This Is Perimenopause - a book by Dr Kirstey Holland
Episodes
25 episodes
Prologue
You can be doing everything “right” and still feel like your body has turned on you. We meet Lorraine, a strong, stylish mum who trains hard, keeps the household running, and yet feels flat, puffy, and deeply tired. Her GP tells her the blood t...
Introduction
Feeling flat, wired, exhausted, heavier, weepier, foggier, or like your body has turned on you, yet your GP says you’re “fine”? That disconnect is one of the most common perimenopause stories we hear, and it’s exactly why this conversation matt...
Part 1 - Chapter 1 - The Path To Vitality
If you’re doing “all the right things” but perimenopause still has you dragging yourself through the day, the problem might not be you, it might be the order you’re trying to fix things. We take a hard look at why women get told “your results a...
Chapter 2 - You’re Not Broken
Perimenopause can make even the most capable woman feel like she’s losing the plot, and that’s exactly why we start with the truth most people never say out loud: you’re not broken. When mood, sleep, weight, and energy shift all at once, it’s e...
Chapter 3 - Your Body's Invitation To Heal
Your body isn’t betraying you, it’s communicating. If perimenopause has brought night sweats, brain fog, heavy bleeding, mood swings, anxiety, weight gain that won’t budge, or that eerie “impending doom” feeling, we slow it all down and transla...
Chapter 4 - Perimenopause Is Not Menopause...(Yet)
Your GP says your blood tests are normal, but your body is telling a different story. If you’re exhausted before you’ve even started the day, bleeding heavily, waking at 3 am, or feeling anxious and scattered for no obvious reason, this convers...
Chapter 5 - The Biochemistry Of Chaos
Perimenopause can feel like your mind and body are speaking different languages, and the scariest part is how quickly it can change. We slow it all down and translate the “chaos” into clear physiology, so you can stop treating every symptom lik...
Chapter 6 - Progesterone Matters More
Perimenopause can feel like your body is changing the rules overnight: sleep falls apart, anxiety ramps up, bleeding gets heavier, migraines appear, and you’re left wondering why no one can join the dots. We’re going to gently disrupt the stand...
Part 2 - Chapter 7 - It Starts With The Gut
Your hormones are not going to settle if your gut is on fire. That is the blunt truth we keep coming back to as we walk through the hierarchy of healing and why “repair” begins with the gastrointestinal tract.We unpack what it really me...
Chapter 8 - The Hierarchy Of Healing
If you’ve been told your bloodwork is “fine” while your body feels anything but, this conversation is for you. We’re talking about perimenopause in plain language, with a clear plan that respects how disruptive this transition can be, and how o...
Chapter 9 - Repair
Your gut is not just a digestion tube. It’s a control centre that can amplify perimenopause symptoms or calm them right down, depending on what’s happening in your microbiome and along your gut lining. We get practical about what “repair” reall...
Chapter 10 - Rebalance Your Hormones
You can feel “not like yourself” for months and still be told everything is normal. We challenge that story by getting specific about what changes in perimenopause, why it is often a high and wildly fluctuating oestrogen state with low progeste...
Chapter 11 - Six Real Life Rebalance Healing Journeys
If you’ve ever been told you’re “basically menopausal” while you’re still bleeding, or you’ve tried hormone therapy and somehow felt worse, this conversation will land hard. We walk through the Rebalance phase of the healing hierarchy using fou...
Chapter 11 - Progesterone Matters More (continued)
Perimenopause isn’t “all in your head”, and it’s not solved by throwing a single hormone at a dozen symptoms. We tell two case stories, Emma (42) and Claire (53), to show what happens when care gets split into silos: pain over here, mood over t...
Chapter 12 - Reclaim Your Vitality
Perimenopause can make you feel like your body is running away from you: stubborn weight gain, broken sleep, hot flushes, fatigue, brain fog and an edge of anger you don’t recognise. We zoom out from blame and into biology, mapping the reclaim ...
Chapter 13 - Release. What Your Body No Longer Needs To Hold.
Perimenopause can feel like your body has turned on you, but what if it’s doing the opposite, pushing you towards the kind of healing that finally sticks? We talk about “release” as the point where you’re no longer in deficit and you’re strong ...
Conclusion
“Your blood work is normal.” If you’ve heard that while you’re struggling with fatigue, poor sleep, mood swings, weight changes, or a constant sense that something is off, this conversation is for you. I’m closing out with a grounded, hopeful m...