If your skin has started behaving in ways it never did before, drier, more sensitive, reactive to products you have used for years, new breakouts or rashes that will not quite go away, you are not imagining it and you are not alone. Skin changes are one of the less talked about symptoms of perimenopause. Not as headline-grabbing as hot flushes or as frightening as mood changes, but for many women deeply frustrating. I know this because I experienced it myself.

Most women assume perimenopause means low oestrogen. But the full hormonal picture is far more complex than that, and what's actually driving your symptoms might surprise you. Here's what my own hormone test revealed and why it changed how I approach my own health.

Most of the women I work with have already Googled their symptoms, asked ChatGPT and read everything they can find. They are not short of information. What they are short of is clarity about what any of it actually means for them.

If that sounds familiar, this one is for you.

There's always a bag of ground flaxseeds in my fridge.

Not because I'm trying to be virtuous. Not because a wellness influencer told me to. But because they genuinely make a difference to how I feel and they take about 3 seconds to add to anything.

If you're in perimenopause and you're not eating them regularly, you might want to start.

One tablespoon gives you fibre for your gut, omega-3s for inflammation, and plant compounds called lignans that actually help your body balance oestrogen. Gently and consistently over time.

There’s a jar of chia seeds sitting on my kitchen worktop right now.

It’s there because these tiny seeds have genuinely made a difference to how I feel - particularly my digestion and energy levels.

And the best bit? They require basically zero effort.

Here’s what shocked me most about that conversation: not one of them had connected their symptoms to perimenopause.

Not their GPs. Not their friends. Not Dr Google.

They thought perimenopause was hot flushes and missed periods. Maybe some mood swings.

Nobody told them about the anxiety. The joint pain. The 3am wake-ups. The inexplicable fear of everyday activities.

And this is the problem with perimenopause: we’re told to expect certain symptoms, so when we get completely different ones, we don’t make the connection.