Fog on the Brain

Headaches that won’t quit. Brain fog so thick you forget why you walked into the room. In this episode of Hot Flash and Sassy, we’re breaking down why your head hurts and your brain feels offline during perimenopause and menopause. We talk hormones, headaches, mental fog, and why this isn’t stress, aging, or “just you.” 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Hot Flash and Sassy, a podcast with hot takes, hotter flashes, and a whole lot of sass.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

Okay, let's talk about the moment you walk in the room and you completely forget why you're there. Has that ever happened to you? Every day. I know. Seriously. It's every freaking day so bad. It's so bad. It's so bad right now because you and I are both in the pellet amplifying time. So we notice it so much more than when our pellets are rocking. So um, or when you're mid-sentence and suddenly the word you've used your entire life disappears. I feel like the biggest idiot. I think I have zero dictionary. I'm serious, like I need to read more books or something to make me have a vocabulary because I fall short of the words way too often. And it's really embarrassing in meetings. It's not your vocabulary. Don't worry. No, we're gonna talk about this, aren't we? Um, so yeah, um uh there's no forwarding address, it's evaporated, gone, no dictionary in the brain, no brain, potentially.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

It's just out. It's out. So then you think, cool, this is it. It's how it starts. I'm losing my mind. But what if we told you you're not losing your mind? Spoiler alert, it's your hormones. Yes, I said spoiler alert again. I'm trying not to say it, but okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:39

You didn't in the last episode. Excellent. I know.

SPEAKER_00 1:43

All right.

SPEAKER_02 1:43

So I think I should re reinforce the F them.

SPEAKER_00 1:47

Yeah, there you go. F them hormones. F them hormones. Yeah. So today we're talking about headaches, migraines, brain fog, and what perimenopause and menopause are actually doing to our brain. Oh, is that what's happening? So it's not in your head, guys. Well, I mean it is, but it's not what you think. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:07

So uh what's actually happening to our hormones, Holly? Um, it's not the estrogen, it's not just the estrogen, it's not sleep disruption, it's not the stress, it's not the cortisol spikes. If you're waking up at 3 a.m. every night, clenching your jaw, running on caffeine and bibes, that tension, it really does add up. I mean, it's not just hormones because your hormones are creating this stupid physical reaction, and then your body's all on this hyper craziness. And what happens then? What happens?

SPEAKER_00 2:39

Break this down. You get a freaking headache. Why are we gonna break this down in normal human language?

SPEAKER_02 2:46

Are we? Are we? I mean, sometimes I feel like some of the stuff that they tell us with our evidence is a little bit foreign language.

SPEAKER_00 2:55

Well, I can't say half the words, so we know that's a problem.

unknown 2:58

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

So but it's I'll just blame the hormones for that. Um it's the brain fog. During perimenopause. It is, yes. During perimenopause, estrogen doesn't gently decline like a dimmer switch. No, it's become it's chaotic. Up, down, she's ghosting you, she's back again. She's a real bitch. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

It's a real bitch. Oh my god, that's epic.

SPEAKER_00 3:24

I don't, you know, I don't know. You start feeling different, foggy, head, headache, off. That's biochemical, not traumatic, not weak, and you're not imagining it. No, it's for real. Yeah, for real.

SPEAKER_02 3:38

Like it. Okay, so we both have like significant histories of migraines. Not even though it was it happened before menopause, perimenopause. Yeah. I mean, tell me about yours. Lifetime. How do your headaches happen? When do they happen?

SPEAKER_00 3:53

Um, I don't now is different than before. Yeah, exactly. Now I will start to get headaches when um I'm getting close to my pellets, like when I need them. So like when my hormones are changing. Um, I still get other type of headaches, but I would say those are more like the migraine hormonal headaches. I used to it would it was awful before I had my hysterectomy. All I had was migraines. I had them weekly, every single it was awful.

SPEAKER_02 4:21

And what kind of hormones or no hormones? What kind of hormones you got? All of them. What kind of headaches did you get? Did you get like the temporal ones, the back of the head?

SPEAKER_00 4:31

It would it was the temper, it was yes, all up here. It was all in the front. Yeah. Um, I couldn't, it was hard to, I would even get like those little floaties, like those migraine floaties. And I always got headaches. I've gotten headaches since my youth, unfortunately, it's been a thing. But they've changed what kind I've gotten, I guess. Yeah. But before my hysterectomy, I got it was awful hormone. I mean, they were just all the time, and all I could go home is I wanted to be at home in the dark with something on my head. You couldn't function.

