Perimenopause Myths: How Women Find the True Root Cause of Hormone Imbalance at 30, 40 & 50+

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In this episode of The DocMo Show, Dr. Angela Mosley dives into the frequently misunderstood topic of perimenopause, highlighting the real root causes behind symptoms often mislabeled as hormonal changes related to aging. 

Learn what perimenopause truly is and explore the wide range of imbalances that can cause similar symptoms like fatigue, brain fog, insomnia, and weight gain. 

Dr. Mosley shares insights from over 14 years of functional medicine practice, discussing how advanced testing and personalized plans can help you regain energy and focus. If you’re tired of feeling dismissed by doctors and told you’re ‘just getting older’ or ‘it’s just your hormones,’ this episode provides clarity and actionable steps to reclaim your health.

00:00 Welcome to The DocMo Show
00:19 What Is Perimenopause
00:59 Perimenopause Symptoms
02:09 Root Causes of Hormone Imbalances
02:52 The Ultimate Root Cause Reset Program
04:00 Defining Menopause and Perimenopause
08:02 What Causes Hormone Imbalance
11:47 Misconceptions and Misdiagnoses
16:45 The Real Cause of Common Symptoms
20:01 What Causes Low Energy and Fatigue
27:03 How to Fix Perimenopause Symptoms

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Transcript

Hello and welcome back to The DocMo Show. Today we're diving into something that I really want to talk about because I think that so many people dismiss women and feed us so much bad information that actually has no basis in truth whatsoever. And sometimes we do that to ourselves. And so today we are talking about perimenopause, what it is and what it is not. Because we need the right information

to be able to stand up for ourselves and take care of ourselves and sayings like you are just getting older or it is just your hormones are actually weak and lazy excuses and not even answers to the real problems that we as individual and beautifully complex women actually have. So today we are going to address what is perimenopause and what causes hormone and menstrual cycle irregularities,

That's not even perimenopause. And then we're going to get into all those other annoying symptoms that plenty of people are saying are perimenopause, like the insomnia, fatigue, weight gain, brain fog, hair loss and hair thinning, anxiety, stress, mood changes, but often those symptoms have nothing to do with perimenopause at all.

And you wanna know how I know, and it's because I see lots of young people in their late teens and twenties with the exact same symptoms, and also men with the same symptoms. So let's dig into this and see what is really going on. If you're a successful professional and you've been struggling with low energy, poor focus, or even low motivation for months or even years and you've even had your labs checked, but everything always comes out normal and nothing that you try ever works. I want you to really lean in and listen closely because you are not crazy and this is not all in your head, and it's definitely not a normal part of getting older.

What you're feeling is not a motivation problem either. There are very real hidden root cause imbalances happening behind the scenes that you are just not aware of. For over 14 years, I have helped over 1200 high achieving men and women uncover the truth behind what's actually going on inside their bodies using advanced functional medicine testing.

And once we know your precise biological blueprint. I designed a step-by-step, fully personalized plan tailored to your unique system to get your energy and focus back in as little as just two weeks. Leaders like you can't function at your best when you're running on empty and you have no idea why. And that's the exact reason that I took everything that I've learned over the last decade and a half and put together a 90 day system called The Ultimate Root Cause Reset.

This program is not another detox or diet plan or random piles of supplements. The buck stops here because we test the top three root causes your gut. Your cortisol and your personal neurotransmitter levels, and then I craft a unique and targeted plan for your body to address each and every root cause imbalance strategically.

So if you're ready to stop pushing through extreme exhaustion and trying to force yourself to focus and you want real answers so that you can feel fully energized and get your razor sharp brain back then book a free root cause reset call with me. The link to apply is in the description, and I can't wait to talk to you soon.

So I want to start off this episode with creating some clarity around the terms and definitions that we use. And so what we want to know is what is perimenopause? But before we really answer that, we can hear that it has menopause in the name.

And so first we'll define what menopause is, and then I think it will be a little bit easier to understand what perimenopause is. And for the record, there's no definitive answer or master source to go to to answer this, by the way, because medicine is an art and a science at the same time. And so menopause itself has a much more well-defined definition as the point at which menstruation stops permanently in a woman.

