Laura Benanti Felt Like Her ‘Brain Was Melting'—Then She Realized She Was in Perimenopause
'My brain felt like it was melting… I haven't really had the hot flash situation, but I was like, 'Why do I feel sort of far away?'' Benanti shared in a conversation with Dr. Adiele Hoffman, a family medicine doctor and Flo medical advisor to celebrate women's health app Flo Health's launch of 'Flo for Perimenopause.'
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The new in-app feature offers not only in-depth tracking but perimenopause-related education and the ability to chat privately with other users to compare notes. And the goal is to dispel some of the confusion around beginning perimenopause like Benanti experienced.
'Something is happening to me, and I'm not going to be OK,' Benanti told her doctor, especially bewildered by her brain fog-like symptoms. Her doctor determined that she was in perimenopause but didn't really share any further information, education or solution (and didn't address some of the questions she had around HRT).
Hoffman confirms that sometimes cognitive and psychological symptoms are the first ones to pop up during perimenopause, which often begins anywhere from 41 to 45. 'That includes the brain fog, this classic brain fog that we hear about a lot, but also the mood swings, the irritability and anxiety can creep up,' she says.
Plus, this is a time in which life stressors are exacerbated, between looking after children and potentially also caring for aging parents. It's also a 'peak career time,' Hoffman adds. So between all those factors, it may be difficult for even doctors to know exactly what is causing some of the psychological symptoms, like forgetting why you walked into a room (if you know, you know).
To get more information about her own symptoms, Benanti ended up Instagram stalking perimenopause specialist Dr. Alicia Robbins, who had so many patients over the years come to her with symptoms like anxiety and depression around perimenopause and decided to do some research, as well as advocacy about it (especially given that medical school training barely covers menopause, let alone perimenopause).
'The stat is that 20% of OB-GYN residents haven't had any training on perimenopause,' Hoffman confirms.
That's why so many women in perimenopause are turning to digital sources, like Instagram and TikTok, as well as apps on their phones, until there is more comprehensive medical training around menopause. 'I feel like until it's less taboo of a conversation, which obviously will only be the more we talk about it, it's nice to be able to have something that you can rely upon in the comfort of your own home,' says Benanti.
People, in many cases, are be beginning perimenopause before they have any idea that they're actually going through, like Benanti. It's possible to experience symptoms including frozen shoulder and tinnitus (ringing in your ear), both very real issues that Benanti has dealt with. She also started to feel more of a pronounced 'period flu' during her cycle. While menstrual cycle fluctuations often occur around 47, many of these other symptoms can start earlier, Hoffman emphasizes.
To treat these symptoms that popped up, Benanti went back to her digital source. Robbins put her on hormone replacement therapy (HRT), and because that helped her feel better both physically and mentally, it was confirmed that perimenopause was the cause of many of her symptoms.
We have a long way to go until all doctors can give patients a clear picture of all the potential perimenopause symptoms they could be having, but digital tools are helpful in the meantime. 'We want to stop blindsiding women and educate and give the knowledge that we all deserve,' Hoffman says.
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