the rest of the arthritis pain. Like, I'm sleeping so much better and having a lot less issues with joint pain. 

Another thing that happens when we hit perimenopause that you need to know about is sleep apnea. And it's not related to weight gain necessarily because skinny women, chubby women, we both, I can say that 'cause I've been both. Ha ha! I'm just kidding. So weight doesn't matter. It's not really related to your weight. It's related to the muscle tone for this flap in the back of your throat. When your estrogen levels bottom out that flap gets very lax and It stops your breathing or causes snoring or different things. And you can do an at-home sleep study where you just wear this little thing. It doesn't have oxygen, it just keeps track of your breathing, keeps track of how many times you wake up at night. It keeps track of your pulse ox levels. And you can either do– if you have sleep apnea, if you have mild sleep apnea, there's a dental device you can wear. Or there's a little nose plug thing that you can wear called a Bongo. And that will help keep your airway open at night. But once you get moderate to severe, you're gonna need a CPAP machine. And there's so many masks out there, they'll let you try all these different masks to find the one that fits you, that works with you, that doesn't interrupt your sleep. Again, this is a tool that insurance covers that can make a huge difference in your life because you need sleep so you can reset.

The the last thing I'm going to talk about today is some practical tips for you. I want you to pick one lifestyle shift. I want you to pick one lifestyle shift that can help you. Whether it's extra hydration through the day, getting protein in at breakfast, or getting a handle on your sleep hygiene. You just pick one that you're going to attack wholeheartedly, and be faithful to it! Be faithful to tracking. Like, how much water are you drinking? Or how much protein are you getting? Or how much sleep are you getting and what quality of sleep? I use my Garmin watch to keep track of my sleep quality, and, I mean, I check it every day to see how I did last night. And a lot of times if I'm feeling really tired and I go look at my stats. I'm like, well that makes sense! That tracks!

Pick one thing and see if that makes even the tiniest bit of difference. Because let's be honest, even feeling 10 % better is worth a little bit of effort. Right? And then when you get that one mastered, you attack the next one and then you get to feel another 10 % better, and then another 10 % better. After a while, all these little shifts add up to huge changes. I promise you, I've been there and now I'm here, and I'm excited about my second half of life! And I'm excited to help other women get to that point! Because so many of the things that we're feeling have an explanation and they have a solution. 

We all have to go through menopause if we live long enough. That's not a choice and it's not an illness. It's not a sickness. It's just the human condition. It's part of aging. But, we can make it comfortable, and we can make it to where we get excited about the changes, and we get excited about the opportunities, and we get to thrive through that next half of life. So that's where I want to be for the rest of my life, and that's where I want to get you to. 

All right, my friend, that is today's dose of midlife truth. I want you to remember that you are not foggy, forgotten, or finished. You're just getting lit up for your next season. And if today's episode hit home, don't just keep it to yourself. Share it with a sister who needs some of her own help unmuting her own midlife. And if you want to go deeper from just listening to actually living out a transformation, send me a message on Instagram. My handle is @jjmccal.l J-J-M-C-C-A-L-L. I'll put a link in the show notes and just send me the word “reset” and I'll send you details about a free 7-day reset that you can sign up for. It will just send you some email reminders once a day, plus you have a little PDF you can download, and it just gives you like one small thing to do each day to help move you into action towards resetting how you feel about midlife. So until next time, keep unmuting, keep rising and remember, your midlife reboot starts right now.