And that is the point at which we have no further menstrual cycles, what most of us refer to as a period, and can we say. Hallelujah to that. Now, why does this happen? It's because women have ovaries and the ovaries have follicles, and the follicles produce eggs once a month after that woman has gone through puberty and is in childbearing age, if their body is functioning normally.

Now as women, we already have a set number of follicles when we're born, and those follicles will mature and release an egg roughly every month. And there's a whole hormone symphony and dance that causes all that process to happen. We're not going to get into all those technical details today, but if that egg is not fertilized within a pretty short timeframe of its release, then the body is going to let go of that egg and the other uterine lining preparation that was made for a potential pregnancy, and your body will release all of that.

First the egg and then the excess uterine lining and that uterine lining that comes out is the bleeding that we refer to as menstruation. Now for perimenopause peri means around, so around the time of menopause, usually what we are referring to is before we can imagine that around that time our follicle and egg supply is starting to get pretty low once we are getting closer to menopause.

This is why the age factor matters. And the follicles, what they do is make the eggs ready once they get activated by your hormones. But when it's getting close to the end of the egg supply, like once we're getting in our late thirties, forties, even in the fifties, then sometimes the body and the ovaries respond a little bit differently to the monthly hormone signals.

So the first thing in perimenopause to know is that we're having a lower egg reserve. It's a signal of being close to or around menopause. So if that's not happening, the lower egg reserve, then it's not perimenopause yet. And really there are three scenarios that can happen. One, which usually doesn't happen.

You can keep ovulating normally that monthly cycle until you stop having cycles altogether. That's usually not most people in our country at least. The hormone signals from the brain do start to intensify and increase to make sure that an egg gets released every month, and this can cause some of the follicles to start to mature faster than they normally would.

So instead of having a cycle once a month, you might have a cycle twice a month. Or if the ovaries are really struggling to release an egg from the follicles that are left, then you may skip a cycle for one or two or three months or more. So this is how we can start to see these cycle irregularities sometimes more frequent, sometimes skipped or missed periods.

And what they actually taught us in training is that when it starts to happen, women just have to wait it out until your cycles get so spaced out that you have no more periods for 12 months straight. And then that's when you get the official title of being in menopause. So perimenopause is the time around menopause when some hormone imbalances can start to occur in response to the body, trying to ensure ovulation due to the low follicle supply.

But there are other factors that can affect this process and the other hormones that are involved. A lot of other things actually, if your body and your cells are not healthy in general. It can lead to lots of changes with your body's ability to respond normally to hormone signals, especially for ovulation.

Many of us can be particularly sensitive to stress, which comes in all different forms as well, and the hormones are sensitive to that too. Physical stress, overworking, overexerting, not eating enough. Emotional and psychological stress, cognitive stress. Plus there are other hormone imbalances that have nothing to do with menopause or perimenopause, meaning the time when we're coming to the end of our natural egg supply that is going to cause the irregular periods.

And one of those big hormone imbalances is PCOS, which is also a highly misunderstood hormone imbalance condition. And so, no, everyone with PCOS does not have irregular cycles, but some women do. Premature ovarian failure, basically where the body goes through menopause early can be another hormone imbalance where we can get those cycle irregularities early and other issues can cause these hormone imbalances. Thyroid hormone

is closely tied to how the other hormones like estrogen and progesterone function. And so if there's a thyroid hormone imbalance, it can throw the whole hormone cycle off. So there can be irregularities that are not only due to PCOS. I even see hormone imbalances coming from the gut because the gut has to absorb certain nutrients.

And when we're talking about hormones, it has to digest and absorb your healthy fats, and especially cholesterol. Cholesterol is very important for the body and for the hormones. It is the first ingredient the body needs in order to make your hormones like your estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, DHEA, all those hormones that regulate the cycle are cholesterol based, and so if we're not absorbing properly in the gut, then we see a lot of hormone imbalances, at least in the functional medicine space.

That's what I see. A lot of practitioners are kind of unaware of this process, and so they aren't addressing or treating gut issues when it comes to hormone imbalances. Also, in the gut, there are enzymes that are necessary for hormone metabolism, and so if that is deficient, then there can be a buildup of unwanted hormones in the body, and that can create other hormone issues and imbalances.

