**Reviewed by** [Brian St. Pierre, MS, RD](https://www.precisionnutrition.com/author/brian-st-pierre) and [Helen Kollias, PhD](https://www.precisionnutrition.com/author/helen-kollias)

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## It’s as if my thoughts were buried beneath a mountain of rubbish.

On a Friday evening, while my husband and I attempted to decide on a dining location, our usual conversation played out like this:

Me: Do you feel like going to that eatery?

Him: What eatery?

Me: I can’t recall the name. We’ve dined there before. It’s that spot with the peanut shells scattered on the floor? It’s adjacent to… You know… It’s along that street where we used to take the dog for vet visits. Do you know the one I’m referring to??

It felt as if certain specifics had vanished into a mire in the hidden corners of my mind. Then, after hours, the specifics would come rushing back, prompting me to shout into a vacant room…

“Texas Roadhouse!”

### Memory issues with proper nouns are common for those who are middle-aged and older.

However, what I was experiencing, especially in my late 40s and early 50s, seemed far from ordinary.

Not only could I never seem to articulate the names of various restaurants or individuals or books or films or so many other items, but my brain also seemed to malfunction during work hours.

I’d sit before my computer screen, gaze at a document, and will myself to engage in something productive with my fingers. Everything felt foggy, like those initial moments in the morning when you’re awake enough to silence the alarm yet too drowsy to perform basic math.

I had my productive spells, typically in the mornings, when I tried to compress eight hours of writing into the two or three hours I had mental clarity.

**On my most challenging days, however, I woke up with a fog I never could shake off.** Work was a total standstill. I didn’t have enough mental capacity to read or do much of anything, honestly.

### I sought medical opinions.

Three healthcare providers suggested antidepressants. I tried one and felt even worse. I tried another. I tried yet another at a higher dosage. Still, I felt like a lifeless shell. Another physician prescribed me a sleep aid. It made me feel even more sedated.

Someone checked my thyroid. It was functioning normally. I wasn’t anemic either. I experimented with supplements, mushroom coffee, and virtually any product with the word “think” somewhere on its label.

Eventually, after nearly two years of consulting a revolving door of doctors, I arranged a visit with a gynecologist for my annual check-up. I casually mentioned vaginal dryness. That detail prompted her to ask a series of inquiries that had nothing to do with that area. How was my sleep? Mood? Energy levels? Were hot flashes part of the picture? How about cognitive fog?

**“Funny that you mention brain fog,” I replied in my habitual hazy tone. “I feel like I’m just surviving.”**

By the conclusion of the appointment, I realized that I’d likely never suffered from depression.

### What I “had” was menopause.

My gynecologist provided me with prescriptions for estradiol and progesterone.

Within days, it was as if someone had turned on a light.

I could think clearly again. I could type coherent sentences again. I could engage in conversations. I could work beyond noon.

And, for the first time in years, I could sleep more than two hours without waking up.

—

## Now, menopause isn’t classified as a medical condition.

Nor is it considered a disease.

**Rather, like puberty, it marks a life phase—a transitional period to be more precise.**

Once you have gone twelve consecutive months without a menstrual cycle, you enter menopause. From that moment forward, you are officially “postmenopausal.”

As women near this transitional phase, hormone levels undergo fluctuations and decline, resulting in numerous symptoms. [Weight gain](https://www.precisionnutrition.com/menopause-weight-gain) and diminished sex drive are frequently highlighted.

However, **during and after menopause, about 40 percent of women report heightened irritability, mood swings, anxiety, tiredness, and challenges with focus,** according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. As illustrated in the image below, it’s also one of the most precarious periods in a woman’s life for developing depression, especially if they have previously struggled with it.

Before commencing hormone treatment, I regularly found myself weeping without cause. At other times, the stimuli from the world felt overwhelmingly… overwhelming.

Routine sounds—like the hum of traffic or chatter in a shopping center—literally *hurt*. I was jumpy and irritable, feeling anxious about scenarios that had never phased me before.