During Perimenopause the most common symptoms are an irregularity in your menstrual cycle and hot flushes however other normal signs are vaginal dryness, mood swings, fatigue, and weight gain and sleep disturbances all results of levels of changing ovarian hormones (estrogen) in your body. During this period you may experience wild fluctuations in your hormone levels which may even feel like you are a teenager again! Just like a moody or sullen teenager, you may often experience feelings of anger or upset.

These symptoms are nothing us ladies are not used to. In the week or two before our period, many of us experienced a host of physical and emotional PMS symptoms from irritability, breast tenderness and headaches to name just a few.

There are a whole host of medicines and therapies that can be used to alleviate and aid you through this transition it is a case of finding the right one for you as quickly as possible. However, your hormones are involved in every aspect of your health. You need them in very specific amounts for your body to function optimally. Hormonal imbalances may increase your risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and other health problems. Even though aging and other factors are beyond your control, there are many steps you can take to help your hormones function optimally. Consuming nutritious foods, exercising regularly and engaging in other healthy behaviours can go a long way toward improving your hormonal health.

 During this stage for me personally it was a case of finding the right HRT and altering exercise and macros mainly fats, carbs and proteins and eventually we realized that for me it’s about keeping the carbs down (not cutting them out completely) that has started to show real results and help keep my weight down.