The Truth About Perimenopause: It’s Not Just Your Hormones
If you’re in your 30s, 40s, or 50s and feeling like your body is changing — energy gone, emotions all over the place, sleep that doesn’t refresh, crushing anxiety — this post is for you.
Hi, I’m Lindsey Spivey, and we’re pulling back the curtain on perimenopause. Your symptoms aren’t a flaw. They’re signals — messages from your body’s internal communication network that things need support.
This Blog is For You
If you are juggling family, career, and faith, yet secretly feeling depleted and disconnected from yourself. You may notice:
Brain fog or forgetfulness
Mood swings and irritability
Unexplained fatigue or low energy
Weight redistribution or stubborn belly fat
Depression, flatness and anxiety
You want clarity, hope, and to feel like yourself again.
What’s Really Going On?
We’ve all heard menopause is “just your hormones dropping.” While hormones like estrogen and progesterone do fluctuate, the bigger picture is a breakdown in communication across your endocrine system.
Your brain, glands, gut, liver, and even fat tissue all need to talk to each other. When that communication falters, your body feels it — energy crashes, emotions swing, sleep suffers.
This is not “getting old.” It’s decades of internal stress, environmental triggers, and system wear showing up at midlife.
The Hidden Web: Your Endocrine Symphony
Think of your endocrine system as a symphony:
Hypothalamus – the conductor
Pituitary – the sheet music
Thyroid – the wind section (energy & temperature)
Adrenals – percussion (stress response)
Ovaries – brass (bold and vibrant until they start fading)
When one instrument falls out of sync, the whole orchestra feels off. Disruptions in the HPO (hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian) axis and brain-gut-liver axis can explain the fatigue, mood swings, and metabolic changes you’re experiencing (Hall, 2015; Harris & Santoro, 2011; Peters et al., 2022).
Why Did This Happen To You?
Functional medicine frames this as ATMs:
Antecedents: Genetics, childhood stress, autoimmune tendencies
Triggers: Life stress, poor sleep, blood sugar swings, grief, burnout
Mediators: Environmental toxins, endocrine disruptors, chronic stress, movement, and rest habits
You have the power to influence these mediators and restore balance!
Healing Isn’t Just One Thing
You don’t need to “fix” a single hormone. You need to restore the orchestra:
Support your nervous system to feel safe and calm
Heal your brain-gut-liver communication through nutrition, rest, and lifestyle
Reconnect to purpose and rhythm, integrating mind, body, and spiritual awareness
When you address all these layers, your symptoms soften and vitality returns.
Where to Start
Healing is a process of listening:
Take inventory of what drains you
Notice your stress patterns and what calms you
Rebuild rituals that bring safety, rhythm, and purpose
Ask for help and let your body soften enough to receive support - Book A Free Discovery Call
What’s Possible
Imagine waking up with:
Steady energy
Restful sleep
Emotional clarity
Body and mind working with you, not against you
That’s what happens when you restore the orchestra of your endocrine system with compassionate, science-backed, and faith-rooted support.
You’re Not Alone
You’re not crazy. You’re not broken. You don’t have to suffer in silence.
If this resonated, connect with for personalized support & book a Free Discovery Call.
Connect - Reclaim The Pause Podcast Episode https://reclaim-the-pause.simplecast.com/episodes/its-not-just-hormones-the-real-root-causes-of-perimenopause-symptoms
Let’s walk this road together — with wisdom, faith, and grace.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” — Proverbs 3:5‑6 (NABRE)
References
Hall, J. E. (2015). Endocrinology of the menopause. Endocrinology and Metabolism Clinics of North America, 44(3), 485–496. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26316238/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Harris, I. D., & Santoro, N. (2011). Endocrinology of the ageing female: The hypothalamic‑pituitary‑ovarian axis. Minerva Endocrinologica, 36(3), 233–242. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22019752/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Peters, B. A., et al. (2022). Spotlight on the gut microbiome in menopause: Current insights. Nutrients, 14(9), 1744. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9379122/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Yoon, K., et al. (2021). Roles of sex hormones and gender in the gut microbiota. Frontiers in Microbiology, 12, 649151. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8266488/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Hantsoo, L., et al. (2023). The role of the hypothalamic‑pituitary‑adrenal axis in depression pathophysiology. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 31(2), 113–127. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10750128/?utm_source=chatgpt.com