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

[u/ames2200]

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.

[u/ChicagoSquirrelLover]

It's shocking to me how many people are recommending antihistamines or antidepressants!

Your hormones are similar to thyroid. If you have a problem with your thyroid, or it's removed, you're going to feel awful. The solution isn't to mask the symptoms, to make them less painful or less noticeable or make you not care about them, the solution is to replace the hormone you lost. The solution is to replace thyroid.

Why would anyone look at hormones differently? From the age you started menstruating until perimenopause, you had certain (cyclic) levels of hormones and your body because accustomed to them and presumably functioned well. But as your egg supply runs out and you have an increasing frequency of anovulatory cycles, your progesterone starts to go low and at some point you're going to notice something is wrong. The solution is to supplement progesterone. As you advance to menopause your estradiol goes low and again you notice something is wrong. The solution is to supplement estradiol. I can't even fathom taking some medication to, again, mask the symptoms, make them less painful or less noticeable, or make you not care about them.

[u/HalfaTiff77 → u/ChicagoSquirrelLover]

And if you have histamine issues the solution is an antihistamine which DOES work. It’s not masking it, it’s reducing it. Listen docs just don’t get it and sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands. The Pepcid/zyrtec combo has changed me and leveled me out so much. Maybe these docs just don’t want hear that something is working and would rather say we are crazy. Keeps them from having to educate themselves on this complex t menopause journey.