Recognising the Signs of Menopause: Understanding Your Changing Body

Menopause is not a switch that flicks overnight, unless you’ve had a complete hysterectomy. For most women, it is a gradual hormonal transition that begins with subtle whispers from the body long before your period ever stops. As a chiropractor with over 25 years experience, I’ve spent my career studying how the human body communicates, adapts and compensates. Menopause is one of the most profound examples of this. Your body isn’t failing, it’s recalibrating. And once you understand the “why” behind your symptoms, the whole experience becomes far less frightening.

Throughout your reproductive years, your ovaries produce most of your oestrogen. But as you move into your mid-40s (though this varies from woman to woman), the ovaries gradually wind down their hormone production. Their output becomes inconsistent, one month high, the next month low, which is why early perimenopause can feel so unpredictable.

When the ovaries begin stepping back, the body turns to two backup sources to keep oestrogen circulating.

Your adrenal glands, which sit just above the kidneys, begin producing a weaker form of oestrogen once the ovaries reduce output. But there’s a catch: the adrenals have many responsibilities, and their top priority is survival.

When the body is stressed, the adrenals prioritise the production of:

• cortisol
• adrenaline

These stress hormones are essential in short bursts because they sharpen our reflexes, heighten awareness and prepare us to react quickly in challenging situations, all designed to increase our chances of survival. But those short bursts were meant for rare, acute events. The reality today is that most of us are living in a state of ongoing, low-grade stress. This means the adrenal glands rarely switch off. When they are constantly busy producing cortisol and adrenaline, they simply don’t have the capacity to create the hormones required for a smooth menopause transition. With the adrenals stuck in “survival mode”, oestrogen production naturally falls behind.

This is why stress and menopause symptoms are so tightly connected. The more stressed you are, the less oestrogen is manufactured, the more intense your symptoms can become.

When the ovaries and adrenals can’t meet the body’s needs, your fat cells step in. Adipose tissue is capable of producing a small amount of oestrogen. This is one reason weight gain during menopause, especially around the abdomen, hips and thighs, is extremely common.

This isn’t a sign of failure. It’s simply your body compensating. By storing extra fat, it’s trying to create an additional source of oestrogen to help stabilise hormone levels throughout the menopause transition.

However, without balanced hormone production and efficient liver clearance, this weight can become extremely stubborn and difficult to shift. What used to work, more exercise, stricter eating or cutting calories, often has little effect, because your body has stored this extra fat for a purpose: to help maintain oestrogen levels during this transition.

There is another organ working quietly behind the scenes that determines how smoothly this hormonal shift unfolds, your liver.

Your liver isn’t just a detox organ. It is also responsible for:

• metabolising and clearing used or excess oestrogen
• processing hormonal metabolites
• supporting healthy inflammation levels
• reducing the body’s overall toxic load
• helping the adrenal glands function more efficiently

During peri-menopause, menopause and post-menopause, the liver is under more pressure than usual. When it is overburdened, from stress, alcohol, medication, environmental toxins or hormonal fluctuations, it cannot efficiently clear inactive or excess oestrogen. This can create an imbalance between active and inactive hormone metabolites, contributing to:

• weight gain
• bloating
• breast tenderness
• worsening hot flushes
• mood fluctuations
• fatigue
• skin irritation

 

So when the body is producing less oestrogen but simultaneously struggling to clear what remains, symptoms become more pronounced. Supporting the liver becomes essential for a smoother hormonal transition, which is where CleanEm Detox plays a helpful role.

Oestrogen isn’t just a “reproductive hormone”. It interacts with thousands of receptor sites throughout your body, including:

• 
  the hypothalamus (your internal thermostat)
• skin
• bones
• muscles
• joints
• brain
• blood vessels
• digestive tract
• vaginal tissue

When oestrogen levels fall or fluctuate wildly, and when metabolites are not cleared efficiently, every one of these systems can feel the change.

Your symptoms aren’t random. They are simply the result of a body receiving less hormonal support than it once did.

Here are the symptoms women are commonly experiencing, often long before they even consider menopause as the cause.

Triggered by the hypothalamus responding to a narrowed thermoregulatory range caused by declining oestrogen levels. With this “thermostat window” becoming much smaller, even slight changes in body temperature can trigger an exaggerated heating response, leading to hot flushes and night sweats.

Oestrogen influences serotonin, melatonin and body temperature, all of which are essential for quality sleep. When oestrogen drops, your ability to fall asleep, stay asleep and cycle through restorative sleep stages can be disrupted. Add stress hormones like cortisol into the mix, which naturally keep you alert, and it becomes even harder for the brain and body to switch off at night.  For more information on helping to improve your sleep quality naturally click here.

The brain contains many oestrogen receptors, so fluctuations directly impact emotional regulation, resilience and overall stability. These hormonal shifts can leave you feeling wonderful one day and completely flat the next, often without any obvious trigger, leaving you wondering what on earth has changed.

A normal biological adaptation to declining oestrogen: your body stores extra fat to generate additional hormonal support, while a sluggish liver struggles to clear the metabolites that build up during this transition.

