Hormone Harmony - Figuring out mid -life hormonal changes

May 2026 · 7 min read 

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I have spent most of my adult life in the health and wellness industry. I have worked in spas and clinics. I have studied the body, treatments, skin, wellbeing. I have had conversations with experts, therapists, doctors. I genuinely care — deeply — about how we look after ourselves.  And still. When my own hormones started to shift, perimenopause was the last thing on my mind.  That is the thing about menopause that nobody warns you about. Not in a way that actually prepares you. You hear about hot flushes and night sweats. You probably picture a woman in her early fifties, fanning herself dramatically at a dinner table. And so when the hormonal symptoms arrive in a completely different shape — quieter, stranger, harder to name — you do not connect them to menopause at all. You connect them to stress. To life. To just not sleeping well enough, working too hard, being too much in your own head. 

Two summers ago I felt easily overwhelmed. Then came a low stress tolerance that made the smallest things tip me over. And the brain fog — it was not just forgetting words or losing my keys. It was a thick, frustrating inability to focus, to think clearly, to trust my own mind. For someone who runs on ideas and ambition, that was perhaps the most frightening part. Not like a stranger to myself — more like a slightly blurred version. Less sharp. Less resilient. Less like me.  And I genuinely did not know if it was my hormones, or stress, or the season of life I was in, or all three tangled together in a way that made it impossible to separate. It turned out it was all three. But it was my hormones, and specifically perimenopause, pulling the strings far more than I knew.

Because here is what they don't put on the poster. There are reportedly 36 recognised symptoms of perimenopause and menopause. Thirty six. And according to one significant study, the five most commonly reported ones are : fatigue, memory problems, difficulty concentrating, irritability, and feeling tense or nervous. 

Hot flushes came in at number eighteen.  Eighteen. 

So if you are sitting there thinking "I don't have hot flushes, this probably isn't menopause " please read that again. 

The full picture of what declining and fluctuating hormones do to a woman's body and mind is staggering, and it is still not being talked about honestly enough. Here is just some of what perimenopause and menopause can look like :  Brain fog — that maddening inability to find words, finish thoughts, remember what you walked into a room for. 

Anxiety appearing seemingly from nowhere, sometimes as a low hum, sometimes as full panic. Mood swings and irritability that feels disproportionate and quietly shames you afterwards. Fatigue that sleep does not fix.  Joint pain. Heart palpitations. Headaches. 

Hair thinning. Skin changing texture. Weight redistributing to places it never used to go.  Disrupted sleep. The list goes on. A strange emotional sensitivity , unexpectedly tearful, unexpectedly fragile. A slow erosion of confidence that creeps in without announcing itself.

Low mood. A kind of flatness where things that used to bring pleasure simply don't, quite as much. And all of this can begin in your early forties. Sometimes even late thirties. Perimenopause does not wait politely for you to feel ready. It does not send a formal notice. It just begins — quietly, gradually, in ways that are very easy to misread as something else entirely. 

How can we still be so underprepared for something that affects every single woman on earth ? How is something this significant still whispered about rather than discussed openly ? How did I — someone who has spent her career in health and wellness — still arrive at this chapter of life so completely in the dark ? When I finally understood what my hormones were doing, I did some proper research and evaluated my lifestyle. I looked at what I was eating. I follow a vegetarian diet and believe in it deeply, but I had to be honest with myself : I was not getting enough protein. Protein matters enormously during menopause — for muscle, for energy, for brain function, for hormonal balance. So I added more. I moved to a low inflammation diet, because inflammation and hormonal disruption feed each other in ways I had underestimated. I drink a lot of water — genuinely a lot — because hydration affects everything from skin to cognition to mood. I exercise consistently because movement is one of the most powerful tools a woman has for her hormonal health and mental clarity . I also had to be kinder to myself and slow down at times. I am an ambitious person. I am used to pushing. I had to start actively scheduling what I now call recharging days . At this stage of life, rest is not laziness. It is medicine. 

The thing that has genuinely changed my life is bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. I am fortunate to have a gynaecologist in Dubai who is in a category of her own. Doctor Ekaterina at Femiclinic. Holistic, deeply knowledgeable, genuinely curious about each patient as an individual. She is just a WhatsApp message away — and in the moments when something shifts or I have a question or I am trying to understand what my body is doing, that accessibility matters alot.

Because menopause affects so many systems in the body simultaneously, I needed to address the full picture. Beyond HRT, I now take Low Dose Naltrexone — something most people have never heard of, and yet for inflammation and brain fog specifically it has been quietly remarkable. I take creatine, which most people still associate only with male athletes, but which has real and growing evidence behind it for cognitive function, energy and muscle health in women — particularly during and after menopause. I take high quality omega-3, NAD+ for cellular energy and longevity, DHEA, and adaptogens including ashwagandha, which has genuinely helped my stress response feel human

again. I use functional mushrooms — lion's mane in particular, for focus and neurological support. Curcumin for inflammation. I also take food-grade diatomaceous earth powder. Diatomaceous earth is a fine natural powder made from the fossilised remains of tiny aquatic organisms called diatoms. Taken internally its microscopic particles work mechanically to eliminate parasites and unwanted organisms in the gut. Not everyone is aware but parasitic load is far more common than we like to think, and it places a real burden on the immune system, the gut, and therefore on energy, skin, mood and overall wellbeing. Beyond its action on parasites, diatomaceous earth also supports gentle detoxification, binds to heavy metals and toxins in the digestive tract, and is naturally rich in silica — which supports hair strength, skin elasticity and nail health. Three things that take a noticeable hit during menopause. It is easy and inexpensive, and worth knowing about. 

And then I also did a DNA test that my Gynecologist advised me to take— which revealed something that explained a great deal. A gene mutation that affects my methylation of B vitamins. Methylation is a process in the body that is involved in everything from energy production to mood regulation to hormonal balance. And B vitamins are absolutely central to it. My body, it turned out, was not processing standard B vitamins properly at all. Switching to methylated B vitamins — the bioavailable form my body could actually use — was a life changer.

Today I feel like a genuinely new version of myself. I obviously cant reverse time but I can continue to aim for a life beyond 50 being the best possible version of myself. So much of what has helped me was simply never offered through conventional medicine. The standard approach — a brief consultation, a standard blood panel, a prescription or a dismissal — would not have uncovered any of this. Mainstream medicine still largely offers women a one-size-fits-all response to one of the most individual and significant transitions of their lives.

It is not easy being a woman. The hormonal journey we navigate , from the very first cycle to the last, and everything in between, is genuinely complex, and for far too long it has been minimised, misunderstood, or simply not spoken about enough.

You do not have to feel like a blurred version of yourself and assume that is just life. 

You do not have to struggle through your forties wondering what happened to your focus, your mood and resilience.  You do not have to accept a standard answer for a very non-standard experience. Get curious and get informed. Find a doctor who actually listens — and if the first one doesn't, find another. Invest in understanding your own body with the same seriousness you would give to anything else that matters to you.

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