Lately, all I do is talk about perimenopause and the injustice of women’s healthcare. I’ve been a whole lot of fun to be around. The day we are born, we have all the eggs in our basket, so to speak (or 1 to 2 million oocytes in our ovaries, if you want to be specific). By the time we are 30, we have 10% of those eggs, and by the time we are 40, we have just 3% left. As our eggs dwindle, our estrogen and progesterone levels start to lower as well. This is perimenopause and you can begin to notice “the change” as early as 35. Once we have no more eggs, we stop menstruating and our ovaries stop producing estrogen, the hormone that was essential for our bodies and minds to run relatively smoothly for the first half of our life.
From there, you’ll likely develop one of the over 50 different symptoms of perimenopause. The vasomotor symptoms (hot flashes and night sweats) are the ones that get all the publicity. However, less-known symptoms can be debilitating fatigue, brain fog, unexplained weight gain, depression, panic attacks, decreased libido, dry skin, hair loss, digestive issues, vertigo, dizziness, heart palpitations, joint pain, and itching/crawling sensations on the skin. It’s a natural part of aging, and the symptoms of this, we as women must endure, or so we’ve been told.
My perimenopause journey began with a “frozen shoulder” or adhesive capsulitis. My right shoulder hurt and then one day, I couldn’t raise my arm or put my hand on my hip without excruciating shock-waves of pain reverberating through my shoulder, arm, and neck. The issue soon moved to my left arm as well, and for ten months I went to multiple doctors, got x-rays, MRIs, physical therapy, massage, and acupuncture. I literally could not pull up my own pants without assistance—I knew I didn’t feel like myself and wanted to know what was happening to me. I experienced many of those 50 symptoms (exhaustion, depression, weight gain, aches, just to name a few), and over the course of a year went from the picture of health to miserable. But get this—not once during that time did any of my doctors mention my hormones.
I discovered a Duke study from 2022 that linked lower estrogen levels to frozen shoulder syndrome, which is most common in women between 40 to 60 (my age bracket). After that, things began to clarify. Although my doctors were skeptical (one even said “I don’t see a correlation, it’s a repetitive strain injury,” but I’m not an MLB pitcher), I was convinced this was what was happening to me. And I was pissed.