Perimenopause & Herbal Support
- Renee Losardo
- May 1
- 2 min read
May always feels like a turning point to me. Longer days, more light, and yet so many of the women I see in clinic are exhausted, wired, and wondering why their body suddenly feels like a stranger to them.
Perimenopause can start much earlier than most people expect, often in the mid to late thirties, and the hormonal shifts that come with it are real and wide ranging. Oestrogen and progesterone don't decline in a straight line; they fluctuate wildly, and it's that unpredictability that tends to catch people off guard.
Something I talk about a lot with clients at this stage is stress. When the adrenals are already depleted, chronic stress is genuinely one of the worst things you can layer on top. High cortisol actively suppresses progesterone production and if the adrenals are running on empty, there's nothing left to draw from. Nervous system support isn't optional here; it's foundational.
Herbal Allies
Dong Quai
A deeply nourishing herb with a long history in women's health, supporting hormonal balance, easing hot flushes, and helping the body adapt through the ups and downs of perimenopause.
Black Cohosh
A well researched herb, black cohosh has clinical evidence behind it for reducing hot flushes, supporting mood stability, and easing the transition away from regular cycles.
Ladies Mantle
Lady's mantle is an ally for irregular or heavy cycles. It helps tone the uterine lining, eases flooding and the unpredictable bleeding that so many women struggle with but rarely talk about.
Weight training
This is also the time to take weight training seriously. Muscle is essentially a dumping ground for glucose; the more you have and use it, the more efficiently your body moves blood sugar out of circulation. Not quite a green light for unlimited chocolate, but a little more leeway than before. Alongside the benefits for bone density and body composition, it makes a pretty compelling case.
The Book Club
This one is an oldy but a goodie, and is one of those books that has never left me. I saw Dr Libby speak about a decade ago and I still draw on what I heard in that lecture today.
The premise is simple but the science behind it is profound. Dr Libby, a nutritional biochemist, makes the case that modern women are caught in a state of constant urgency, and that our bodies, with their very much cavewoman biology, simply weren't designed to sustain it. The knock on effect touches everything; sleep, hormones, digestion, weight, mood and fertility. It reads like a conversation rather than a textbook, which is rare for something this well researched.
If you are perimenopausal and running on empty, this book will make a lot of things click into place.
Comments