Oestrogen plays a significant role in gut motility, microbiome balance and inflammation. As levels decline, digestion can slow down, become more erratic or more reactive to certain foods. Many women notice increased bloating, constipation, sensitivity and that “heavy, full” feeling that appears out of nowhere. These changes aren’t digestive weakness, they’re the gut responding to reduced hormonal support.

Oestrogen helps maintain collagen production, skin hydration and the strength of the skin barrier. With less oestrogen, the skin loses moisture more quickly, becomes thinner and more prone to irritation or itchiness. This can make the skin feel tight, dry or unusually sensitive, especially on the arms, legs and face.

Reduced oestrogen directly affects the vaginal tissue, decreasing lubrication, elasticity and natural moisture. This can lead to dryness, discomfort, itching or burning, especially during intimacy. It’s one of the most under-discussed symptoms of menopause, yet one of the most common.  For more information check out our Menopause – healthy skin and intimacy guide. 

Hormonal changes, disrupted sleep, increased stress hormones and vaginal dryness all contribute to a reduced desire for intimacy. This isn’t psychological, it’s the direct result of your hormonal environment shifting and the body trying to adapt.

Oestrogen has natural anti-inflammatory effects and helps maintain joint cushioning. As levels fall, inflammation increases and tissue repair slows, making joints feel stiffer, sorer or less mobile. Many women wake up feeling “creaky” or notice new aches that weren’t there before.

Oestrogen influences key neurotransmitters and supports healthy blood flow to the brain. When levels fluctuate, concentration, recall and mental clarity can dip. This can feel like losing your train of thought mid-sentence, walking into a room and forgetting why you’re there, struggling to find the right words or taking longer to process information that once felt effortless. This isn’t “old age,” it’s a hormonal imbalance.

One of the earliest signs of perimenopause. As oestrogen and progesterone fluctuate, cycles may shorten, lengthen, become heavier, lighter or completely unpredictable. For many women, it almost feels like going back to the early days of getting a period, needing to keep spare sanitary products in your bag “just in case” because you can no longer rely on your cycle’s timing. These irregularities simply reflect the ovaries transitioning into retirement.

Oestrogen supports the hair growth cycle, helping strands stay in the growth phase longer. When levels drop, hair sheds more quickly and grows back more slowly, leading to thinning or reduced density, particularly around the temples and part line.

There are over 60 recognised symptoms, and each woman experiences her own unique combination.

Of all the symptoms women experience during peri-menopause, menopause and post-menopause, one of the most distressing is the feeling of simply not being yourself. Many describe it as though someone has hijacked their zest for life and left behind a dull, tired version of who they used to be. It’s not just physical tiredness, it’s emotional flatness, reduced motivation and a sense that your usual spark has expired. This experience is incredibly common, yet often never spoken about.

Low energy is one of the most common and frustrating symptoms of peri-menopause. With declining oestrogen, the adrenal glands working overtime to manage stress, disrupted sleep and a liver under increased pressure, the body simply doesn’t have the reserves it once had. Oestrogen also plays a role in mitochondrial function, the part of your cells responsible for producing energy, so lower levels can directly impact vitality. This combination often leaves women feeling unusually fatigued, “heavy” or unable to bounce back the way they used to. Your body isn’t becoming lazy; it’s working harder behind the scenes to keep you balanced.

Once you understand the physiology behind menopause, you can begin supporting the body rather than fighting against it.

This holistic, whole-body approach is where women see the greatest improvements.

Hormotion™ Lotion is designed to support the body’s natural ability to produce oestrogen, allowing your hormone levels to adjust in real time to what your body needs. Our requirement for oestrogen isn’t static, it changes moment by moment depending on stress levels, sleep quality, emotional load, physical demands and even temperature regulation. By providing the building blocks your body can draw on as needed, Hormotion™ Lotion helps create a more balanced hormonal environment day to day, something fixed-dose HRT simply cannot adapt to.

It contains a synergistic blend of therapeutic botanicals, each targeting a different part of the endocrine system:

Provides the building blocks the body can use to produce more oestrogen.

Supports the pituitary gland, which communicates hormonal instructions to the ovaries and adrenals.

Essential for prostaglandin production, which influences hormonal balance, mood and cellular communication.

Helps regulate cortisol, supporting adrenal function and reducing the stress load on the hormonal system.

A phytoestrogen known for reducing hot flushes, night sweats and vaginal dryness, and believed to influence serotonin receptors.

An adaptogen that nourishes the endocrine system, supporting energy, mood and hormone balance.

Together these ingredients support hormone production, hormonal communication, adrenal resilience and nervous system stability, a truly holistic approach.

CleanEm Detox supports the liver’s detoxification pathways, helping the body process and clear old or excess hormones more effectively. This reduces the burden on the adrenal glands and allows hormonal balance to return more smoothly.

When used in combination with Hormotion™ Lotion, one supporting hormone production and the other hormone clearance, women often feel more stable, more supported and more in control of their transition.

Menopause symptoms often begin gradually in your early to mid-40s, but the timing is different for everyone. Despite how overwhelming it can feel, your body is not broken. It is simply responding to:

• declining oestrogen
• increased stress load
• reduced clearance of hormone metabolites
• thousands of receptors suddenly receiving less support

 

Once you understand your physiology, fear is replaced by clarity, and clarity opens the door to real solutions.