If you are someone who is socialised as a woman, my guess is it wasn’t long ago that you last felt riddled with guilt. Yes, perimenopause can be hugely confronting and challenging, but there are positives to the process and it is a window of opportunity to look at your health, to look at your life and to make powerful decisions about what you want and need. Join Menstrual Health Expert, acupuncturist, certified Life Coach, and author of Period Power, Maisie Hill, each week to get insights and strategies that will improve your cycle and take you from hormone hell to harmony. Then there’s the toll of all the emotional labour and unpaid work that you’re probably doing, the years of people pleasing, of saying yes when you really meant no, of hustling your way through life trying to succeed and achieve, often skipping meals in the process. And her GP actually cautioned her that her fertility could increase, so, to be careful and use contraception.

I don't know if this was mainly because I'd already fairly recently read Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler (which was a phenomenally helpful and insightful text, almost like the bible of fertility really), but I didn't really find much in Maisie Hill's book that I didn't already know, at least from a biological perspective. From 'Period Power' I now have a slightly better idea of which hormones to blame for the symptoms I do generally get, though: three types of pain, stomach upsets, loss of appetite, clumsiness, exhaustion, etc. The reason there is so little science in the book, is because science doesn't really give a crap about women and their menstrual "problems". I should not have been surprised, but was disappointed, to find so many suggestions of dietary exclusions in ‘Period Power’.

In Maisie Hill's parlance (aka: each 'week'-ish of your monthly cycle is named after a season), my experience of my "Winter" seems to be what the average menstruator experiences in their "Summer. So although it’s true that most of you will go through menopause in your 50s, perimenopause is going to start in your 40s, for some of you the hormonal shifts will start before then. Because here's the thing: I've done enough internet-reading about hormones to know that my cycle isn't typical, but there's also no way it's entirely unique.

Maisie is incredibly knowledgeable and presents information in a way that is easy to understand and relatable. I used to experience extreme pre-menstrual rage, irritability, and debilitating period pain that would quite literally floorme, so I wanted to use my experiences to help others learn about their cycle and use it to great effect in their lives! My lecturing timetable has zero respect for whether I’m bleeding from the cunt and feeling like shit.Now don't get me wrong, Hill re-iterates again and again that she feels that if you decide the pill is the absolute best option for you then that is fine, and that she respects people's opinions about what is best for them in terms of contraception. The overweening assumption is that all women respond similarly to their hormones, and that you will follow the same pattern -- you just need to track your cycle and you'll realize that you follow this pattern.

Ideally I'd just lie on the sofa with a hot water bottle, but under capitalism this often isn't an option.I’m your host Maisie Hill, menstrual health expert, acupuncturist, certified life coach, and author of Period Power. To celebrate the launch of the show I’m going to be giving away three annual subscriptions to my amazing online community, The Flow Collective.

Understanding why this happens means that you can go easy on yourself, which is always a good thing. If the answer is to listen to your body, what if you have anxiety that causes your body to constantly mislead you? So, at the start of your cycle hormone levels are low, which along with any menstrual symptoms you might experience whilst you’re bleeding, can help to explain why you might not have much energy and maybe want to hide away from the world. The hormones of the menstrual cycle profoundly influence our energy, mood and behaviour, but all too often we're taught that our hormones make us unreliable, moody bitches, or that it's our lot in life to put up with 'women's problems'.There really is no better or worse here, this is just about you getting whatever help you need in whatever forms are most appropriate and helpful to you. So if you found this episode helpful then you’re going to love Perimenopause Power because there’s a lot of helpful information and strategies in there to really equip you for your perimenopause and post menopause whether you’re already in it or just wanting to be prepared.