Also, we need certain probiotics. So our microbiome is a part of the process too, as it's necessary to help our body break down certain fats in the hormone production process. And then we have issues that come up like toxicity and the hormone disruptors that are in our environment that can interfere with hormone balance and production.

Also, our macronutrients. If we're not consuming enough of the healthy fats, then that a lot of times will put people in a hormone deficit because we need those fat in order for the body to be able to make enough of the hormones. So these are other reasons. That the body can start to create hormone imbalances.

So no, a hormone imbalance or menstrual irregularities does not always mean perimenopause. There are so many other things that can be happening at the same time. And the interesting thing is if a woman is experiencing irregular cycles or not having cycles, most practitioners, most doctors are not looking for all these things that we just talked about.

But if you start to address all of these, then a lot of times the cycle irregularities will go away and the cycles can start to come back to normal. And I've seen it over and over again with my functional medicine clients. And for the record, I think that most women in the US at least have a few of these different things going on, not just one imbalance or not just cycle irregularities.

And so then when you add on going through perimenopause and the egg reserve declining and the natural hormone changes that are going to start because that egg supply is diminishing already and you put that on top of a dysfunctional system, then yes, your body is going to feel like it's all over the place.

 And that brings us to the last thing that I want to discuss, which is. All of those other symptoms that lots of people, at least in the online ether have started tossing around, talking about it's perimenopause symptoms when it's not. Hormone changes that can happen with perimenopause can cause irregular cycles because the egg supply is low.

And so we can get into to those irregular periods where either they're happening too frequently or spreading out and not happening on a regular basis. We can get into hot flashes because we are thought to have estrogen surges, and then when those estrogen levels plunge, they think that drop in estrogen is what creates that hot flash experience.

And another one of those common symptoms that are around perimenopause that actually do go with it are the sleep disturbances. But again, there's a reason for that. And usually it's due to a drop in the progesterone levels. But during perimenopause, we have moments where hormone levels are high and when they're down. In general, we can track our cycles and know in particular for your body, how your cycle regularity is.

Is it occurring every 23 days, every 25, 28, 30, 32? It's gonna be different for each woman. And that's why we have to track it for our own body. But also, there are millions of women, an estimated one in every four women of childbearing age who do not have regular cycles. And so if their cycles are already irregular, they are starting off with a disadvantage when it comes to trying to understand their body when hormones really are getting irregular during perimenopause.

And I just wanted to mention, so I remembered that I had a client and I actually talked to her today and I told her I'm gonna tell this story, on this podcast because she was being kind of ridiculous, but not, not all her fault. It is. There is so much misleading information out there. It is not even funny.

So when she first came to me, she thought she was having hormone imbalances, which she was, and thinking that was due to her gut. Which, that's a good train of thought. We talked about how gut imbalances, if you're not absorbing fats, if the probiotics are out of balance, if you're not having the right enzymes to process your hormones, then it can throw you into a hormone imbalance.

And so we started to look at that, but she was convinced that she was in menopause, and I'm like, ma'am, you are not in menopause. Not even close, you know, somebody in their young mid thirties. You are not in menopause, but there are so many companies nowadays, the lab companies that where you can order your own labs online or you know, do your saliva hormones or urine hormones and those sorts of things had convinced her that she basically has no hormones.

She's in menopause and she's, you know, freaking out. Am I in menopause? Will I ever have a family? What's going on? And I'm like, that's not true. They're just not looking at the other issues that can cause these hormone imbalances. But once you fix those, your cycles will start to become regular again. And that's exactly what happened.

We found all the other root causes that were there and got those cycles back to regular. So every cycle imbalance is not perimenopause, and a lot of the other symptoms that go with it are not perimenopause either. But most people just don't understand. They don't have all those pieces put together, so they don't know where the symptoms are coming from.

They're just like, Hey, you are in your mid thirties. You're a woman in your forties. You're a woman in your fifties. It's perimenopause or either menopause, and that's the reason and that's nonsense. So there are a lot of symptoms that are happening, and they are happening very commonly, way more frequently in our society.

