Weird menopause symptoms: What they are & how to treat them
Exploring Weird Perimenopause Symptoms
Experiencing perimenopause is a natural part of aging for many of us. Also called the menopause transition, perimenopause is the time leading up to a woman’s final menstrual period.
Perimenopause typically starts between the ages of 45 and 55 and can last for several years. Each year, an estimated two million women in the United States enter into this transitional period.
During perimenopause, the levels of the hormones estrogen and progesterone made by your ovaries begin to decline. These hormonal changes lead to the symptoms of menopause.
Hot flashes and night sweats, collectively called vasomotor symptoms, are some of the most common perimenopause symptoms, affecting up to 75% of women. Meanwhile, genitourinary symptoms like vaginal dryness and urinary incontinence affect more than half of women.
Other common symptoms of perimenopause you may hear about include mood swings, insomnia, and weight gain.
But strange perimenopause symptoms exist as well. Here, a look at some of the more unusual perimenopause symptoms.
This article was reviewed by Julia Switzer, MD, FACOG.
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Weird Physical Symptoms of Perimenopause
There are a whole slew of surprising physical signs that are lesser-known symptoms of perimenopause.
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Breast Soreness
Most women have encountered breast soreness at some point, perhaps before a period or during pregnancy.
Breast pain, which healthcare providers call mastalgia, is also common during perimenopause. It happens due to fluctuations in estrogen levels that can occur during this time.
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Burning Mouth Syndrome
Burning mouth syndrome is when you feel a burning sensation in your mouth or tongue. It’s estimated to affect10 to 40% of perimenopausal women.
Receptors for sex hormones have been found in the mouth and salivary glands. This suggests hormone fluctuations could lead to altered sensations in the mouth, making it feel like it’s on fire.
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Muscle and Joint Pain
Muscle and joint pain may also become more prevalent during perimenopause. In fact, an estimated 71% of women in perimenopause experience some sort of musculoskeletal pain.
The increase in muscle and joint pain could be due to the effects of drops in estrogen. Indeed, declines in estrogen lead to lower bone density, boosting the risk of osteoporosis. Progression of osteoarthritis may also contribute to pain during this time.
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Digestive Issues
Changes in hormone levels may also affect your digestive tract, as female sex hormonescan regulate gut motility and pain perception.
As such, you may start to notice an increase in digestive issues like bloating, constipation, or abdominal discomfort during perimenopause.
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Heart Palpitations
If you’ve recently felt like your heart is briefly fluttering or racing, perimenopause may be to blame. This sensation is referred to as heart palpitations.
A significant number of women have heart palpitations during perimenopause and early postmenopause. In research, these palpitations aren’t linked to underlying cardiovascular disease.
However, researchers have also observed that changes in body fat and cholesterol often occur during perimenopause and can boost your risk of heart disease later on. That means it’s important to see a healthcare provider if you have any concerns about your heart health during this time.
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Changes in Skin, Hair, or Nails
Reaching for your moisturizer more often or wondering if it’s time to look into hair loss treatments could also be signs of perimenopause. That’s because shifting hormone levels can do a number on your skin, hair, and nails.
For example, your skin may become drier and itchier. This drying effect can also lead to brittle nails. In addition to skin itchiness, your skin also starts to lose collagen, which can make it thinner and more prone to sagging.
Drops in estrogen levels can also affect hair health, contributing to a type of hair loss called androgenetic alopecia, or female pattern hair loss. You may also notice changes in hair volume and texture.
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Dry Mouth or Eyes
Your skin and hair may not be the only things drying out. Perimenopausal women may also experience symptoms like dry mouth or dry eyes.
This is due to hormone shifts. For example, estrogen influences the tear film that lubricates your eyes, so lower estrogen levels can make your eyes drier.
A May 2025 review also found dry mouth increases as estrogen levels decrease. Calcium levels in saliva also rise with declining estrogen, boosting the risk of gum disease.
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Loss of Libido
If you haven’t been in the mood for intimacy lately, it could be due to the effects of perimenopause. Many women feel a loss of libido during this time. Symptoms affecting the reproductive and urinary tract, collectively called genitourinary symptoms, could be partly to blame.
Vaginal symptoms like dryness or burning sensations can make lovemaking uncomfortable. One older study found 55% of postmenopausal women avoided intimacy due to pain, while 46% avoided it due to reduced libido.
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Changes in Body Odor
Changes in body odor have also been reported during perimenopause. There are several possible explanations for this.
