Why Treating Perimenopause Symptoms Separately Fails Women

Your doctor prescribes sleep aids for insomnia. Antidepressants for mood swings. Hormone therapy for hot flashes.

Each symptom gets its own prescription. Each problem gets its own solution. But what if we told you this entire approach misses the point? When we treat perimenopause symptoms in isolation, we’re ignoring a fundamental truth: each symptom is a manifestation of systemic changes happening throughout a woman’s body. We’re essentially putting band-aids on individual wounds while missing the underlying injury. Consider this analogy. A patient with coronary artery disease needs bypass surgery. The procedure will likely fix the immediate issue. But the treatment plan would be shortsighted without addressing diet, exercise, and stress management. The same logic applies to perimenopause.

The Systemic Reality of Perimenopause

When we view perimenopause through a whole-body perspective, everything connects. Sleep disturbances and mood changes often appear first. Most women receive prescriptions with little conversation about holistic options. But here’s what women need to know: these symptoms can be relieved with simple to moderate lifestyle changes. Sleep difficulties respond to consistent wake and sleep times, reduced caffeine intake, and cleaner nighttime routines. This means limiting late-night eating and screen time an hour or two before bed. Natural supplements like ashwagandha, valerian root, or low-dose melatonin can provide additional support. For mood disturbances, daily movement and exercise naturally increase endorphin and serotonin levels. Cognitive behavioral therapy offers another useful approach for processing changes in mood and cognition. Stress impacts both sleep and mood. When we help women identify their stressors and develop strategies to mitigate or eliminate them, we create systemic regulation throughout their bodies. Women cope with stress differently. Some increase alcohol intake or consume sugary, processed foods. When we address diet and reduce inflammatory substances, we see symptom relief and overall wellness improvements. Notice something crucial: these are actionable steps women can take without prescriptions. They maintain control over their bodies rather than becoming dependent on medications. This brings us to the final pillar: mindset.

Recalibrating Instead of Failing

We encourage women to accept the changes occurring in their bodies. We suggest they see their bodies as recalibrating instead of failing them. This perspective shift puts women in the driver’s seat of their health. It offers a fresh, invigorating approach to hormonal transitions in midlife. When we apply a holistic approach, a systemic response occurs. Recently, we worked with a client who was skeptical that lifestyle changes could help her hot flashes and sleep issues. She literally told us she didn’t think we could help her. We started with small tweaks. The first week, she gradually decreased her caffeinated coffee intake and eliminated afternoon coffee. At our second session, she reported that her hot flashes had decreased by 60-70%. They were no longer waking her up at night. The second week, she decreased caffeine further by adding more decaffeinated coffee while reducing the caffeinated portion. By the third week, she barely noticed hot flashes during the day and experienced none at night. She also reduced evening cocktails, which improved her sleep quality. Evening yoga helped ease her stress. After six coaching sessions, she shared something powerful: she had resigned herself to living with hot flashes and poor sleep. Now she felt educated and empowered instead of resigned. Holistic coaching showed her how powerful she could be in her own body.

Why Women Reach Resignation

Women want more options than medications. Unfortunately, traditional medical settings don’t provide them. The medications offered are band-aids that often come with unwanted side effects. Women don’t want to take them long-term. When they seek help and only receive medication options they don’t want, they feel optionless and resigned. Our current healthcare system compounds this problem. Most provider visits last 15-20 minutes. That’s insufficient time for full symptom explanations or comprehensive, individualized treatment plans. Both providers and patients are being set up to fail. Healthcare providers have historically received minimal education about treating women in perimenopause and menopause. This leads to women being mistreated, feeling gaslit, or simply not being heard. These system failures explain why our client didn’t believe we could help her initially. She had visited other providers who couldn’t help and assumed we would follow suit.