And my issue is why are we calling things perimenopause when they are not. Symptoms like low energy, fatigue, even chronic fatigue, chronic pain, brain fog, weight gain, anxiety, stress, hair thinning, hair loss, just to name a few. And why do I say that? Most of this has absolutely nothing to do with perimenopause or the fact that the body is coming to the end of its egg reserve because sadly, I see very young clients in their teens or twenties and women who are still having children actively.

Who are nowhere even close to being in menopause are experiencing these exact same symptoms. So how are we saying that's all perimenopause? It's not perimenopause, but I can say there are a lot of untrained people, some who have no credentials whatsoever, some who run wellness practices or run hormone lab companies and things like that.

 and they will tell you and try to convince you that you are in menopause or perimenopause or some other issue so that they can sell you a bunch of supplements or even hormone replacement, which is, it's underhanded, it's misleading, and a lot of that will take you down all sorts of wrong paths. And the worst thing about it is that it delays or can even prevent you from finding the real problem and the real solutions that do exist.

And if you find them in time, you can get your health back. And I would say the olive in the martini. The final word about this that is not just perimenopause is that I see men, lots of men who have the exact same symptoms. I mean, no, they're not having cycles, but they're having the fatigue, the brain fog, the bloating, all the other issues that are happening.

The sleep, the anxiety issues, insomnia. So tell me when I have a guy with fatigue, the brain fog, sleep problems, the weight gain, the hair and skin issues, does he have perimenopause? Of course not. None of us would think that, but I think that just some people love to mislabel things, love to have something to say.

I think they like to hear themselves talk, even though they clearly have no idea what they're talking about. And yes, most doctors, I would say, and even a lot of so-called wellness, and even people who label themselves as functional medicine practitioners. Don't even know how to put all the different puzzle pieces together, but I'm about to break all of that down right now really quickly so that we can know where these symptoms are actually coming from since it's not perimenopause and not just being old and getting older.

And that's just how it is. And I'm going to take what I think is by far the most common complaint, which I get. Which is low energy, the chronic fatigue, feeling physically drained and exhausted, which can be different in each person because some people are tired in the morning, you know, they sleep all night and wake up exhausted.

Other people are tired in the afternoon or either in the evening, you know, they get that 3:00 to 4:00 PM slump. Sometimes it starts around 2:00 Some people are tired all day, and this can be due to a few different things. And the complexity is that it is usually due to multiple different issues and imbalances.

It's never usually just one single root cause, which is why people trying to find that one magical solution or supplement. It doesn't work. And so if we think about the fatigue that can be due to gut issues, I always check the gut first. Always, always, always. Because if your body isn't digesting and absorbing your nutrients, then that is going to throw a whole lot of things out of balance.

I call the gut that first root cause domino, and there are a lot of issues that can be happening in the gut. It's not just one thing. It's never just about probiotics or enzymes or anything like that. But gut issues can cause fatigue, nutrient deficiencies themselves, which different things can cause nutrient deficiencies.

It can be genetic. You know, if we both eat the same meal, what my body will absorb from it and what yours will absorb from it will be completely different. And there are other reasons for nutrient deficiencies too. An inadequate diet, inadequate intake of nutrition and calories. So, the macros are one thing because that gives you your calories, but then the micros give you your vitamins and co-factors and those sorts of things that help your metabolism to function.

So food has multiple roles when we are talking about it, providing energy in the body. Another frequent one that I see are cortisol and adrenal imbalances. Cortisol is one of the body's main metabolic hormones. It's supposed to wake you up. Give you energy, get everything going in the morning, get your day started.

It's also your main stress hormone and boosts your immune system. Cortisol has a lot of roles in the body. It helps to regulate your blood sugar. And so when that's out of balance or low or we are getting into adrenal fatigue, we can see those symptoms of low energy. You know, I'm just going through

all the different things that can cause low energy, and I'm not even mentioning everything right now. We can have low male hormones like the androgen hormones, DHEA, and testosterone. Those are very important for energy in the body. And if a woman has low testosterone, if a woman has low DHEA, she's usually gonna be tired along with other hormone imbalances.

