Strange feelings during perimenopause and menopause
Do you feel a bit strange, and you're not really quite sure why? Do you feel that you are feeling sort of disconnected? You're on edge, your brain's all over the place. You just can't focus on anything. You might find that you're getting fuzzy-headed, and sometimes, the world kind of goes in and out, and you've just no idea what's happening here. These strange feelings are very common. Don't think you're going mad or that it's all in your head, because the thing you're experiencing is actually physical, and there are very good reasons for it.
Here are 3 strange feelings and symptoms you can experience and why:
1. Feeling disconnected
During perimenopause and menopause falling oestrogen levels can affect your emotional control. And when that happens, your emotions can get pulled into things much more easily. You can also pull back much more easily as well. And sometimes, that's what gives you this feeling of disconnection or zoning out. You might find your partner or your friends moaning at you because you just don't seem to focus on them and you seem to be in a completely different world, or you've zoned out. This can be a very common scenario.
You can feel disconnected from everything and everybody. You don't feel emotionally connected to people. You might find that you're emotionally numb, so you don't feel love as much. You might feel like you don't like your friends as much. You might feel that there is a much bigger difference between liking and disliking, which is a strange feeling. I think those of you out there will know what I mean. Sometimes, it's kind of difficult to explain exactly how you can feel with this one.
You can also feel disconnected from yourself. So, it's like you're looking at the world through a different pair of eyes, and you're wondering why you are feeling like this, why are you doing this, why are you not doing this?
You can also feel disconnected from the world. It's like you can see things going on. For some of you, you may be watching what's going on in the world today, and you get extra upset about it. But there are also those of you who will feel that it's got nothing to do with you.
You just feel that you either don't want to cope with it or you feel that it's not relevant to what's going on in your life at the moment.
There can be so much going on, which can contribute to this feeling. You're having to cope with all the physical changes. You're having to deal with day-to-day stress, which just seems to compound as time goes on. You might find that day-to-day stress just goes on and on and on. And you may also find that it's much more difficult to switch off. But, on the other hand, sometimes you just switch off. You go into that zone, as we call it.
For me, one time I remember I was washing my clothes one morning and sort of 'came to' as I was trying to put a big bottle of fabric conditioner into the fridge. And my first thought wasn't, 'why am I doing this', but I was puzzled as to why it wouldn't fit, you know. And then eventually, I came back to Earth, and was like, "Ah, this is meant to go under the sink."
So, you can get lots of experiences where you're doing things and you zone out. The classic one is that you put things down or you put things in a certain place and then say to yourself, "Oh, I'll remember where it is." And then of course you forget where you put them. I'm sure that there are things around my house that I've lost, and I will find them one day in very strange places. And it's just because you're not conscious of what you are doing or focusing on it. Everything's done in a kind of robot-like / auto-pilot way.
2. Feeling on edge and jumpy
You can also feel really edgy and jumpy. You might find that you can't relax at all, and especially when you go to bed, you're more tense. You get more anxious the more you try and get to sleep.
You might find that you're more reactive as well, so you're getting really angry at people. You're getting irritated. You lack patience. And this may be the complete opposite of the person you are. I know quite a lot of you say that you don't understand who you are anymore because you don't recognise yourself.
And again, very often, this is due to low oestrogen. It can also be the fact that your nervous system gets stuck in flight or fight, so you're always in that kind of panicky mode. So, when the slightest thing happens or somebody says something to you that you don't like, you get much more upset and much more easily unbalanced than before.
For this particular one, you might find our passionflower spray helpful, as passion flower (also know as passiflora) can help aid relaxation.
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And remember magnesium. So, considering increasing you intake by either taking a magnesium supplement or eating more magnesium rich foods, or both. It's a great one for calming the nervous system down when you feel like you're on edge the whole time.
3. Feeling fuzzy-headed, spaced out and confused
You may find that people will be talking to you about something, and you have absolutely no idea what they're talking about. Again, it's like you're inhabiting a different world from other people.
For this particular one, especially when it's focus and concentration, this is very often due to dehydration, so remember to drink plenty of water daily. It can also be due to low blood sugar levels, so you might find that this kind of scenario tends to happen at the same time every day. And it's just the fact that you need food.
It can also be due to low blood pressure. So, if this is happening daily, then it's always a good idea, to pop into your local pharmacy and ask if they can take your blood pressure, just to make sure it's not getting too low. Another indication of low blood pressure is if you bend down to pick something up, and the minute you stand up, everything seems to be going round and round.
Fatigue will cause this as well. If you're tired, if you're not sleeping well, if you're just so busy that you can't catch your breath, then it's not surprising that you're going to get this spacey feeling and not be able to cope.
I hope you found this one helpful. You may find that you end up with a combination of all these particular feelings and symptoms.
Remember, as I said before, this is not in your head. You are not going mad. There are very specific physical situations going on in your body at this moment that are causing these symptoms and feelings, so just bear that in mind and don't put too much pressure on yourself.
Remember, as always, I love hearing your stories. Have you felt any of these symptoms? What did you do to it to help yourself?
And until next time, take care and have a lovely week.
You may also find these topics helpful:
Emotional Menopause Symptoms: Why they can worsen or come back
6 surprising ways brain fog can affect you during perimenopause and menopause
Signs your nervous system is struggling & how to support it better during menopause