One is that vasomotor symptoms like hot flashes and sweating could be affecting the bacteria on your skin, causing more odor. Further, hormone fluctuations could mean there’s more bacteria in your sweat, which can also lead to changes in smell.
Lastly, your sense of smell itself may have changed during perimenopause. That means you may believe your body odor has changed when it actually hasn’t.
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Weird Neurological Symptoms of Perimenopause
In addition to physical symptoms, perimenopause can also cause some unusual neurological symptoms.
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Brain Fog
Brain fog refers to a variety of cognitive issues, such as memory lapses, trouble concentrating, and difficulty making decisions. You may also refer to this as “fuzzy” thinking.
While it may be a lesser-known symptom, brain fog is actually pretty common in perimenopausal women. One July 2021 study found 68% of perimenopausal women surveyed reported experiencing symptoms of brain fog.
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Dizziness
Menopause-related hormonal changes may also affect the inner ear, which controls your balance. This can lead to feelings of dizziness or even vertigo.
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Headache
Perimenopause is linked with an increase in headaches, specifically migraine. This is because hormonal fluctuations can trigger migraine in some people. If you’ve ever had a migraine around that time of the month, you’ve experienced this firsthand.
Essentially, changes in estrogen levels during perimenopause can lead to an increase in migraine frequency. As estrogen levels drop off close to menopause, migraine symptoms tend to improve.
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Tinnitus
Perimenopause’s effect on the inner ear may also cause tinnitus. Tinnitus is a persistent ringing, buzzing, or pulsing noise that can happen in one or both ears.
One March 2017 study found symptoms of tinnitus improved in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women who started hormone replacement therapy. This implies that hormonal changes could play a role in tinnitus around menopause.
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Electric Shock Sensations
It may seem, well, shocking, but you can also feel electrical shock sensations during perimenopause, sometimes called “brain zaps” or “body zaps”. These can happen anywhere, but you may feel them most in your limbs, head, or neck.
It’s unclear what causes electric shock sensations during perimenopause. It’s possible that hormone shifts, specifically in estrogen, may be involved.
That’s because estrogen regulates multiple functions via estrogen receptors in the brain. Therefore, it’s possible that drops in estrogen could affect nervous system function.
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Weird Mood Symptoms of Perimenopause
There are also lesser-known mood symptoms you may not have associated with perimenopause.
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Anxiety
Anxiety is a normal reaction to a stressful situation. However, having anxiety that begins to interfere with your daily life and relationships can signal an anxiety disorder.
Some anxiety disorders you may be familiar with include generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and social anxiety disorder.
Perimenopause can increase the risk of anxiety disorders. This may not only be due to reduced estrogen levels, but also to anxiety surrounding other perimenopause symptoms or life changes happening during this transition.
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Depression
Depression, also called major depressive disorder, is a persistent low mood that interferes with your day-to-day activities and relationships with others.
In addition to sadness, people with depression may feel hopeless, irritable, worthless, or restless. They can also lose interest in things that used to bring them joy and have physical symptoms like body aches or digestive issues.
Perimenopause is the menopausal stage with the highest risk of depression. This could be due to hormonal fluctuations, as well as coping with the effects of other perimenopause symptoms.
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Rage
Heard of perimenopausal rage? It’s totally a thing. Declining estrogen levels can change the balance of chemical messengers like serotonin and dopamine in the brain.
Both serotonin and dopamine are generally considered “feel-good” neurotransmitters. If they’re out of whack, you may be more prone to bouts of irritability or aggression.
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Weird Menopause Symptoms: What You Can Do
If perimenopause has you “not feeling like yourself”, a great first step is to seek medical advice from a healthcare provider. This is true whether you’re having super common perimenopause symptoms or unusual ones.
There are a variety of treatments available for perimenopause symptoms. They each have their own benefits, drawbacks, and side effects, so be sure to cover these with your healthcare provider.
You may be recommended hormone replacement therapy (HRT), which supplements missing estrogen and progesterone. This helps to alleviate many symptoms associated with hormonal changes.
If you’re mainly dealing with mood changes, medications, talk therapy, or both may be beneficial. Additionally, exploring various hair loss treatments, such as topical minoxidil, may help encourage new hair growth.
At the end of the day, there’s no one-size-fits-all treatment for strange perimenopause symptoms. Your healthcare provider can help to make recommendations that can address your individual needs and help boost your quality of life, so don’t hesitate to reach out to them to find a treatment plan that’s right for you.
- Related: How to Lose Weight During Menopause
- Related: Menopause Weight Gain
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This article originally appeared on ForHers.com and was syndicated by MediaFeed.org.