SPEAKER_02 4:57

I love the darkness.

SPEAKER_00 4:59

Gosh, it was it was tough. Um, now, like I said, I still get an occasional, like I got a headache, start getting one the other day, but I'll tell you, I took some ibuprofen and it went away. Like that used to never be the case. Yeah. Um, and then I still do kind of get them sometimes when my pellets are wearing out, not all the time.

SPEAKER_02 5:15

So the one that you got where the ibuprofen worked, would you say that was more of a stress one, or do you think that was hormonal? I think it was probably more stressed.

SPEAKER_00 5:23

It was yesterday. It was a stressful day.

unknown 5:26

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 5:27

It was just yesterday. Um, and but I did, it went away. I was like, but I also I made sure I took medicine right when it came on. Um, but I barely have to take anything for headaches anymore. I it is so rare that I'm taking these.

SPEAKER_02 5:40

Amazing.

SPEAKER_00 5:41

Now you I like have more of an extreme history with headaches.

SPEAKER_02 5:46

Absolutely ridiculous history of headaches. And I would like to say that it's my all my hormones, but I do I have Hashimoto's too. So I think sometimes my autoimmune response maybe goes to headache. Um last year I stopped taking pellets for a little while because I had 12 weeks of the worst migraine headache. I had a reaction to the Botox therapy that ironically I was getting for my migraines. Um, and I guess it's you know that one in a million chance where I my body rejected the Botox. So let me tell you guys, this isn't fun Botox that helps with like Yeah, this was not to fix these wrinkles, it was all on like the top of her head. Yeah, and mine happened right here on the left side of my head, and when it happens, it makes my whole body cringe and I like can't see straight and I get dizzy. And I do, I really, really love the just laying in the darkness, but sometimes just laying there made it worse. It just felt like it was more impactful because I just realized it more, I think. You know, just laying by yourself in the dark, all you do is focus on this insane, unbelievable headache. So sometimes when I couldn't get it to go away on its own, I I told Jay, I'm like, we're going for a hike. I needed to be outside, I needed to be in Mother Nature, I needed to be distracted by Bodhi, something because nothing was fixing. Oh gosh. Yeah, yeah, it's awful. It's not fun, and I don't um I can sympathize completely with anybody who suffers from migraines of any level, stress, hormonal, what have you. Um, I will put a little tip out there. I did um start a supplement called Fever Few, and it's all natural. Shout out to uh Dr. Andrea uh Jacobs Herbs because that it's amazing. I can take it, I can take two of them as soon as it comes on, and within an hour they've subsided.

SPEAKER_00 7:52

So it's not like a daily thing, it's something you're taking when you have a symptom of one.

SPEAKER_02 7:55

Well, I do it now daily, just as a preventative. Okay, because I know it works. So I'd rather I'd rather not take some sort of OTC and because I have Hashimoto's, you know, the um what do they call it? NSAIDs, the I leave and whatever have um negative effects for me. Okay. And if I take those and my headache doesn't go away from them, I can't take my heavy hitter medicines. So with the all-natural one, that's my first go-to. Yeah, it's fine with any, it's it has no um issues with any of my heavy hitter migraine medications. So I really love them. Very good. Yeah, check out. I mean, go see Dr. Andrea, she's amazing. She the first time I walked in um to her with my headache, she's like, oh Lord. She gave me a cup of water instantly and made me open them. She sensed how bad my headaches were. Wow. Yeah, she knew it was that bad. Yep. Yeah. Anyway, tangent on my migraine history. It's it's ugly and not fun, but I can sympathize with anybody who does experience it. It's not fun. They're awful. Yeah, they are awful. Um, but one of the things that comes from the migraines is the brain fog. So we talk about it all the time because hormones naturally create this brain frog fog craziness that none of us know what we're doing and we forget what we're thinking about. But sometimes the pain is just a little bit much with the migraines, and then it puts you in this, I don't know, other universe where you just try to exist. Do you feel that way with your migraines where you just want to exist?

SPEAKER_00 9:34

I don't even want to exist. I don't know, right? I get what you're saying. Like it is either there's almost a recovery period from migraines. You get one, and it's like the next day, it is like it is you don't have the headache anymore, but you're still not right. Right. Like you're still not right. It's like a recovery, yes. Yeah, that's a good way to look at it. Yeah. And then you're walking through life in a fog. You are a brain fog. Right.

