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I was talking to my son the other day while cooking dinner, and in the middle of my sentence, my daughter spilled water everywhere. I called all my other kids’ names before finally getting to hers, asked her to grab a towel from… somewhere?… and snapped my finger to point at the drawer.

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I turned back to my son, and couldn’t remember for the life of me what I was talking about. I walked over to the sink, and saw all the dishes so I started loading them — completely forgetting I was cooking until I almost burned dinner.

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THIS is now my brain.  

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Trying to Find Some Answers

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In my 30s, I could remember multiple details, track which child needed to be where and when, keep a running to-do list in my head, and multitask like a champion. Now, if I go to Costco without a list, I might forget 10 things. My word-finding game is off, and I feel like I’m struggling with ADHD.

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At first, I blamed this on sleep (who gets great sleep with kids, work, pets and housework anyway?). So I worked on my sleep.

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Maybe it’s exercise. Maybe I’m not eating enough whole foods.

You name it, I tried it.  

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But then I noticed something: my own patients kept repeating the same symptoms. 

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Could it be the water? Social media? My trashy romance novels? (which I wasn’t planning on leaving, because ACOTAR is AWESOME.)  

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Here’s when I realized — I was so focused on optimizing everything, that I missed the common denominator between me and my patients: perimenopause.  

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What was happening to me actually has a name: brain fog.

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What Is Perimenopause Brain Fog?

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Brain fog is often described as not having the sharpness or memory skills of your prior self. Your mind feels muddled and sluggish — similar to “pregnancy brain.” And if you improve it with hormones, your brain becomes more sensitive to even the slightest changes (like alcohol, one less hour of sleep, or eating a poor meal).

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The best treatment we have found is menopause hormone therapy (MHT), combined with improving sleep habits. Progesterone specifically may have a bigger impact than estrogen. Even though some data now suggests it may not be the progesterone itself, we’ve seen in our medical practice that if a patient’s estrogen dosage changes without improvement, adding or increasing progesterone can help.

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As we’ve expanded our weight management services at Gliss, we’ve also noticed patients experiencing less brain fog while on GLP-1s. This could be due to multiple factors: losing weight, sleeping better, exercising more, and ultimately having more energy helps with clearing your mind.  

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Some Final Thoughts

Reflecting on my experience as a woman in perimenopause has helped me better understand my patients’ symptoms — because truly, we’re all on the same journey! 

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Here’s the reminder I leave my patients with: even if starting MHT definitely helps, it may take time to see improvements. After all… this is THE BRAIN we’re talking about.

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And if you want to join me in my current obsession… you can get A Court of Thorns and Roses to read along with me (affiliate link).

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Want help with your perimenopause symptoms? Book a 15-min FREE virtual consultation with us to see if we’re the right fit for your menopause care.

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And don’t forget to visit our Services page to explore our perimenopause and menopause care packages!

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References:

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Berent-Spillson, A. et al (2015). “Distinct cognitive effects of estrogen and progesterone in menopausal women”.

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Henderson, V.W. (2018). “Progesterone and human cognition”.

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Henderson, V.W. et al (2013). “Cognition, mood, and physiological concentrations of sex hormones in the early and late postmenopause”.

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Anderer, S. (2025). “GLP-1 Medications May Lower Dementia Risk, Research Shows”. 
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2833663

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