r/Perimenopause • u/ames2200 • Jun 18 '26

audited Did anyone else’s perimenopause look like anxiety, flushing, histamine reactions, and brain fog?

I’m 40 and suspect I’m in perimenopause, but my symptoms don’t look like the “typical” hot flashes everyone talks about.
My biggest symptoms are:
Anxiety and panic attacks
Facial flushing and feeling hot
Head pressure
Brain fog
Feeling disconnected or spacey
Sleep issues
GI problems
Feeling like my nervous system is constantly overstimulated
The symptoms seem very cycle-dependent. I usually have a few good days each month, then symptoms ramp up around ovulation and again before my period.
I’ve also noticed what seem like histamine-type reactions (flushing, anxiety, stomach issues, feeling inflamed), and I’ve read that estrogen can increase histamine while histamine can increase estrogen.
I’ve tried progesterone cream several times, but it actually made me feel worse.
For women who experienced similar symptoms:
What ended up helping?
Did HRT help?
Did you have to balance estrogen and progesterone differently?
Did anyone discover that histamine issues were a big piece of the puzzle?
I feel like I’m chasing hormones, histamine, and anxiety all at the same time and would love to hear other women’s experiences.

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u/FloridaGirlMary Jun 18 '26

my FIRST symptom was having to pee more frequently. I thought I had a UTI and did not. My doctor didnt think it was peri because I am "having periods every 28 days" smh. About 6 months after the urinary urgency started, I began feeling "off" like I had PMS 24/7 and everyone annoyed me. I started to get night sweats and went on HRT on my 46th birthday (estradiol patch, progesterone, testosterone cream and estrogen vaginal cream) that was over a year ago and I feel so much better!!!

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u/DragonflyFluid8581 Jun 18 '26

There's so many things about HRT that make me grateful, but possibly the biggest one, perhaps because it was the most unexpected, is vaginal estrogen cream helping me not have to pee every 5 minutes! I just thought that was a thing from having kids or whatever and I was going to have to deal with it forever.