SPEAKER_01 9:58

I mean, I have brain fogs when I don't have um headaches, but because we've already addressed the fact that there's multiple things that create the brain fog. Definitely. It's this stage of life that we're in that nobody's enjoying.

SPEAKER_00 10:12

Correct. Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02 10:14

So, what do you think about the um brain fog? How what is uh what is the science saying?

SPEAKER_00 10:20

What's the science behind it? Okay, so here's what's happening with the brain fog. Estrogen supports the hippocampus. That's a new one. And you said it well. Thank you. Thank you. So proud of you. Um, that's the part of the brain responsible for memory. It also interacts with serotonin and dopamine. So when estrogen fluctuates or drops, cognitive processing can feel slower. Adds uh sleep deprivation, um, stress, anxiety, blood sugar swings. Get out. This is crazy. Of course, your brain feels tired. Yeah, I'm exhausted. Just listen until you read that. And it's important to note that brain fog during perimenopause does not equal dementia. For most women, it's temporary and hormone related. I will tell you that there have actually been times and I'm like, do I have like early onset dementia? Swear to God me too. Some of the stuff is it's it's embarrassing. Like your mid-sentence and you're like, I actually forgot what I was saying. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:22

I had the conversation with my neurologist. You know, my migraines are treated by a neurologist. And I told him, I'm like, is there any evidence that migraines cause dementia? Or is there something that validates this? And he's like, no, no, then I don't think there's really a correlation there. I'm like, is there a test that you can do to check it? Well, of course, I've had CTs and MRIs of my head, and he's like, I'm pretty sure we would have seen it somewhere in your test results.

SPEAKER_00 11:49

I'm like, are you sure? It's awful. It is awful. I forget so many things. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:56

I bet there's so many listeners out there that can identify with this. I think this is probably one of the most common things. I mean, obviously, we've all had hormonal headaches through our life because even when I was having a period, I mean, I would get menstrual migraines and all, you know, the PMS migraines. I feel like that was just a regular thing. So maybe women are just more apt to dealing with migraines than men. Yeah. We'll have to look that one up.

SPEAKER_00 12:24

I do, we will have to, because I do think that it seems like women are more prone to headaches than men.

SPEAKER_02 12:29

And we're affected by these hormones at every stage of our life. Yeah. You know, we can't hide from them. Yeah, like you said, that roller coaster. I'm trying to hide from them, but they're finding me. Good luck. Yeah, no, we we have talked about how the spikes in all the different hormones, one one spikes, one plummets, and there is no warning. But that physiological change, you have to expect it's gonna affect your body somehow. It'd be silly to think that maybe that doesn't affect your brain or your cognitive functioning or your brain fog or your migraines. I mean, it just makes sense that your body's on this roller coaster and your body's gotta respond somehow. It's responding to it, exactly. Responding to it. Yeah, absolutely. Um, so the hippocampus is part of the brain responsible for memory. Yeah. And the estrogen supports the hippocampus. I mean, there's biology to this shit.

SPEAKER_00 13:30

It's all connected. You take it all back to hormones, you take it all back to your freaking hormones. Yeah, but it's fascinating because I wouldn't know that.

SPEAKER_02 13:38

Yeah. You don't know about the hippocampus? Well, I mean, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_01 13:45

Oh my god, that's so funny. Jeeves said it. So like common knowledge.

SPEAKER_02 13:53

You don't know about the hippocampus? I mean, probably once upon a lifetime. Maybe I thought that said a hippopotamus. Okay. The hippopotamus part of your brain.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

Oh my God, you cracked me. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 14:15

All right. Um, so let's talk about the compounding fractures. Fract fractions, fractures, see. See, this is it. This is it. Tongue tied. Add tongue tied to the brain fog. Can't even get the words out. But we do know this. This one is the obvious. Poor sleep. We talk about it in every episode. Over it. Love. I want to sleep better. Okay, everybody out there, just so you know, I would like to sleep better. But also, low iron and B12. We have talked about this a lot of times. You have to get more than just your CBC done. If your medical professional is sending you for blood work every year and saying you are normal, no, you are not normal. You are going through something and they need to check other things, like your iron, like your B, vitamin B12, whatever. Yep. Um, D, wasn't D one of them? That's the one that we get checked. We get checked on a regular basis.

SPEAKER_00 15:11

Have you ever had a B12 shot?