Rebuilding Trust in the Body

When women experience healthcare system failures, they lose faith in more than just the system. They lose trust in their body’s ability to heal or respond to interventions. Holistic coaching must come from compassion, empathy, and validation. When we work with women feeling resigned and helpless, we ensure they feel seen, heard, and validated. The choices they make are their own. We provide the positivity and empowerment they need to take next steps in their journeys. We also share our own perimenopausal experiences. This personal account provides comfort and camaraderie they may not find with other clinicians or providers. Even as a master’s-prepared nurse, we weren’t prepared for the myriad symptoms that would emerge during our own perimenopause journey. We didn’t understand what was happening when we sought care and explanations. We saw providers in various specialties. No one mentioned perimenopause. We had hormone testing, received medication offers, underwent procedures, and tried supplements that didn’t work. When we gained weight, we were told to eat less and exercise more despite already eating minimally and exercising extensively. We didn’t realize how erratic, declining hormone levels were wreaking havoc on our bodies. Just when we thought we had addressed one symptom, another one or two would appear. That’s when we began researching and educating ourselves. We were never taught holistic approaches in textbooks. We began exploring nontraditional practitioners and holistic care literature. We applied these principles to our own lives and began feeling better. We realized there’s an actual basis for treating women holistically. Our experience taught us that every woman’s hormonal shifts are unique. Women need individualized approaches to managing their health and symptoms. What works for friends and family might not work for them. We require custom approaches in our uniqueness. That’s why holistic coaching works: it provides sufficient time and safe, non-judgmental space while offering personalized, comprehensive treatment approaches.

Setting Realistic Expectations

When women understand what the perimenopause journey actually involves, they feel less surprised and disappointed. We level-set expectations through education. Many women don’t realize perimenopausal symptoms can last 7-10 years. Cycle changes can create confusion about when they’re actually in menopause. We help women understand that due to erratic hormone patterns, they will experience unpleasant symptoms. We explain what happens behind the scenes with hormones and how each hormone’s decline impacts their symptoms. Sometimes understanding the “why” helps. Sometimes it doesn’t. In those instances, we focus on what women CAN DO rather than feeling like victims of circumstances. When we see information isn’t registering, we pivot immediately. We keep explanations high-level because women are seeking answers and solutions. They want to know how to start feeling better in their bodies.

The Accountability Factor

Holistic coaching requires women to be accountable for their health, behaviors, and lifestyle choices. Behavior and lifestyle changes are among the hardest changes to make. We address this challenge by creating SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. When women decide which area to focus on, that’s where we create goals. We discuss success requirements and identify potential roadblocks and challenges. When we meet the following week, we examine what went well or didn’t, whether they met their goals. Nothing is punitive about missing goals. We simply figure out how to succeed next time. Some women are open to doing the work. Others find it more challenging. We understand this completely. It can be overwhelming to ask women to adjust their diets, movement patterns, and mindsets. It’s not as simple as taking a pill. For health-conscious women, this coaching approach fits their wheelhouse. For women who haven’t made lifestyle adjustments, goal-setting and changes prove more difficult. However, most women become believers in transformation when they see themselves meeting goals and their efforts paying off. We have a litmus test for readiness. After determining coaching is a good fit, we assign homework. We ask them to choose one of three small goals to work toward before our next session. If they pick one and report progress at our next session, they’re ready for holistic coaching. If they weren’t intentional about that small goal, didn’t choose one, or didn’t respond to the assignment, holistic coaching likely won’t fit them.

Transforming Societal Messaging

We need to fundamentally change the branding and messaging around traditional menopause beliefs and stereotypes. Instead of viewing menopause as feminine decline or failure, we must reframe it as positive transition time for women. Women in midlife need to know they have much more life to live and much to offer future generations. Their value and worth don’t depend on youth and fertility. We must inform women that how they choose to manage hormonal shifts matters. Not just for the immediate present, but for decades to come. Choosing to holistically support minds and bodies throughout perimenopause and menopause can mean the difference between vibrant futures and frail ones. How women choose to go through this matters. It matters. A woman who completes holistic coaching takes away knowledge, skills, and abilities she’ll carry for life. She knows what she’s truly capable of. She can rest in the comfort of knowing she’s in control of what she previously believed she had no control over. That’s the transformation we’re working toward. Not just symptom relief, but fundamental shifts in how women understand their bodies, their choices, and their power during this crucial life stage. Because when we treat the whole woman rather than isolated symptoms, we create space for something remarkable: true healing and empowerment that lasts far beyond perimenopause itself.