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Perimenopause is More Confusing Than Ever. What No One Told You but Should Have.
25 years ago, we didn’t even know the term. Now, social media is our main source of information. Women deserve better.
When my friend Jennifer turned 39, she felt like she was slowly falling apart and losing her mind all at once.
It started with her sleep. Jennifer used to be one of those people who could fall asleep (and stay asleep) anywhere. Then, out of nowhere, she began waking up regularly at 3 a.m., often with a stream of anxious thoughts and completely drenched in sweat. Persistent brain fog and attention deficit followed — so severe that she forgot a colleague’s name during a client presentation, despite knowing them for over a decade.
An executive at a Fortune 500 company and a seasoned solo traveler, Jennifer had always been a confident overachiever. But suddenly, despite not having any apparent disease, even routine tasks, like international work trips, felt overwhelming and triggered a disproportionate level of anxiety.
Jennifer’s doctor prescribed antidepressants, which briefly alleviated her symptoms.
However, the antidepressants seem to cause weight gain and gut problems. So, she stopped. The gut problems went away…