What Else Could Be Behind Your Perimenopause Symptoms?
Fatigue. Anxiety. Brain fog. Heavy periods. Restless nights. Unwanted weight gain. A frustrating loss of energy.
For many women in their late thirties, forties and fifties, these are often attributed to perimenopause. While fluctuating hormones can certainly play a role, they are not the whole story. In fact, many of the most common symptoms associated with perimenopause are shared with other conditions, including iron deficiency, thyroid dysfunction and insulin resistance.
This means that what you are experiencing may not be exclusively hormone-driven. It may be a sign that your body is asking you to look more closely.
Symptoms Overlap – And Why That Matters
When symptoms overlap so significantly, it is easy to assume that perimenopause is the single explanation. Yet the body rarely speaks in absolutes – it speaks in signals. Interpreting those signals correctly is the key to lasting relief.
For example:
- Fatigue could stem from hormonal fluctuations, iron deficiency, or thyroid dysfunction.
- Anxiety can be linked to stress hormones, low iron, unstable blood sugar, or thyroid imbalance.
- Poor sleep may reflect changing oestrogen and progesterone levels, but also iron deficiency or disrupted insulin signalling.
- Brain fog can arise from changing hormone patterns, yet it is also a hallmark of insulin resistance and thyroid issues.
If we simply label every symptom as “perimenopause,” we risk missing the true driver – and therefore, the opportunity for resolution.
Looking Beneath the Surface
Consider Anxiety for example. It is often described as a defining feature of perimenopause, but it also appears across iron deficiency, thyroid issues, and blood sugar issues and blood sugar dysregulation. If anxiety improves once iron deficiency is corrected, then the root cause was not hormones – it was iron.
This reframing is powerful. Instead of viewing symptoms as fixed parts of who you are, they can be seen as signals – invitations to explore what is happening beneath the surface.
Why Testing can be important
Testing can provide crucial insights into:
- Iron status – low iron stores are common if you have experienced heavy bleeding, flooding, or frequent periods. Long-term under-eating or very low meat intake also increase the risk.
- Thyroid function – sluggish thyroid activity is one of the most underdiagnosed conditions in women, often mistaken for “just perimenopause.”
- Insulin sensitivity – fluctuating blood sugar can drive energy crashes, weight gain, and brain fog.
- Hormone levels and ratios – confirming oestrogen, progesterone, and testosterone balance.
Even without testing, there are clues. Long-term heavy periods are a red flag for iron deficiency. Years of strict dieting or plant-exclusive eating patterns increase risk of low iron and vitamin B12. A tendency to crash in the afternoon after eating carbohydrates may indicate insulin resistance.
The Compounding Effect
For many women, it is not one single factor but the compounding impact of:
- Suboptimal nutrition and deficiencies.
- Metabolic imbalances (such as insulin resistance).
- Thyroid dysfunction.
- Emotional stress.
- Changing reproductive hormones.
This is why a whole-body approach – one that considers your nutrition, your metabolism, and your emotional wellbeing – can be so effective. By addressing all the potential contributors, rather than focusing on hormones alone, symptoms can be lifted in a far more complete and lasting way.
Why You Don’t Need to Accept “Feeling Not Quite Right”
Symptoms in the body and mind are not random. They are your feedback system. By listening carefully and interpreting them correctly, you can uncover what your body or mind is truly asking for.
You do not need to settle for constant fatigue, poor sleep, or the weight of anxiety. These are not inevitable parts of midlife. Whether the driver is iron, thyroid, insulin or hormones – or a combination of all four – there are answers, and they are within reach.
How My Services Can Help You
As a Registered Nutritionist, Clinical Medical Hypnotherapist, Clinical Hypnotherapist, Psychotherapist and Advanced Rapid Transformational Therapist ( Advanced RTT ), I provide tailored support that addresses both the physiological and emotional drivers of menopause and perimenopausal symptoms one to one in-person or ONLINE.
Through nutrition strategies, I work with you to uncover deficiencies and support your metabolism. With clinical hypnotherapy and Advanced RTT, I help reduce anxiety, improve sleep, and restore balance at a neurological level. And through counselling and psychotherapy, I support the emotional impact and mental health that often accompanies this stage of life.
You can access my services ONLINE from anywhere in Ireland, UK, UAE, Australia, USA or abroad, or in person in Adare, Newcastle West Limerick, Abbeyfeale, Midleton, Youghal, Cork and Dungarven.
You deserve clarity, personalised care, someone to properly listen, and lasting relief.
Book a Consultation Now
Take the first step towards understanding your body more deeply. Together we can identify what is really driving your symptoms and create a clear, evidence-based plan forward.
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