# The Physiological Changes of Perimenopause ##### Menstrual Cycle Awareness for Perimenopause --- ![[Pasted image 20261024192107.png]] --- ## TL;DR - There’s often a belief that oestrogen is low in perimenopause, but that isn’t always the case. - Especially early on, oestrogen can be high and wildly fluctuating. - We may ovulate less, which means less progesterone. - Seeing the changes on a chart can help us understand what is going on in our own bodies. --- ## Transcript We’re going to move on to the physiological changes of perimenopause. So now you’ve got an idea of what goes on in a regular menstrual cycle. We’re going to look at the changes of perimenopause. Now, one of the things I think is helpful is to see what actually happens with oestrogen and progesterone. That’s in comparison with what happens during a regular cycle. Think back to that original hormone chart I showed you. So there is often a belief that oestrogen levels are low in perimenopause. Hence the idea behind HRT and having oestrogen to support that. But that’s not always the case if we look at perimenopause as being four phases, which we’re going to do in a second. Especially in the early stages of perimenopause, you can see from the chart that oestrogen levels are wildly fluctuating. OK, they are all over the place. According to Lara Briden, they can be up to three times higher than usual. OK. So obviously we ovulate less often, which means less progesterone. Progesterone actually keeps oestrogen in check. Without progesterone to keep oestrogen in check, oestrogen can be higher. Our body is producing more oestrogen, like one last push to procreate. And because we’re not ovulating as much, we’ve got less progesterone. So oestrogen can be even higher, and it’s wildly fluctuating. That fluctuation is the key. And when I came across this chart, I thought it was really useful to be able to see just how our hormones change throughout perimenopause. So you can obviously take a screenshot of this. Again, this is Lara Briden. I think I’ve taken it from her website. I would have a look to get an idea of what is going on during each of these times. I think it can really, really help to know what is going on with our own bodies.