Perimenopause

Katherine

Perimenopause made me feel as though someone had turned the volume up on my entire nervous system.

I became incredibly sensitive to noise. I startled easily. I was waking in the middle of the night and could not settle back down. By late afternoon, I sometimes felt so overstimulated that I wanted everyone in my house to stop talking to me.

I had always been high functioning and good under pressure, so this was completely unfamiliar territory. I assumed it was hormonal and that I simply had to wait it out.

Angela helped me see that my nervous system was part of what needed attention. We began incorporating Somatic Experiencing® into our work, and later she recommended the Safe and Sound Protocol.

I was surprised by my response to it. I began noticing that sounds and situations that normally put me on edge did not have the same effect. I felt less jumpy and less reactive. There was more space between something happening and my immediate response to it.

Somatic healing helped me understand my own signals better too. I started recognizing when I was approaching overwhelm instead of realizing it only after I had snapped at someone or completely exhausted myself.

My sleep improved. I felt more patient with my family. I could move through a demanding day without feeling as though every additional request was one thing too many.

For me, perimenopause wasn’t just about hot flashes or changing hormones. My entire threshold for stress had changed. Learning how to work with my nervous system gave me a way to navigate that change that I hadn’t found anywhere else.