Peri-maxxing: How the "Fix Every Symptom" Approach to Perimenopause Works Against You

Peri-maxxing is the belief that every perimenopause symptom has a fix, and that if you use them all correctly, you can avoid the downsides of perimenopause and aging.

It borrows from the biohacking playbook and points it at women in midlife:

• Take supplements to control your cortisol.

• Use hormone therapy to prevent dementia.

• Wear a weighted vest to build bone strength.

The promise is what pulls us in: if you do this you'll be protecting your health for the long haul.

Why it's so easy to buy into Peri-maxxing

Your back hurts. You're not sleeping. You feel uncomfortable in your own body, and every little thing sets you off. You know your body needs support as you age, but you're overwhelmed and unsure where to start.

When someone with a medical title and real expertise tells you there's a simple fix, of course you want to try it. And there are so many medical professionals selling these "solutions" in the menosphere, it often feels like you're missing out if you don't try it.

What happens when it doesn't work

Many of these claims have little to no scientific basis. They rest on anecdotes, placebo effects, or studies that have been misrepresented.

So when the fix doesn't work, most women don't blame the claim. They blame themselves. Something must be wrong with me. Something must be wrong with my body.

And what if you never find out the claim was bs until it's too late? What if you don't learn that the weighted vest wasn't protecting your bones until after you've broken a hip, and the window to do work that would have served your body better has passed?

Then comes the shame: regret over the time, energy and money spent, only to land right where you were trying not to be.

How Peri-maxxing works against you

Some of these practices may well be helpful, but Meno-sphere influencers just keep selling more and more “solutions” without helping you figure out whether you need it.

The reality is that everyone experiences this transition differently, but after years of tuning out your body's signals, working out what it needs can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. So you stack pills, potions, and protocols together hoping that they’ll treat your symptoms long enough to catch your breath, but in doing so the effort of caring for yourself becomes another stressor on a system that's already overloaded.

The overwhelm, anxiety, frustration, forgetfulness, and brain fog only gets worse when you're maxxed out trying to manage everything.

Start with what's actually happening

Before you get to choosing a solution, you need to know whether what you're dealing with needs treatment at all. Not everything you’re experiencing needs to be fixed and not everything can be fixed with pills and potions.

So if you don't need it, it wasn't designed for you, and the evidence isn't strong, how do you know if it's worth your time?

Most of the women I talk with know something isn't right. They know they want to take better care of their bodies and they want support. What they don't have is clarity on where to start.

That's why I don't start by fixing things when I work with clients. I start by uncovering what's really going on in your body. What's normal? What's not? What's keeping you from feeling comfortable in your skin? Which thoughts or mindsets need attention before you can "fix" anything? And how much energy and how many resources do you actually have?

Then, when we start developing solutions, you know what's happening, what you need, and what you can sustain. We can address any physical issues that might limiting your body, utilize breathwork and nervous system regulation tools that help you stay present, and build a framework for how you want to feel during this transition.

Building trust in your own experience

When you have a process for tuning into your body, you build trust in your own experience. You feel safe in your skin. You feel capable of supporting yourself. You feel confident deciding what this transition looks and feels like for you.

Then, when you go looking for solutions, you know what's happening in your body, where you need support, what kind of support you want, and what's sustainable for you. You're no longer trying a bunch of things that may or may not be what you need.

At the end of the day, you can't stop perimenopause with pills and potions, but you can decide what you are available for and what you want this transition to look like.

If you're looking for solutions and perimenopause support you can sign-up for my emails, join an online course or message me directly about one-on-one work.