SPEAKER_02 15:13

No, I hear they're amazing.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

I got I've gotten a few. I don't know. I I think it's one of those where, like, if you're low on it, you have a huge impact. Like if it's really noticeable. Where if you're not, I don't think it is. And I don't know that my B12 is off. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 15:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:32

Um, I've gotten them, but I don't know that it's doing anything. I kind of stopped. Let's I'm writing it down. Question for Judy. It can make your pee pink, so heads up. No way, really? It's very freaky. You're like, something's wrong with me. I should go to the hospital. And I'm like, oh, that's the B12.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

Why? I wonder.

SPEAKER_00 15:50

I don't know. Well, again, we're not medical professionals, so we shouldn't know.

SPEAKER_02 15:54

People are like, I'm listening to them. Just like, I don't know. Yes, yes, yes. Um, this one's my favorite because I do suffer from it. Thyroid issues. I mean, make sure you're getting your thyroid checked because there is definitely my body reacts to everything different ever since I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's. And right now I'm going through the upheaval of the pellets, so my body's adapting to it. And my Hashimoto's is so pissed off. It can't even regulate to save its life. I mean, I get hot flashes. I just had somebody ask me today if I came back from vacation because my neck and my chest get really red when my thyroid's angry. And uh I'm like, did that I really want to say when you first start at pellets?

SPEAKER_00 16:40

Did that happen? And then like it evened out because it got used to it, or does it happen every time you get pellets? It's at the beginning.

SPEAKER_02 16:46

So every time every time I get something new in my body, I get steroid shots in my low back, and as soon as I get those, that thyroid goes angry. It's very, very angry. And so you can tell because my throat is red, um, because that's where your thyroid is, obviously. So my neck and my throat get really red um when my thyroid's angry. But that obviously doesn't happen to everybody. Um you know, I'm probably the one in a billion because that seems to happen very frequently to me. I get to be the special.

SPEAKER_01 17:18

I get to be the example for everybody.

SPEAKER_02 17:21

Um, but I think that's a really important thing that if you do have some issues, ask your doctor to check your thyroid. I mean, it's one test that they just add onto your CBC PM.

SPEAKER_00 17:32

I'm saying is that a standard on the normal panel? No.

SPEAKER_02 17:35

No, I don't think so. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 17:39

Um dehydration. Holly's really good at hydration. We've talked about this before. I am not so good, but I'm getting better.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 17:48

Yeah. I'm really, I really, really try hard to do liquid IVs. I really try hard to drink. If I drink out of a bottle like this, kind of plastic bottle, I know it's not great for the environment, but I drink more water. Really?

SPEAKER_00 18:02

Not like if you bring in like a your own container, you won't drink out of it, really.

SPEAKER_02 18:06

Irrable. It just sits on my desk.

SPEAKER_00 18:08

Really?

SPEAKER_02 18:08

But if I have one of these bad boys, yeah, no. Straw doesn't work. Straw makes it even worse. I know. I know. Silver revealing. But the if I can refill a bottle and I just kind of keep track how many times I've refilled it in the day, I don't know why, but I do better. So I like that.

SPEAKER_00 18:25

Hey, what works for you?

SPEAKER_02 18:26

That's right. Everybody's different. Chronic stress, we already know. And then blood sugar crashes. So eating a healthy, balanced diet, watching how much sugar you're taking in. I know that I have to control how much sugar my body consumes because, well, I've got to keep my thyroid happy for the most part. But um, also that it helps with my um sinuses. Oh. Yeah. I've noticed a big difference since I've kind of gone to a low sugar diet. I don't have as many, you know, sinus issues. Interesting. Yeah. Yeah, that's what I know. All right.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

I made a note for Judy. Great. Good. Very good. All right. Let's talk about what can help us here. Oh, yeah. With these things. Okay. Oh, yes. Let's go. That list is long, I'm sure. Yeah, I'm sure. Well, here we go. Prioritize protein to stabilize your blood sugar.

SPEAKER_02 19:15

I mean, look at you just doing all the stuff right.

SPEAKER_00 19:18

Well, I'm gonna do all the things. All the things. I'm trying. I do a few things right and a couple things wrong. I don't know if they but it's still our hormones' fault.

SPEAKER_02 19:29

So we're still blaming us the hormones.