The same thing for a man too. Low thyroid. Which is probably one of the most missed diagnosis out there because they train us completely wrong on how to assess and treat thyroid. So low thyroid, subacute thyroid issues can keep you tired. Um, your doctor's only checking a TSH, maybe a TSH and a T4

That is not a full thyroid panel. TSH isn't even a thyroid hormone. It's a hormone coming from the brain, the pituitary that is telling the thyroid to make thyroid hormone. So how are you checking thyroid if you're only checking the TSH? That's not checking the thyroid. Um, neurotransmitter imbalances. So things like serotonin, dopamine, gaba, glysine, those type of chemical messengers.

And either certain ones being high or certain ones being low can cause low energy and fatigue, and that could be different in every single person. There are a lot of those levels to look at and they can be checked. A lot of people will say, oh, it is depression, it's anxiety, it's a chemical imbalance.

They never tell you, you can check those chemicals and rebalance them naturally. I guess they don't want you to know that because then you might actually get better and not have to take all their prescriptions and antidepressants from now on. Um, toxicity. Toxicity can cause low energy because a lot of times toxins in the body will pull and waste a lot of your vitamins

 to try to neutralize that toxicity and your body has to use a lot of energy to try to detox and get those toxins out. And a lot of times it's not as efficient. So then your body has to store it somewhere, usually in the form of fat. or if you're not gaining weight from the toxicity, then it'll go to other places where you have fat like

the brain, which can make you even more tired, give you the brain fog, you know, a lot of different things. Yes. So all of these areas tie together and most people have imbalances on all of those. So it is never just one thing, and that has nothing to do with perimenopause. Those are all other root cause issues that you can look for.

We can find what the actual issue is and fix it. And not just give it this throwaway diagnosis, oh, you're just 42 and it's just perimenopause. No, it's not. These are issues that you can find. You can get them rebalanced. You can feel better. You can get your life back, even if you're having cycle imbalances.

A lot of times, like we already mentioned, you can get those cycles to get back on a regular schedule. Get back in a regular balance by fixing these different things. So no perimenopause is not a punishment or a dysfunction. It's a transition into that glorious time when we as women do not have to deal with a period anymore.

And are there lots of women experiencing symptoms? Absolutely. But let's start to take more responsibility. And really start to be clear about where those issues are truly coming from. Because when we know specifically what's happening and not just giving it a blanket statement that it's perimenopause, then we have the ability to find and fix those things so people can truly feel better and not have to suffer anymore.

So if you feel like you've been dismissed. Or told that you're just getting older. There's nothing we can do. You just need to lose weight. Just eat healthier and exercise. I mean, what does that even mean anyway? Oh, it's just your hormones. Then I hope today's episode has truly opened your eyes to some of what's really going on under the surface.

The gut dysfunction, the thyroid issues, the adrenal burnout, neurotransmitter imbalances. There are real root cause imbalances that need to be found and fixed because someone's life could truly be in the balance. If you are having these symptoms, those are red flags for your body that something is out of balance and it needs to be found and corrected before a worse problem happens, and if you are being part of the problem.

Telling anyone who will listen to you that their symptoms are just a part of getting older or it's perimenopause, stop. Their body is screaming for help. Let somebody who knows what they're doing actually help them, especially if they're having symptoms besides just the menstrual irregularities that will start to happen as we start to approach menopause.

Because a lot of those issues, when we properly address it, allow you to get your life back, including your energy, your focus, your sleep, your mood, and some women can even get their cycle regularity back, which also proves that this isn't just perimenopause. If you're ready to finally fix the fatigue and brain fog, I want to invite you to book a free root cause reset call with me to find your personalized and natural path back to mental clarity and abundant energy. You can find the link in the description, and I can't wait to talk to you soon.

So if you found this episode helpful, leave me a comment or share it with someone who you know needs to hear it. And I'd love to know what resonated with you the most. And remember, I want you to be reassured that your body is not broken. It is doing everything it can to get your attention so you can restore, balance and realign to your true, authentic self and live your absolute highest potential in life.

I am Dr. Angela Mosley. Thanks so much for listening today on The DocMo Show, and I will see you next time.