SPEAKER_00 19:31

Hydrate. Oh, look that that's another one for you. So I can do more than you think it can. Magnesium can support headache reduction. Now, I have not tried that. Do you take magnesium? Magnesium. Do you okay? Daily. Okay. There you go. I have heard that that is very helpful. It's supposed to help your sleep.

SPEAKER_02 19:47

It's I think for women in general, there's a whole testimony of things that um the reasons why to take magnesium. I think women, I maybe even just the human body is low in magnesium generally, if I remember correctly. I'll have to look that one up too.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

You might have to start trying to take that.

SPEAKER_02 20:03

But I do remember um there is something about magnesium not being um very high for women. Okay. Yep. Yep. Something to look into. But hey, I get one point.

SPEAKER_00 20:13

You get a point. Oh, we're taking carbon A. Well, you're about to give me another point. I've got one strength training. Yes, yes, yes. Supports hormone balance. It's very important. Do that strength training. Sleep protection. Ali gets another one.

SPEAKER_02 20:28

Like it's your job. You do we've talked about your sleep routine. You go to bed pretty regularly at the same time and wake up pretty regularly. And in past episodes, we've talked about how important it is to have that consistency.

SPEAKER_00 20:42

It is. Yeah. I still have the time. I think that Jake would say that I don't sleep well, but I think it's because I complain that I'm tired. I don't know. Um when my hormones are depleting, like my pellets, I struggle with stay. That's one my one of my first signs that they're getting low. Yeah. Is that I start waking up in the middle of the night. Yeah. But my going to bed, I I'm always going to bed at the same time. And yes, I am typically waking up within a 30-minute range in the morning. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:09

Which is I mean, look at you. Yeah. You've got like four points there. I got one.

SPEAKER_00 21:14

Yay me. Yeah, there you go. All right. So let's talk also about like medically, so you can track your symptoms because patterns do matter. That is helpful for your medical provider to know. Um, make sure I do that.

SPEAKER_02 21:25

Do you?

SPEAKER_00 21:26

No, I'm so bad at it.

SPEAKER_02 21:28

Oh, I have a little note in my give yourself a point.

SPEAKER_00 21:31

Yay! Yeah. Look at Miko.

SPEAKER_02 21:33

One point for Monet. But I do really um I my symptoms. Oh, and I'm working on for our pellet episode. I'm working on a timeline of when I got my pellets. Yeah, I got a show. So I keep track of that. I'm keeping track of my weight, how my weight's affected by it, and how my mood's affected. So every Tuesday, I'm checking all the things. So I have a weekly timeline for everybody. I actually do that too. I do definitely track a lot of things.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Okay. That's very good. Um, you can start having conversations about hormone therapy to see if you're interested in that. In case you haven't noticed, we do pellets. Yeah, we do. You haven't heard. Um, migraine treatments, thyroid testing, nutrient testing. You do not have to tough it out. You know, there can be a solution out there for you.

SPEAKER_02 22:19

There are a lot of solutions. There are. And again, everybody is different. We've talked about my cocktails for my supplements because I do a mix of different things. Well, I have Hashimoto, so I have a different level of need. I'm I need a few more supplements than maybe the average bear does. But I do think it's really important that you try. Try different things and find what works for you because you do not have to suffer alone. We're here for you. The podcast is here for you, the podcast audience is here for you.

SPEAKER_00 22:50

Yep. All right. It's about that time, I think. It's that time.

SPEAKER_02 22:56

So um we want to wrap it up, but we want to make sure that you know that your brain is powerful, your body is wise, and this chapter is deserves the support, not silence. So we want to make sure that we keep this conversation going, but also we want to hear from you. We want to know if when you noticed your first episode of brain fog, let's tell us about it. Let's hear about it. Or any real fun ones. Yeah, real fun, yeah, real embarrassing moments at work. Um, we want to hear about how your headaches have changed in your 40s because we did talk about women do suffer from migraines kind of throughout their life, but things definitely change now that we're in this perimenopause, menopause new world order. Um, and if this episode resonated, share it with a friend who's been saying, I don't feel like myself lately, because that's where this whole conversation started with Holly and I. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 23:55

All right. Um, make sure, yeah, you uh like our pod or like us on Facebook. Yes. Like the podcast, subscribe, and share it with a friend.

SPEAKER_02 24:03

Yes. And we're available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and check us out on TikTok. Oh, yeah. Oh, shout out to Austin for helping us get our TikTok up and running.

SPEAKER_00 24:14

Austin, thank you.